R.I.P. Bernie Mireault: A Wonderful And Vastly Under-Appreciated Artist
by Richard Bruton
Another sad, sad loss to the comic medium happened this week as we heard of the death of artist Bernie Mireault, aged just 63, on 2 September.
Frankly, I’m sick of writing obituaries. They’re happening too often, and all too often they’re full of the same terribly sad thoughts. Because there are far too many creators in comics who, despite being supremely talented, as Bernie was, just don’t get the work or the recognition they deserve.
Announced by his friend Howard Chackowicz on September 4, we found out that Bernie took his own life on 2 September 2024, aged 63, reportedly because of his perceived lack of success and financial hardship.
To those of us who loved his work, it seems almost ridiculous that he felt so desperate that he needed to leave the world this way. It’s horrible and it’s cruel and it’s senseless.
But it’s also comics. A medium beloved by so many, yet also an industry that doesn’t treat its creatives well at all.
Personally, I first saw Bernie Mireault’s art on the three-issue run he had on Grendel, just as I’d imagine a lot of us did. It was shockingly different from either the Matt Wagner art or the Pander Brothers art we’d seen on the series so far but that didn’t make it any less striking or impressive.
After that, he was an artist I’d look for and follow, making a point to pick up his work from then on, most notably with his magnum opus, The Jam, or the quite brilliant Riddler strip, When Is A Door, written by Neil Gaiman, that gave us the Riddler for the future of Batman. His art was unique, original, striking, and always quite beautifully done. To realise that I’ll never have the pleasure of seeing any more of his work is a tragedy, the manner of his passing and the knowledge that he felt he had no other choice even more of a tragedy.
Our heartfelt condolences to all who knew Bernie and to his family. He will be missed far more than he ever realised.
For those of you who haven’t got everything he’s done, go buy his books. Particularly go to About Comics for The Jam: Beginnings, The Jam Super-Cool Color-Injected Turbo Adventure From Hell issue 2, To Get Here, and XVI Short Stories. Also head to TeePublic, where a portion of the sales of Bernie’s art on merch will go to his family.
Bernard Edward Mireault (27 June 1961 – 2 September 2024)
The tributes have obviously come in thick and fast, obviously, but here’s a few of those that really resonated, starting with an excerpt from Howard Chackowicz…
‘I am completely heartbroken to say that my dear, dear friend, the great artist/cartoonist Bernie Mireault has passed away, by his own hand, this Monday. I’m devastated, so I will keep this brief (while I hope many out there, fans and comic book historians will never stop writing and talking about him): Bernie was a wonderful friend (truly like a brother to me). I can’t tell you how much he’s helped me over the years, what a great, great person, I love him so much. My heart and soul goes out to his two sons and his three sisters, his family and friends.’
And… ‘Bernie’s work was very important to him, so please everyone – feel free to search out his work, read his comics, write about him, talk about him, publish his work, play his music, call his name from the mountain-top… THE GREAT BERNIE MIREAULT, rest in peace my dear pal.’
This from Bernie’s publisher, Nat Gertler…
‘Word has come from those close to Bernie that he died on Monday. His death was apparently self-inflicted, at least in part for his lack of a current place in comics and the poverty that resulted.
This is a terrible loss.
For all of you who signed up for The Jam Campaign, I can tell you that your response to the announcement of the The Jam material that About Comics published brought a clear joy to him, and the money generated was, while not what it would’ve been at a more robust publisher and certainly not what was deserved for the work involved, still was helpful to him and appreciated by him at a difficult time.
I know this is going to hit some of you hard. Comics is a tough field not laden with justice. Be sure that when you find something good in comics, you share it, as there are many other people whose talent painfully outstrips their success. (It’s too late to help Bernie in this way beyond supporting his legacy.)
Bernie was slowly working toward a second The Jam reprint volume (with talk of possibly reprinting the first color special as well.) Questions of whether that will be done will have to wait (although not due to any lack of willingness here; I was honored to keep Bernie’s work in print.)
Peace to all, find kindness… and reach out for help if you need it, please.’
‘Hey gang…this morning I couldn’t possibly be sadder than to learn of the untimely death of my one-time friend and GRENDEL collaborator, Bernie Mireault. Bernie and I haven’t been close for many years at this point, but I still marvel at his brilliant talents as a comic artist. His clever, innovative and, indeed, ground-breaking grasp of graphic storytelling marks him as a true genius in our beloved art form. 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 heartbroken that such a deserved renaissance could only occur too little and too late.’
