You see, after consistent feedback of “there’s too much going on” directed at my work, the next 2 books, CROATOAN and TRYPOPHOBIA, have been joined by VIOLATION1 as part of a trifecta of novels set on the same day in the Aleph universe.

Each book contains a dual narrative (and, in one book’s case, triadic2) and will eventually be bundled as an omnibus edition. Still, for now, the plan is to make each work a standalone story, so you don’t need to read all 3 to understand each, but if you do, you’ll have a complete story heading into the next phase of the overarching narrative. It’ll be fun! I promise!

One of my favourite things is seeing the same discussions repeat between books. These novels are in conversation; they bounce off each other, but they also stand tall by themselves. I’m interested in hearing one side of a phone call in Book A, then seeing the other side in Book B. It’s

So, you’ve got CROATOAN, TRYPOPHOBIA and VIOLATION, and there’s also CMYK, all waiting in the wings for me to get my act together and finalise editing.

How am I doing that? I have a free trial of Grammarly Pro!

Okay, first and foremost, I know Grammarly isn’t a fair replacement for an editor, but I cannot afford one. I don’t have room in the budget, and I’m not making enough money to hire one. But a free trial of a dedicated editing package? Well, that’s something well within my budget. If someone wants to volunteer to edit my work, I would be grateful, but I know the work involved is immense, and I don’t expect people to volunteer their time like that. I have to be realistic.

But wait, I hear you ask, “Isn’t Grammarly AI?”

No.

Proofacademic’s article, “Does Grammarly Count as AI? What Students Need to Know,” puts it best:

Grammarly is more like a very smart proofreader, while tools like ChatGPT are ghostwriters.

As well as:

Grammarly was originally built as a rule-based grammar checker. It allows you to easily spot errors in your writing involving grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and even makes suggestions on how you can phrase your content more effectively.

“Originally” is doing a lot of load-bearing in that first sentence. I’m not an idiot, so I dug into the settings and disabled any AI features the app offered. I don’t want any rogue story being offered. Here’s how:

Once that was done, I opened my novels and went through every single flagged issue. They ranged from 400 to 600 per project. Some were based on the fact that it didn’t like my stylistic choices3 so I could ignore them; others were poor grammar, passive voice instead of active voice, tautologies, etc. I lost hundreds of words in this preliminary editing phase, but I ended up with a new edit that needs work story-wise, but structurally and grammatically, was as robust as it could be at this stage of the process.

I understand that even non-generative writing aids like Grammarly can trigger false positives in AI detectors, but I have to stand by my process. I won’t use ChatGPT or Gemini to create content. I want to tell stories. I want to dream them up. I don’t want to feed my work into an LLM and reap any benefits born of environmental or ethical ruin. I won’t use AI to create art or promo material for the same reason. If the world burns even the slightest bit more because of my actions, I cannot use it in my creative endeavours.

So, what do you think?

Reading I’m Enjoying ATM

I’m also working my way through a variety of TVTropes Nightmare Fuel pages, because how else am I expected to sleep at night? Highly recommend! Here are the entries for Batman and Moon Knight.

Let’s leave on a high note:

For whatever reason, it didn’t seem to have the same longevity as Denny O’Neil’s “Batman Bible” (gosh, I’d love to read that one day), nor did the overall document see the light of day (as is the case with a lot of in-house creative documents), but Niven included his sections in his 1991 collection, Playgrounds of the Mind.

I wanted to share those pages with you now, because I wanted to find them and it took me ages to do so, so why not make it easier for whoever comes after me?

Interestingly, in 1992 Niven wrote Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale, a graphic novel format one-shot with art from John Byrne that explored the concepts outlined in the bible, and also laid the groundwork— get this— for the 1994 event Zero Hour: Crisis In Time!, which was interesting to learn.

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media.

What is a trope? Okay, let’s keep scrolling down their Welcome To…:

A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

I dive into a property’s tropes, e.g. Batman, and can just… scroll. I find out new things, I understand things differently, and I can apply everything I’ve read into my own work. I bloody love it.

