About Michael turner

Michael Layne Turner was a talented comic book artist and creator.

He was born on April 21, 1971 and is originally from Tennessee, but moved to California in 1994. He practiced his art in high school, but has no formal training in it. In 1993, a friend of his mother's took him to a comics convention - he had never read comics before, but was instantly hooked. Besides comics, Turner has a passion for martial arts, and was a martial arts instructor.

Two weeks later at another con in San Diego, he took some pages he had roughed out of art. He was discovered by Marc Silvestri and David Wohl at that con, and worked for Silvestri's Top Cow Productions at first doing background illustrations for Cyberforce. He had his first full pencilling job on Codename: Strike Force #14.

In 1995 he helped create and launch Witchblade, which was one of the most successful comics of the 90's. Many fans consider Turner's run on the comic to be the best. In 1998 he debuted his first creator-owned comic, Fathom, which was the number one selling comic of that year.

In 2000 Michael Turner was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a bone cancer, which he survived but resulted in the removal of his right hip, 40% of his pelvis, and 3 pounds of bone. He has since battled a return of bone cancer to his spine, but reports from the 2007 WW Chicago that he is feeling healthy and doing better.

In the fall of 2002, Turner left to found his own studio, Aspen MLT Inc. Aspen produces Fathom, Soulfire, and Shrugged, and still plans to produce Ekos, all comics created and drawn (at least in part) by Turner. They also produce Iron and the Maiden, which is not a Turner comic but is released by the company for creator Jason Rubin.

Since forming Aspen MLT, Turner has done contract work for DC and Marvel providing covers for various comics. He also co-wrote the "Godfall" arc of Superman, and pencilling the six-issue "Supergirl from Krypton" arc in Superman/Batman, and was slated to do the art for Ultimate Wolverine (with story from Jeph Loeb). This title was since cancelled, however Turner announced that he and Loeb will be working together on an unnamed six-issue run with Marvel.

As you may have heard, on June 27, 2008 Michael Turner lost his long battle with cancer and died at a Santa Monica hospital. He was 37. Widely acknowledged to be one of the nicest people in the comic book industry, Turner will be missed by his peers and fans alike.