There’s plenty of news worth commenting on straight out of Wizard World Chicago as the Summer’s con season truly gets going, including reflections on the unfortunate passing of Mike Turner, Ghost Rider news (seriously), the near-mythical Superman 2000 pitch and Eric Stephenson’s recent promotion.

First off, once again we’re forced to start with some sad news, although this one has hit the industry rather harder - artist Michael Turner has lost his battle with cancer at the stupidly young age of 37. This is the point at which I have to admit that I’ve never been much of a fan of Turner’s work - he was one of the foremost proponents of a style of female character artwork that I’ve found at times to be damaging to perceptions of the industry, and I’ve mentioned before my distaste for the recent “Super-Torso” version of Supergirl in particular. Nevertheless, it’s undeniable that there was a level of technical excellence to his work that elevated him above most similar artists - and quite aside from that, liking of his work or otherwise isn’t really an issue when someone who was by all accounts an absolutely lovely bloke, and who soldiered on for many years - still turning in top-level artwork - with such illness passes away it’s a sad event for the industry as a whole. As with the death of Mike Wieringo, it’s an untimely event that has robbed the industry of one of its genuine superstar talents. (SP)

One of my favourite bits of news coming out of WWC? Dan Ketch is back in the saddle! In addition to Ketch returning to the cast of Ghost Rider, Si Spurrier is doing a new limited series that’ll examine the man himself and how he fits into the new Ghost Rider mythos. As someone who was, perhaps implausibly, always a bigger fan of Ketch than Blaze (for example, check out my review of 2007’s Ghost Rider Finale on Noise to Signal) you can fully expect to see some reviews of this series when it comes out. It just goes to prove one of my favourite things about the comics industry - If every character is someone’s favourite, you just have to wait long enough and eventually, a writer or editor will come along who remembers them. (JH)

After spending years filed under “we know it’s out there but no-one wants to leak it”, the fabled Superman 2000 pitch document is finally making its way into the public domain, bit by bit, courtesy of Timothy Callahan and Chad Nevett. In case you don’t know what it’s all about, it’s basically a proposal (from the year 2000) by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Tom Peyer and Mark Waid to overhaul and revamp Superman for the new decade - from the sound of things, it would have been more of a revamp than Superman Birthright, but slightly less of one than The Man of Steel. Rather than simply lumping the whole thing online, the guys are taking it in turns to post excerpts of it along with their thoughts, and there’s some really interesting stuff coming out - there would have been drastic changes, no doubt, but it might have given the character a real spark at a time when one was badly needed (as it is, it’s only really in an out-of-continuity story, All-Star, that someone has been able to make Superman truly great again - although we hold out great hope for the Robinson run, of course). For me, perhaps the most surprising aspect is the fact that the guys basically wanted to do a One More Day of their own - getting rid of the Clark/Lois marriage without having them divorce. The similarities go further than that, though - with his identity unmasked by Luthor and Brainiac (in a story that sounds like it would have been far bigger, and better, than the half-hearted Civil War Spidey tie-ins), Superman finds almost every aspect of his life shattered. The final straw is when Brainiac manages to fix things so that Lois’ very knowledge of his identity is a “poisonous” memory that is slowly killing her. Only with the help of Mr Mxyzptlk is the memory erased (after a heartbreaking “one more day” together, heh heh), and the classic Superman/Clark/Lois “love triangle” restored. But seriously, substitute Mxy for Mephisto, and you’ve basically got One More Day in a nutshell. Unlike some of the ideas that were carried over by Morrison to All-Star or Waid to Birthright, the similarities here are genuinely baffling - unless, of course, Millar had a quiet word in someone’s ear upon his move to Marvel…? (SP)

It’s certainly interesting to see that Eric Stephenson is taking over as Publisher of Image. While he’s always had a pretty big role in the running of Image lately, it’s no bad thing to see him stepping up to a slightly more prominent place. It’s unlikely to mean any big changes to Image, though Stephenson does have a reputation as something of an anglophile, so British creators might have an even easier time there now. Still, it does mean that the changes of a proper sequel to Long Hot Summer are getting lower! (JH)

This week’s Den of Geek linkwhore: My latest column suggests some Manga for Comics Fans, for those people who still seem to think that they’re not, essentially, the same thing. You know who you are. Meanwhile, Seb has reviewed the latest Strontium Dog collection. (JH)

Tags: Eric Stephenson, Ghost Rider, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Mark Waid, Mike Turner, Si Spurrier, Superman, Tom Peyer
Publisher: The Sunday Pages