Anyway, I made some “one-pagers” featuring tropes I think capture the spirit of my characters. I’ll be sharing these every Wednesday across July and August. No spoilers! Just TROPES!

For more details, check out the following…

• Awesomeness By Analysis

• Bare-Fisted Monk

• Dangerous Forbidden Technique

• Determinator

• Fantastic Fighting Style

• Heroes Fight Barehanded

• I Am What I Am

• Manly Gay

• One-Man Army

• Victory By Endurance

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media.

What is a trope? Okay, let’s keep scrolling down their Welcome To…:

A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

I dive into a property’s tropes, e.g. Batman, and can just… scroll. I find out new things, I understand things differently, and I can apply everything I’ve read into my own work. I bloody love it.

Anyway, I made some “one-pagers” featuring tropes I think capture the spirit of my characters. I’ll be sharing these every Wednesday across July and August. No spoilers! Just TROPES!

For more details, check out the following…

• Action Girl

• Awesomeness By Analysis

• Badass Bookworm

• Chronic Hero Syndrome

• Dark And Troubled Past

• Hidden Depths

• Made Of Iron

• Military Brat

• The Ace

• The Empath

• The Profiler

• Workaholic

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media.

What is a trope? Okay, let’s keep scrolling down their Welcome To…:

A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

I dive into a property’s tropes, e.g. Batman, and can just… scroll. I find out new things, I understand things differently, and I can apply everything I’ve read into my own work. I bloody love it.

Anyway, I made some “one-pagers” featuring tropes I think capture the spirit of my characters. I’ll be sharing these every Wednesday across July and August. No spoilers! Just TROPES!

For more details, check out the following…

• Badass Bureaucrat

• Big Good

• Cincinnatus

• Earned Stripes

• Go-Getter Girl

• Iron Lady

• Lady In A Power Suit

• Reasonable Authority Figure

• Supporting Leader

• The Brigadier No longer an active trope, apparently!

• The Chain Of Command

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media.

What is a trope? Okay, let’s keep scrolling down their Welcome To…:

A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

I dive into a property’s tropes, e.g. Batman, and can just… scroll. I find out new things, I understand things differently, and I can apply everything I’ve read into my own work. I bloody love it.

Anyway, I made some “one-pagers” featuring tropes I think capture the spirit of my characters. I’ll be sharing these every Wednesday across July and August. No spoilers! Just TROPES!

The following covers Hannah Stone after… everything else.

For more details, check out the following…

• Abandonment-Induced Animosity

• Broken Ace

• Broken Bird

• Convicted By Public Opinion

• Despair Event Horizon

• Frame-Up

• Go Mad From The Isolation

• Pariah Prisoner

• Reformed, But Rejected

• The Snark Knight

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media.

What is a trope? Okay, let’s keep scrolling down their Welcome To…:

A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

I dive into a property’s tropes, e.g. Batman, and can just… scroll. I find out new things, I understand things differently, and I can apply everything I’ve read into my own work. I bloody love it.

Anyway, I made some “one-pagers” featuring tropes I think capture the spirit of my characters. I’ll be sharing these every Wednesday across July and August. No spoilers! Just TROPES!

The following covers Hannah Stone before… the incident.

For more details, check out the following…

• Badass In A Nice Suit

• Beware The Nice Ones

• Brought Down To Badass

• Crazy-Prepared

• Crimefighting With Cash

• Dark And Troubled Past

• Gadgeteer Genius

• Science Hero

• Took A Level In Badass

• Wrench Wench

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media.

What is a trope? Okay, let’s keep scrolling down their Welcome To…:

A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

I dive into a property’s tropes, e.g. Batman, and can just… scroll. I find out new things, I understand things differently, and I can apply everything I’ve read into my own work. I bloody love it.

Anyway, I made some “one-pagers” featuring tropes I think capture the spirit of my characters. I’ll be sharing these every Wednesday across July and August. No spoilers! Just TROPES!