‘R.I.P. Bernie Mireault; the news & shockwave is being felt among so, so many friends and mutual “industry” companions and peers. If only we had been here, “been there,” for Bernie…
One pal texted me today, “we need a cartoonist suicide hotline,” and we weren’t joking with one another. Bernie Mireault was among the best, ever, and that he found himself with nothing, no one, no options—
And as Ed Piskor’s plight proved all too recently, this isn’t “generational,” this isn’t specific to an age, a place, a time. Sorry, I’m reeling & heartbroken & seeking some sense that doesn’t exist amid this tragedy.’
And this from Paul Levitz, who never met Bernie or really knew of his body of work, but serves as a perfect ending to these tributes, as it touches on the subject of comic artists and the continuing struggles they sadly face…
‘It’s strange to mourn someone you never met, someone whose body of work you know only from a sample so small it could qualify as a biopsy. But I find myself mourning Bernie Mireault this morning, as word of his death spreads over the web. Maybe I mourn him as an archetype…the creative artist defeated by the world, broke and broken, and choosing to give up in the most brutal fashion. Maybe I mourn him because he echoes the death of Wally Wood, over 40 years ago, but still painful to me as one of the greats of my childhood, and briefly, a collaborator.
Being a creative artist (and by that I include writers, performers and others as well as visual artists) in America is a challenging life. Success brings temptations that bring down some when they seem to have won the game, and for most, every win is transient at best, and personal and professional survival are tough.
Others will write better about Mireault’s talent, or know details of his life. I mourn his struggle, the failure of our community to provide whatever support might have eased his pain, and the similar challenges others face. Please support creatives: donate to Hero Initiative, look for them on Patreon, or just say kind words at conventions to those whose work meant something to you. And most important , listen for pain whether from creatives or just plain folks in your community, and try to connect them to help they need.’
.Now, a selection of his works… hopefully a fitting tribute to a truly great artist…
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MACKENZIE QUEEN (1985)
Published by Mark Shainblum’s Matrix Square Comics, in the back of Shainblum’s series, Northguard. Inspired by Ditko and Dr Strange.
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THE JAM (1985-2017)
Bernie’s classic non-hero tale of ‘The Jammer’, amazing, funny, wonderful, down to Earth, sad, a wonderful semi-autobiographical thing at times, but a drama with the very best urban hero you’ll ever read. It was published by various companies through it’s life, including Matrix, Comico, Slave Labor Graphics, Tundra Publishing, Dark Horse Comics, and Caliber Press. Bernie wrote and drew the Jam throughout his life, with, most recently, Nat Gertler’s About Comics publishing a new collection of the series and a new colour comic – The Jam: Super Cool Color-Injected Turbo Adventure From Hell #2, published in 2022.
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GRENDEL: THE DEVIL INSIDE (1987)
One of two high-profile comics Bernie did, this one was three issues of Matt Wagner’s Grendel. Written by Wagner and coincidentally, and sadly, coloured by another recently deceased comic artist, Joe Matt, The Devil Inside was three issues of pure Bernie, totally different from absolutely everything that came before (or since) with the title, yet perfectly doing the hardest job in the entire series, transforming the notion of Grendel as just another psychopath in a mask to a literal force. Bernie’s art was absolutely right for this one, absolutely brutally low-key yet still stunning.
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SECRET ORIGINS SPECIAL #1 – THE RIDDLER: WHEN IS A DOOR? (1989)
The other big project, written by Neil Gaiman, drawn by Bernie, inked by Matt Wagner and coloured by Matt, When Is A Door? was a Riddler origin tale that created a new look and a new way forward for the character.
TO GET HER (2011)
Bernie also self-published a Jam-ish graphic novel, To Get Her, in 2011. This tale of Gordon and Janet after he retired from being the Jammer was sort of a Jam tale in that it features Gordon and Janet, although this version makes it explicitly clear that Gordie is Mireault, sort of, with Gordie a not-doing-too-great cartoonist who was also the Jammer AND the guy that draws The Jammer comics. It’s a masterpiece, full of everything that made Bernie’s comics so perfectly different.
