The PoP! Stars narrow it down to the cream of the crop in categories ranging from (but not limited to) Comics, Movies, Toys and Geek Culture in general. This is the PoP! Top 6-Pack.

Mike Wieringo, 1963-2007

Over the years we’ve lost many comic book creators. That’s the circle of life. While every death is sad, as fans it’s only natural that some deaths will hit harder. To me the passing of Mike Wieringo was the latter. The popular artist died only at age 44 on August 12, 2007 - two years as of yesterday. His two decades long career produced some of the most joyful comic pages ever seen, brought to life by Mike’s clean “cartoonish” style. From anything he ever he did or said, it was obvious that Mike was a true lover of comics, and from his relationships with other creators and fans and the legacy he left behind, Mike Wieringo is known as one of the greatest persons to embrace this industry. To remember him, here are six of Mike’s covers:

6. Sensational Spider-Man #10 (1996)

The ’90s weren’t so great for everyone’s favorite wall-crawler, at least creative-wise. A little shine of light during that era was writer Todd Dezago’s run on Sensational Spider-Man with Mike Wieringo. Somehow, despite the man under the mask not being Peter Parker but actually a so-called Peter using another name (should I really get into that? I’m sure everyone in the world knows how that ended), Wieringo and Dezago managed to create charming stories. The status of Spider-Man allegedly improved when Peter became the protagonist again, then Mike had the chance to pencil the true Spidey.

The cover above obviously stars the Ben Reilly Spider-Man, shortly before he died. It was part of 2 in which Ben fought the former Nazi scientist made of bees, Swarm. I love this cover because it’s so simple yet focuses on the hero suffering by the ends of his rival. And bees controlled by a mutated human attacking man with spider powers, that’s so poetic.

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5. Fantastic Four #68 (2003)

Another great collaboration of Wieringo was with writer Mark Waid on the Fantastic Four in 2002, reuniting forces years after their great success with Flash

Trapped in hell, Doom managed to find a way out and ruing his enemies’ life once again. As the cover depicts, he took over Sue and Reed’s little daughter, Valeria (named by Doom himself, ironically). Despite the familiar “cute” art style of Wieringo, he managed to create a frightening image. Children are obviously evil.

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4. Tellos #5 (1999)

Soon after Sensational Spider-Man, Wieringo and Dezago worked again, this time on the creator-owned Tellos. It was a fantasy tale mostly for children, yet was very dark. The way it moved between both elements, the book was fitted perfectly for Wieringo’s style.

The cover here shows Koj, a brave man-tiger who serves both as the protagonist Jarek’s partner-in-adventures and later champion when Jarek is revealed to be more than he seems. Wieringo took an idea that was done many times over the years - like in Incredible Hulk #340 - and still comes out with a great result, showing Koj’s firmness in the face of a horrible enemy. Not to mention, both fighters are anthropomorphs.

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3. Flash #118 (1996)

As mentioned above, Waid and Wieringo had a great, famed run on Flash. The only run that topped that to this day was probably Geoff Johns’ run throughout most of the 2000s. For many, it defined the character of Wally West as the ultimate speedster to don the Flash costume. Also, they created West’s sidekick in the form of Impulse, the future grandson of late Flash Barry Allen - a character that was highly popular in years to come.

I picked up this cover because it’s simply iconic and tells us every basic thing we need to know about the Flash. The movement, the costume, the pose, the cheering and the acceptance. Everything that makes the Flash - is on that cover.

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2. Robin #46 (1997)

A short but remembered run for Wieringo was on Robin alongside scribe Chuck Dixon. The sidekick of Batman, now hiding the secret identity of Tim Drake, was very popular at the time and both his young age and solo book were the main factors in his appeal. Add Wieringo’s energetic art style, and the result was almost too perfect.

Like the Spidey cover, this one is very simple yet delivers the message. Well, literally, with that text under the logo. The white space is used perfectly to add to the image, and the tragedy portrayed in such small detail is obvious enough. This homage to Bruce Wayne loss of his parents was a great choice for Wieringo’s last cover for the book.

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1. Tellos #6 (2000)

Returning to Tellos, the following issue had even a better cover to represent the book (well, that’s why it’s #1).

As you can see, it says almost everything about the aforementioned tones of the story. It shows the beautiful relationship between Jarek and his companion/protector Koj. As Koj is injured badly after last issue’s battle, and the child hero holds his friend, wounded badly himself, the strength of the image works better than anything drawn by Mike Wieringo and his superb style.

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To contact Tomer Soiker: tsoiker@panelsonpages.com

(Stay tuned for Tuesday’s Hidden Gems: Tellos)