For more details, check out the following…

• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read

• Astral Projection

• Broken Bird

• Dirty Mind-Reading

• Eyes Always Averted

• Fighting from the Inside

• The Empath

• Nervous Wreck

• Pstandard Psychic Pstance

• Psychic Nosebleed

• Seeing Through Another's Eyes

• Twitchy Eye

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media.

What is a trope? Okay, let’s keep scrolling down their Welcome To…:

A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

I dive into a property’s tropes, e.g. Batman, and can just… scroll. I find out new things, I understand things differently, and I can apply everything I’ve read into my own work. I bloody love it.

Anyway, I made some “one-pagers” featuring tropes I think capture the spirit of my characters. I’ll be sharing these every Wednesday across July and August. No spoilers! Just TROPES!

For more details, check out the following…

• A Father to His Men

• Ace Pilot

• The All-American Boy

• Badass Normal

• Big Good

• Do-Anything Soldier

• Guile Hero

• The Idealist

• No One Gets Left Behind (Well, they changed the name of this trope since I originally put that page together, but it still stands!)

• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!

• Silver Fox

• Undying Loyalty

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

Wait, no, Geis published the self-titled Richard E. Geis zine in 1972, retitled that to The Alien Critic after 3 issues, then in 1975, and for the rest of its existence, the magazine finally settled in as the new and improved and highly confusing Science Fiction Review (volume 2). After 61 issues, and a provenance I cannot bear to look into further, the magazine folded in 1986, and Geis subsequently went on to publish smaller endeavours here and there. Because of course.

Geis sounds like a mensch. I hope he isn’t problematic. In a 2005 obituary, it is said he claimed to have published 114 books, of which, "110 [were] soft-core pornographic novels1" Richard. Richard, please. Quick! Here are some examples of his erotica!

With titles such as The Sex Machine2 (1967), The Endless Orgy (1968), Raw Meat3 (1969), The Arena Women (1972), A Girl Possessed4 (1973), Star Whores (1980) and The Corporation Strikes Back (1980), it makes perfect sense this guy was a massive, card-carrying nerd.

Geis was nominated for the Hugo Award for “Best Fan Writer” from 1970-1986 (but not 1972) and won in 1971, 1975-1977 (tied with Susan Wood), 1978 and 1982-1983.

His publications weren’t just popular—they were repeatedly recognised by the Hugo Awards. From 1956, and then consistently between 1968 and 1987, his work picked up nominations whenever it was eligible. This wasn’t a one-off thing; he was basically a permanent fixture in the fanzine scene.

Psychotic landed a Best Fanzine Hugo nomination in 1968, before Science Fiction Review took over as a regular contender, receiving nominations from 1969 to 1971. Then came The Alien Critic, which won the Best Fanzine Hugo in 1974 (sharing the award with Algol) and again in 1975.

After that, Science Fiction Review returned to the spotlight, earning nominations from 1976 through to 1983 and actually winning in 1977 and 1979. Even when the Hugo Awards changed the category to Best Semiprozine, the recognition didn’t stop— Science Fiction Review continued receiving nominations from 1984 to 1987.

In all, he received an astonishing total of 30 nominations and 8 wins. Huge. Huge-o. Hugo.

Thanks to Geis’ open invitation for blunt, unvarnished debate, it attracted a stellar line-up of both established pros and rising stars who contributed essays, columns, reviews and extensive letters. Contributors included John Brunner5, Ted White6, Richard A. Lupoff7, Alexei Panshin8, Barry N. Malzberg9, that turd Orson Scott Card10, Harlan fucking Ellison11, and... George R. R. Martin12.

