Every once in a while, a person gets the chance to actually meet their role model. Sometimes the meeting can flip your impressions of the person, because they were simply not the person you believed them to be. Such was not the case when our daughter finally met Michael Turner.
Even before we opened our comics store, our daughter held a special appreciation for the art of Michael Turner. She treasured the Supergirl covers of his creation, along with the Superman/Batman story of Kara's return. I think our daughter identified with Supergirl, but Mr. Turner's artwork transcended that, and her fascination instead turned to the artist. Once we opened our store, she saved her money and purchased various covers done by the artist extraordinaire who was Michael Turner. So, when we decided to take our 2006 vacation to ComiCon in San Diego, the top priority for her was actually meeting her idol.
Imagine a little girl's heartbreak when we found out that Michael was not scheduled to appear at the Aspen booth, due to the return of his cancer. For her, the trip was wasted, and she simply had to hang around the convention with her parents and brothers, and see the things and people that they wanted. The joy of attending the convention was all but lost to her.
But, a surprising set of circumstances changed all that. We stopped at the Wizard booth, simply to make contacts for our new store, and our daughter noticed a signed copy of the Wizard profile of Michael Turner, along with an unsigned copy of the Apspen variant for Civil War #1. Of course, we purchased those items for her, after relating the whole story to the Wizard rep. Amazingly, he even gave us quite the deal on the items, since it was the little girl who was purchasing items signed by her superstar idol. But most of all, he imparted a little known secret that Michael Turner, who loved his fans so much, was actually going to make an unscheduled appearance at the Aspen booth at 9am the next morning. He advised us to get there early, and book a spot in line.
From our hotel room that night, we planned out our convention activities for the next day. Top of the list was the Aspen booth at 9 am, no matter what else was scheduled. And the next day, we were one of the first of the groups that just sort of hung out around the Aspen booth. And then the magic happened. The workers of the booth let the people in the near vicinity know that they were now "officially" in line to meet Michael Turner when he arrived. We were advised not to leave the area, or we would loose our place in line. That left me scrambling to find items on the convention floor that our daughter could get signed. Of course, she had her Wizard book on Michael Turner, but that already had his signature.
To say our daughter was star-struck was an understatement. However, when she finally did get to meet Mr. Turner, he was the most gracious celebrity I have ever personally encountered. His smile was genuine, and he truly talked to each and every fan that had waited for him. Our daughter was no exception. And although her Wizard book had already been signed, Michael created a personalized message in it for our little girl that she will treasure forever. Our little girl got the chance to meet her role model, and he was exactly the person she had imagined. Not many people get that chance in life.
This weekend, we learned that Michael Turner had passed away at the very young age of 37. Our daughter is, of course, extremely heart-broken. However, she is thankful that she did indeed get the opportunity to meet and talk with her idol, even if it was for just a very short meeting. And those are her words, which speak more about Michael Turner than I ever could.
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