Bernie Mireault, a Canadian animator, musician and comic book artist best known for his creation of the comic book series The Jam, died on Monday, September 2nd. The cause was suicide. He was 63 years old.
From Howard Chackowicz's page on Facebook:
"Among his comics works are Dr. Robot, Mackenzie Queen, Bug-eyed Monster, The Blair Witch Chronicles, Left Alone: The Rustin Parr Killings, Two Fisted Science: Safecracker, When is a Door? The Tragic Though Amusing History of Clay Face II, and the creator-owned comic The Jam, first published as a backup feature in Northguard from Matrix Graphic Series, and then published in its own title in 1985 by various publishers starting with Matrix Graphic Series and then Comico, Slave Labor Graphics, Tundra Publishing, Dark Horse Comics, and Caliber Press.
"Mireault served as the artist on the story arc The Devil Within for Matt Wagner's Grendel comics in the late 1980s – notably coloured by Joe Matt. Mireault coloured several Grendel story arcs: Warchild, Devil's Hammer, Devil in Our Midst, Devil Tracks, Devil Eyes, Devil by the Deed, and The Devil's Apprentice. As a colourist he had a long-standing collaborative relationship with Salgood Sam a.k.a. Max Douglas, a fellow Canadian artist. Together they worked on Realworlds: Wonder Woman, Muties #6: The Patriot Game, and Revolution on the Planet of the Apes.
"Another long-standing collaborative relationship was with Mike Allred, with whom he produced Madman Jam: The Fall of the House of Escher, Creatures of the Id, and The Everyman. Mireault's character Dr. Robot first appeared as a back-up in Mike Allred's Madman."
Bernie Mireault was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame at the 2020 Joe Shuster Awards.
Matt Wagner quoted at Downthetubes:
“Sadly… Bernie was a genius creator who just never quite found the broader audience he so richly deserved. He apparently died in poverty, devoid of much hope. Many readers hailed his talents and held him in a lofty position of artistic honor and respect, but the quirky aspects of his drawing that so delighted the rest of us just never connected with most comics buyers.
“Sadder still, considering the diversity of talent and visual styles that flourish in the industry today… I can’t help but think that if he’d only been born 25 years ago, he’d be a mega-star nowadays – widely read and frequently imitated. I hope that this sad event serves to spark a belated interest in Bernie’s work and exposes his narrative brilliance to an all-new generational audience. But for now, I’m just heart-broken that such a deserved renaissance could only occur too little and too late.”
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