Over a year ago, I posted a link on MetaFilter to Project Rooftop. It’s sort of like Project Runway, only for comic book superheroes. Basically, up-and-coming artists offer their takes on well-established icons … like Black Canary here. Cute, eh? The only bad thing about Project Rooftop is how infrequently it updates.
Let’s talk about Mike Wieringo.
Wieringo’s name might not be too familiar to many of you, but he had quite a following in the comic book industry. Not only was he an incredibly good artist, but by all accounts he was a heck of a nice guy. Sadly, Mike (who signed his work “Ringo!”) suffered a fatal heart attack on August 12, 2007.
Even though the Journal-Constitution has nary a mention of his passing, Mike Wieringo made his home here in Atlanta. Actually, Mike lived in North Carolina, in spite of how much the comic book press wished initially that he lived here.
Newsarama has compiled six long pages of remembrances for Ringo from big and small names in the industry, written and drawn. More are sure to come.
Over the week to come, Project Rooftop will be taking submissions in tribute to Mike Wieringo. The Project Rooftop Project (?) will center around reinterpretations of Bart Allen, the most recent fallen Flash. Mike had much to say in his blog about Bart’s fate, a hero he drew and helped establish with Mark Waid under the earlier, teen-hero name of Impulse. With that kind of inspiration, the art to come should be something incredible.