And with all that out the way, here’s his piece, “A Writer’s Natural Enemy: Editors”, for your consideration:

Please consider purchasing CITIES ON FIRE on Amazon! It’s my life’s work, and the more copies I sell, the more inclined I’ll be to edit the 3rd and 4th books in the series, and start work on the 5th. Let’s see if honesty is the best policy here…

DC Comics

Vertigo

Marvel Comics

Please consider purchasing CITIES ON FIRE on Amazon! It’s my life’s work, and the more copies I sell, the more inclined I’ll be to edit the 3rd and 4th books in the series, and start work on the 5th. Let’s see if honesty is the best policy here…

AC

Archie

Bongo

Broadway

Caliber

Comico

Crusade

Dark Horse

EC

Event

Fleetway UK

Gemstone

Gladstone

Harris

Image

Kitchen Sink

Maximum Press

Millennium

Tekno

Topps

Valiant

Bilquis Eveley’s Sketchbook

Bilquis Evely Cover Sketches

Variant Cover Sketches

So, as ever, if you’re enjoying my newsletter, please consider buying my book!

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

The plot is simple, like I said. A newly-turned 21-year-old Supergirl is travelling to planets where she can get drunk, and stumbles upon a young girl whose father was murdered by an outlaw. It’s True Grit with Rooster played by Kara Zor-El, and the stakes get higher as her beloved dog Krypto gets caught in the crossfire.

Let’s not waste any time. I present Tom King’s introduction, then some fun stuff:

Cover Gallery

Variant Cover Gallery

I’ll be back in a few days with some more backmatter from The Deluxe Edition. Please bear with!

So, as ever, if you’re enjoying my newsletter, please consider buying my book!

Please consider purchasing CITIES ON FIRE on Amazon! It’s my life’s work, and the more copies I sell, the more inclined I’ll be to edit the 3rd and 4th books in the series, and start work on the 5th. Let’s see if honesty is the best policy here…

DC Comics

Vertigo

Wildstorm

Marvel Comics

Reinventing a Reinvention

In The Hollywood Reporter’s “100 Greatest Superhero Comics” list, compiled by by Aaron Couch, Graeme McMillan back in October 2016, you might have been surprised by the inclusion of a run of 25 issues of Supergirl, covering 2008-2011. These issues, written by Sterling Gates and illustrated [mainly] by Jamal Igle1, were a breath of fresh air, taking the rather problematic version of Supergirl who debuted at the hands of Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner, and later in her ongoing series, Ian Churchill, and redefining her in a way that made sense.

In an interview with Women Write About Comics, Igle said:

Before Sterling came on as a writer, they were writing her as what a 40-year-old guy’s idea of an edgy teenage old girl is supposed to be like, instead of trying to write a well-rounded, fleshed-out character.

Man, I love Jamal Igle. His series, Molly Danger (2013-), was one I supported on Kickstarter, and it’s this hardcover, European-style album of top tier storytelling.

Igle came onboard, and went about redesigning one of the most problematic parts of Supergirl’s current iteration— her costume. She’s sixteen, and she’s running around— flying around— in one of the most revealing costumes around.

From the same interview:

You came upon a bit of controversy when you introduced bike shorts to the character.

You know what? It was funny how that worked out, because I did it and nobody noticed. Or at least nobody said anything about it, until HeroesCon that year, a woman stood up in the audience and said, “Thank you for putting shorts on Supergirl.” So then, Matt Brady, who used to be at Newsarama, asked me if he could do a quick interview and then it blew up. It turned into a thing. And still to this day, it boggles my mind, because it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that should be controversial at all. It just made natural sense to me to not have her in like little panties underneath the skirt.

From a Newsarama interview, retrieved thanks to the Wayback Machine:

“At the first meeting I had with [editor Matt Idleson] after I got the book, he said, ‘I never want to see Supergirl’s panties again.’ It was part of a larger conversation about altering the costume and making it a little more presentable. I think a lot of our readers know that, when you look at the back issues, the shirt would get tinier, the skirt’s hem would get higher, and lower on her hips. It was really uncomfortable for me to have to follow in that manner.”

Idleson’s suggestions about making Supergirl’s costume a little more presentable was reinforced by a critic that Igle could not ignore. “I showed one of those older issues to my mom, and she said, ‘She looks like a hooker.’ That’s the exact opposite of what you should be doing. In my head, because Kara is Clark’s cousin, she’s a member of the Superman Family. She wears the ‘S’. That’s supposed to stand for something.”

