Michael’s Work had a great effect on Comic Book Store owners. I should know as I was one during many of those years. As a store owner, I recall what a glut the industry was in for a few years in the early to mid 90′s. Almost nothing was selling anymore as all the famous artists weren’t really producing anything themselves any longer. Fans were leaving and turning to other things like video games and Collectible Card Games, like Magic: The Gathering.
Then came Witchblade. This book reignited Top Cow Studios and helped them to become a major force in the industry for several years. I can’t give Michael all the credit for Top Cow’s rise at the time as there were several other artist who were beginning to break out, like Joe Benetiz, David Finch, Billy Tan and Marc Silvestri who had made a huge comeback with The Darkness. It was Michael however that really seemed to get the ball rolling and inspired others to want to do the type of amazing work he was producing. It quickly got to the point that for every 30 copies of X-Men I could sell, I’d sell a hundred copies of Witchblade.
To me, Michael helped lead the fight in getting comics to be cool again and it helped pay the bills during a time when comics alone weren’t able to without supplementing your income with other fads. For that, I’ll forever be grateful as a Store Owner and a Comic Book Fan.
comic-central says:
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