|
 Comic
book artist Mike S. Miller drew criticism over his trying to re-purpose a cover
sketch by the late Mike Wieringo as a finished cover for Miller's creator-owned
independent comic book. Miller first announced a plan to market the art as Mike
Wieringo's final published cover even though it was just a cover sketch that
Miller penciled and inked over, himself. Marketing it as a Mike Wieringo cover
suggested that he was involved in the project and was willing for his sketch to
be published on the cover of Miller's independent comic book series. Miller
started all this on 1/22 when he posted on Twitter that he had an old Mike
Wieringo cover breakdown he was planning on turning into a cover for his
independent series, Lonestar. A week later he posted the penciled and inked
cover and claimed it may have been the last Mike Wieringo original cover to ever
see print. Wieringo passed away in 2007 at the age of 44. Dave Johnson and Cully
Hamner, both of who were friends with Wieringo were very vocal on social media
about Miller’s actions. Hamner made it clear that there was no way that the late
Wieringo could possibly give consent to his cover breakdown from 1996 being used
as the cover of Miller's comic book in 2019. The breakdown wasn’t signed by
Wieiringo but the cover had what looked like his signature on it. Wieringo's
brother, Matt Wieringo, the executor of his late brother's estate, requested
Miller take Mike's name off of the cover. Miller did that and posted a video of
him setting the cover on fire on social media. |