I would never have shown any modern Supergirl stories to my mum before the Gates / Igle run. I mean, I still wouldn’t, but that’s because she has enough reminders in life I’m a massive nerd. Anyway.

In Supergirl #40 (2009), there’s a great comparison we can see between the Turner design and Igle’s current design. We see Kara in flashback and then in the present day, and the changes are marked. This is highlighted really well in this piece over at Supergirl Comic Box Commentary, so I won’t belabour the details. These 2 pages of art speaks for themselves:

I’ve spent all this time talking about Igle, but without Sterling Gates’ steady hand at the wheel, the series would have floundered from the off. Originally positioned at a sort-of protégé of Geoff Johns, there was a degree of nepotism to Gates’ ascension to the Supergirl writing assignment. How’s that, then?

Gates had the luck to meet Geoff Johns, and upon hearing the former had recently moved to LA, I think Johns saw something of himself in the newcomer. Johns himself moved to LA and hustled his way into a job as Richard Donner’s assistant.

Upon hearing that Gates had similar aspirations to work in television and film— and was a comic book nerd— he recommended him for an interview for Blade: The Series (2006), where he was eventually hired as a production assistant. When that series was almost inevitably cancelled, Johns then offered Gates the position of his personal assistant, which Gates would later compare to a “writing apprenticeship”.

From there, Gates wrote scripts, Johns passed them to editorial, and it landed him roles writing tie-ins to the Green Lantern event “Sinestro Corps War” (2007)-- his debut illustrated by none other than the legendary Jerry Ordway2. What a way to make a splash.

What followed was a career that led him from event tie-ins to ongoings to writing events himself, as he was a major architect on the “New Krypton” (2008-2010) era of the Superman family of books, before he pivoted to his first love, television, and he ended up writing then story editing The Flash TV show (2014-2023). His is an aspirational story, but also a case of being the right guy in the right place at the right time. If he was a dud, he wouldn’t have been handed the opportunities he was, or if he was a dud, he wouldn’t have lasted, so all the power to the man.

So, why am I chatting away about this? Because in the first TPB collection of Gates and Igle’s run, there’s an introduction by Helen Slater, who played the titular character in Supergirl (1984). I imagine in the coming years, we’ll see Milly Alcock penning these sorts of things. Expect an edition of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2021-2022) with her thoughts within the next few months. But until then, let’s see what Helen has to say:

Introduction by Helen Slater

Series Cover Gallery

Joshua Middleton covered the front half of the run, and then Amy Reeder came in for “Bizarrogirl”, but she made an impact with some beautifully illustrated pieces. There were some other talents who dipped in here and there, but this was just a beautifully illustrated run, with considered art that grounded Supergirl in a context that wouldn’t make you ashamed to hand to your mum, or even your daughter or niece. Supergirl is a fantastic character, and she deserves to be read widely.

So, as ever, if you’re enjoying my newsletter, please consider buying my book!

Please consider purchasing CITIES ON FIRE on Amazon! It’s my life’s work, and the more copies I sell, the more inclined I’ll be to edit the 3rd and 4th books in the series, and start work on the 5th. Let’s see if honesty is the best policy here…

Archie Comics

Bongo

Dark Horse Comics

Dynamite

Gemstone

IDW

Image

Mirage

TwoMorrows

If you like what you see here, please consider buying CITIES ON FIRE, the first novel in my ALEPH series of books. The sequel, HISTORY IS A HAUNTED HOUSE is already out, with the next two entries in the saga waiting in the wings!

Why?

We’ll get to that. President Lex Luthor somehow blames Superman, and assembled heroes (and villains) to bring him (and Batman, who was hanging out with Superman at the tie) in. By the climax, Luthor dosed himself up on a Green Kryptonite-infused Venom steroid, experienced some kind of mentally debilitating ‘roid rage, donned a powersuit, and took the fight to Superman himself. Nearly 2 years of stories, with Luthor in power as president, ended in a big, emerald-tinged slugfest.

