Being fast and lucky go hand in hand when you're trying to smash down the doors of Comic Book
Heaven. Just ask Michael Turner, the pencil power behind Witchblade, who has fast in
his genes. But luck? You better believe it.
"The guy drawing backgrounds on Cyberforce was really terrible and didn't get along with
anybody, so they called me," says the 25-year-old Marina Del Rey, Calif., resident as he counts
up his four-leaf clovers. "If the guy on Cyberforce Origins: Stryker had not been behind, I
would never have had a chance to draw that. Then Witchblade came along when I had
absolutely nothing else to do. Yeah, I'd have to say I'm lucky."
Turner, who has also fattened up on such titles as Codename: Stryke Force and
Ballistic, has risen in the ranks so fast that he's at a loss as to the particulars of the talent
that brought him to the dance.
"The only thing I have in the way of style is the way I see things," offers the Tennessee native
whose spare time is taken up with "driving fast and dating." He narrows it down a bit more: "What
I do just sort of evolved from having to draw stuff quickly. I'm sure I learned something from
every book I've worked on but at this point, I've just put the books away and I'm trying to do my
own thing." He notes that while he frequently practiced drawing throughout high school, he's had
no formal training, and had to quit the only art class he took when he joined Top Cow.
Turner, a former martial arts instructor with Bruce Lee-level skills, fell into comics in 1993 when
a friend of his mother's took him to a local comic book show. "I had never read comics before,
but I went to that show and got hooked. It was two weeks before the San Diego Con and this
friend of my mom's suggested I draw up some pages."
By Turner's own recollection, "My work was terrible, really horrible. But I met David Wohl from
Top Cow at the con, and he said my stuff wasn't too bad for two weeks [of work], and that I
should do some more and send it to him."
Shortly thereafter, Turner broke his ankle in a martial arts-related accident and, with lots of free
time, knocked out six new pages of his work. Top Cow bit and, after a fairly short apprenticeship
on the aforementioned books and some dues paid on pin-ups and trading cards, Turner got his
break, his first full penciling job on Codename: Stryke Force #14.
"I was in the Top Cow Studios almost 24 hours a day." recalls Turner. "I even slept here a lot of
times. I wanted to be here when Marc [Silvestri] walked in in the morning and I wanted to still be
here when he left at night."
The artist claims that his martial arts background and athletic build make him the perfect
contestant for the long-departed quiz show "What's My Line." "I'm not the stereotypical comic
book guy. I don't look like what I do."
And martial arts has given Michael Turner more than athletic prowess. He's steadfast in the fact
that its given him the perfect work ethic to survive in the jungle that is comics. "You've got to get
it done right, fast and monthly," he offers as advice to budding comic book hopefuls. "You've got
to constantly bombard people with your stuff. Because if you're gone for three months,
everybody will forget you."
