'Superman/Batman' Artist Michael Turner Dies at 37

Michael Turner first began work as an artist for Top Cow. There he did background art before eventually co-creating Witchblade. In '98 he came out with Fathom, a comic he wrote and illustrated. Soon after this he was diagnosed with cancer. He recovered and in '02, created his own publishing company, Aspen MLT. Under Aspen MLT he continued the Fathom comic(after a year-long lawsuit over the rights to the title), coming out with another volume and several miniseries. He is currently working on Soulfire and Shrugged, two other series he created, and has a fourth comic (Ekos) to be released after Soulfire is underway. Aside from his own projects, he also does cover work for both Marvel and DC.

Michael Turner very recently passed away, after his long battle with cancer, at the young age of 37.  He died on the Friday of the opening of the Wizard World Chicago Convention, 2008, and there was a minute of silence dedicated to him on the Saturday.

Michael Turner, a comic book artist who drew covers for major titles such as "Superman/Batman," "The Flash" and "Civil War," has died. He was 37.

Turner died June 27 at a Santa Monica hospital of complications related to cancer, said Vince Hernandez, editor in chief of Aspen MLT, the Santa Monica publishing company Turner founded in 2003. Turner had battled bone cancer for eight years.

Through his company, Turner created online comic adaptations for the NBC series "Heroes" and published his own titles, including the best-selling "Fathom," a deep-sea story about a female superhero.

He also drew covers for large projects such as DC Comics' "Justice League" and Marvel's "Civil War" and was a regular cover artist for "Superman/Batman" and "The Flash."

"He was definitely one of the most popular and influential comic-book artists working right now," said Andrew Farago, curator of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum. "He was very, very much in demand as a cover artist on high-profile projects."

Ryan Liebowitz, general manager of the Golden Apple Comics store in Los Angeles, said Turner's name was synonymous with special-edition covers that often became collectibles. The milestone 500th issue of "Uncanny X-Men," due out next week, will feature a special-edition cover by Turner.