Wasteful.

In current climes, you can imagine Luthor turning the screws on public perception of the Man of Steel via mass media, 24 hours news, etc, but this was six issues, it felt hasty and off-kilter, and while it’s ascended— descended?— into “iconic” status, it’s another example of Loeb not being the best writer for the task at hand… Which you can read more about here:

But why was the Kryptonite meteor shower (very Smallville (2001-2011), of which Loeb was a contributing writer1) headed to Earth? And what was the thing embedded in the centre of it? It was Kara Zor-El’s escape pod, following her baby cousin to Earth in the aftermath of Krypton’s— and her city of Argo2— destruction! Her ship’s guidance system drew the meteor to Earth, Kryptonite mass and all, and it meant that her arrival was delayed. She was chronologically older than her cousin, but he arrived earlier, meaning her grew up, while she, held in stasis, arrived as a teen.

Who better to illustrate her debut arc than Turner, best known for his cheesecake-adjacent style, with his women and their slim frames and swollen lips? His distorted, muscular men? Who better to illustrate the debut story of a superpowered sixteen year old girl arriving on Earth than the Witchblade guy?

Remembering Michael Turner (April 21st 1971-June 27th 2008)

I think it’s worth taking a moment and talking about Michael Turner. When I was growing up and getting into non-superhero comics, Michael Turner was the man. I thought he was the coolest. At 24 years old, he was the artist— and co-creator3— of Witchblade, an Image title whose central premise was a detective who bonded to an ancient weapon (the “Witchblade”) when she was near death. It saved her life, pulled her into a world of occult weirdness of monsters and demons, and it also insisted on tearing her clothes off whenever it manifested4. What was left was a scantily clad heroine fighting louder than life creeps and solving weird as shit crimes. It was Spawn, but sexy. He eventually created Fathom (1998), where he really made a name for himself. I loved that series, I thought it was fun and fantastic and, yes, sexy, when I got around

Sadly, Michael Turner was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma in the right pelvis in 2000, a cancer that resulted in him losing his hip, 40% of his pelvis and three pounds of bone. His work slowed, but his drive didn’t. He spun off from the Image sub-studio Top Cow, and formed Aspen MLT Inc., his own studio, in 2002.

He crafted covers with his team for Marvel and DC, and became one of the most well-respected and well-liked creators in an industry full of dickheads.

Superman / Batman #8-13 (2004) became his sole full interior work for one of the Big 2 publishers. He was going to collaborate with Loeb again at Marvel on Ultimate Wolverine, but passed away in June 2008 before work on the project could begin. I loved the work of this dude; I thought he was just really cool. With teenage eyes, everything about his art was drama and kinetic-ism. It was sexy and cool. Obviously, older, I see the distended abdomens, the cheesecake-ness of it all, but when I was in my early teens, this guy was the absolute best.

Aspen keep churning covers with his “art” on. Usually old sketches inked up to completion, or whatever. It’s sad. Old pieces get updated to reflect current costumes, etc. In 2017, Star Wars; Darth Maul #1, Spider-Men II #1 and Secret Empire: Omega #1 had covers “by” him. Nine years after his death. All old pieces with logos chucked on.

More egregious, King in Black (2020-2021) featured the following covers:

It feels like they’re doing a Weekend at Bernie's (1989). It feels exploitative. Ghoulish. They’re taking advantage of the fandom that continues to follow the man, churning out perfunctory pieces of flashy art— literally more flash than substance— because they know the man still has a cache, even in death.

And this is who they’re doing it to:

From Comic Book Resources; Jeph Loeb’s tribute to Michael Turner:

Mike Turner died last night. He fought the same cancer my son Sam had for eight years. He was 37 years old. His friends and family were with him.

There was never a nicer guy. There was never a greater pal. He was a friend and mentor to Sam. He’s been a big brother to my daughter Audrey.

