Your always nosey Fortress Keeper recently overheard the following conversation at his unfriendly, neighborhood comic-book shoppe:
Unfriendly Clerk #1: Marvel Comics are drawn so much better than DC’s.
Unfriendly Clerk #2: Yeah, but you know something? Michael Turner drew a beautiful Supergirl!
At the time, we were taken aback by the comment. To our eyes Michael Turner’s Supergirl barely resembled a living, breathing human, let alone a beautiful, healthy young girl.
Oh, well. Your humble host shook his head, purchased the final volume of Pretty Face and chalked down the incident to the widening generation gap between ourselves and the new breed of fans.
Still, despite our antipathy regarding the Mr. Turner’s undeniably popular work, we couldn’t help but be saddened by the news that he died over the weekend at the age of 37. His untimely passage reminds us there’s much, much more to life than whether or not an aging fan like ourselves thinks a superstar artist drew a decent Supergirl.
By all accounts, Turner endured a long battle against cancer with grace, humor and courage. He was well-liked by his contemporaries and never fell prey to the rock-star mentality that eventually tarnished the image of other Image super-stars.
Such qualities make debates over the qualities of his work … well, pretty irrelevant. Michael Turner sounds like a good person who found success in a field he loved. That’s more than many people achieve in twice the time.
One thing’s for sure: Thirty-seven is far too young to fall prey to such a horrible disease. Our thoughts are truly with Turner’s family and friends at this difficult time.
And as far as comic books go, we owe Mr. Turner a debt of gratitude for helping bring Kara Zor-El to life for a new generation of fans.