In terms of his legacy, in addition to the dozens of covers that he did for Marvel and DC, I’m pretty sure that the only interior work he did outside of Top Cow or Aspen was the 6 issues of “Superman/Batman” that we did.

Bringing Kara back to the DC universe as she was originally intended, as Superman’s cousin, was the story we told.

Supergirl now will always have some of Mike’s joy and spark.

Doing “Soulfire” with Mike and Aspen was a blast. It was so inspiring working with him. Whatever he touched as a creator, writer or artist was the finest.

Did I mention he was the world’s greatest guy? And there is a reason why the people at Aspen, like Frank and Peter and JT, are so loyal and of such fine character. Mike brought that out in everyone.

I know you know all this, but I wanted to write to you and this is what came out.

Supergirl is crying right now.

I know that much.

Jeph

From Geoff Johns:

I wish all of you had known Mike like I did. He was the greatest guy in the room, no matter who else was there. And it wasn’t because he was so talented or charismatic or funny. He treated everyone with so much respect and courtesy, not just his friends, but everyone. It was inspiring. He loved his fans and would travel even when it should’ve been impossible to see them.

Mike was great at pool. He never lost a race in “Mario Kart.” He always had his home open to his friends for poker games and “Halo” matches and drinking. He always had better beer in the fridge than the beer you’d bring.

It’s strange. We hardly ever talked about comic books. We had too many other things to talk about. I used to make him laugh so hard he’d snort.

I’m trying not to be angry, because Mike never was. Never. But it’s hard.

Mike was one of my best friends. I’m going to miss him a lot.

From Joe Quesada:

In this all access world, very little remains that one could consider truly “rare.” Mike Turner was one of those things. One of those rare individuals who come around once, maybe twice in a lifetime, a cut above the rest of us, special in every way, undeniably touched by god or whatever higher power you believe in.

I had the good fortune of knowing and working with Mike and because of this, I consider myself incredibly privileged as it allowed me the opportunity to have been touched by his talent and grace. And for that, I will always be thankful.

Mike, it was a rare pleasure, Godspeed!

JQ

Superman / Batman: Supergirl - Backmatter and Covers

A quick aside. I’ve spoken at length about Jeph Loeb being shitty (see above links), but Eddie Berganza, who Loeb refers to as “Keeper of all things Good”, is also known for other things. Here are some articles from November 2017:

• The Comics Giant Behind Wonder Woman Is Accused Of Promoting An Editor After Women Accused Him Of Sexual Harassment (Buzzfeed News) - Highly recommend this read.

• DC Comics Editor Eddie Berganza Fired After Sexual Harassment Claims (Paste Magazine)

• DC Comics fires editor accused of sexual harassment by three women (The Guardian)

• DC Comics Editor Fired Following Sexual Assault Claims (The Hollywood Reporter)

• DC Comics Editor Eddie Berganza Fired Following Sexual Assault Claims (Variety)

What a fucking piece of shit.

“What made them sexy wasn’t the typical pinup shot of adolescent male fantasies". Mike imbues all his female characters with a strength, both externally and internally— and that, more than anything, made me certain he was our guy.”

Pull the other one, Jeph.

Note: In continuity, Ma Kent designed Kara’s Supergirl costume. Anyway.

Love the story or hate it, same goes for the creators, but it made an impact. This was an era of blockbuster comics, big events, and major upheaval in the world of comics. This was my era of comics. I’m infinitely frustrated by the behaviours of some of the architects of the time, sadly mainly on the DC side, with editorial sex pests, racist writers, and all around shitty people running roughshod on the four colour institutions I found refuge in as a young man. But these stories, regardless of their creators, influenced me as a writer. Michael Turner’s work expanded my growing mind, with high concepts, schlocky art, and all round good vibes. Could I have done without seeing Supergirl’s abdomen stretch up to her philtrum on every page? Yes. But was I rapt every month, waiting for the next issue? Again, yes.

Thank you, Michael Turner. Your art deserves to be seen by more people.

Rest in Peace.

So, as ever, if you’re enjoying my newsletter, please consider buying my book!