Mike Dringenberg (born ) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

best known for his work on

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

's ''

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

'' series with writer

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

Early life

Mike Dringenberg was born in

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. In ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and raised in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

before moving to the United States with his family in the late 1960s. Initially living in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, his father's career eventually took the family to Utah, where Mike attended high school. He later studied illustration and graphic design at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

from 1983 to 1987, where he began illustrating comics and working professionally even before graduating. During a break between his freshman and sophomore years, he briefly worked as an animation assistant at

Sullivan Bluth Studios Don Bluth Entertainment (formerly Sullivan Bluth Studios) was an Irish-American animation studio established in 1979 by animator Don Bluth. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney animators, left Disney on September 13, 1979, ...

, where he was probably best remembered for using up all the copier toner to make reading copies of his

Cerebus ''Cerebus'' (; also ''Cerebus the Aardvark'') is a comic book series created by Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim, which ran from December 1977 until March 2004. The title character of the 300-issue series is an anthropomorphic aardvark who takes on ...

collection.

Career

Dringenberg first work in the comics industry was the story "A Tale Of... Lenny's Casino & Grill" in ''Kelvin Mace'' #1 (Dec. 1985) published by

Vortex Comics Vortex Comics is a Canadian independent comic book publisher that began operation in 1982. Under the supervision of president, publisher, and editor Bill Marks, Vortex was known for such titles as Dean Motter's ''Mister X (Vortex), Mister X'', How ...

. His other early work in the 1980s for publishers such as

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

included ''

Alien Worlds ''Alien Worlds'' is an American science fiction anthology comic that was published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. It was edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell.Johnston, Rich"When Diamond Comic Distributors ...

'', ''Enchanter'', and ''

Total Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three cel ...

''. He worked on '' Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters'', a parody of ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'', which itself was a parody of many then-current comic books, and ''Shock the Monkey''. His mainstream work includes DC's ''

Doom Patrol Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appe ...

'' with writer

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...

, where he co-created

Flex Mentallo Flex Mentallo is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Richard Case in 1990, during their run on ''Doom Patrol''. Flex is in part a parody of Charles Atlas' lo ...

; the fantasy card game ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

''; and White Wolf Publishing's card game '' Vampire: The Eternal Struggle''. Dringenberg came to prominence for his work on ''

The Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

'', where he started as the series'

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...

over pencil art by

Sam Kieth Sam Kieth (born January 11, 1963) is an American comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''The Maxx'' and ''Zero Girl''. Career Comics Kieth's first published work was "a story in the back of a Comico comic" when he was "about ...

but switched to pencilling when Kieth left after the fifth issue. He drew eleven issues, all but one inked by

Malcolm Jones III Malcolm Jones III (1959–1996) was an American comic book artist best known as an inker on ''The Sandman'', where he added his illustrative line and textures to the work of pencillers such as Mike Dringenberg, Kelley Jones, and Colleen Doran. He ...

, and his understated, realistic style did much to establish the tone of the series. He co-created the popular character

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, whom he based on his then muse, Cinamon Hadley, whom he knew from the dance clubs in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, Utah. Gaiman had imagined her looking like

Louise Brooks Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helpe ...

Nico Naftiran Intertrade Company Société à responsabilité limitée#In Switzerland, limited (NICO) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC bu ...

, but ultimately preferred Dringenberg's version. Dringenberg stated in a 2014 interview that "None of the characters are direct renderings of individual people; they're composites emerging from my memories; case in point, while my friend Cinamon was a primary visual inspiration for Death, she never actually posed for me as the character while I worked on the series. Most of the time, my girlfriend Givette and my friends McAnn and Nyssa actually posed and they each brought their own personalities to the task." He also co-created

Delirium Delirium (also known as acute confusional state) is an organically caused decline from a previous baseline of mental function that develops over a short period of time, typically hours to days. Delirium is a syndrome encompassing disturbances in ...

, Despair, and

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of aff ...

, basing their androgynous appearance on the work of

Patrick Nagel Patrick Nagel (November 25, 1945 – February 4, 1984) was an American artist and illustrator. He created popular illustrations on board, paper, and canvas, most of which emphasize the female form in a distinctive style, descended from Art Dec ...

, and had a hand in much of the character design apparent in the early series. Dringenberg's work appears in the ''Sandman'' collections " Preludes and Nocturnes", " The Doll's House" and "

Season of Mists ''Season of Mists'' is a 1990-1991 American eight-part comic and the fourth trade paperback (comics), collection of issues in the DC Comics' ''The Sandman (DC Comics/Vertigo), The Sandman'' series. It collects issues #21–28. It was written by N ...

". He is credited in every printing as being one of the series' creators, as he is responsible for the iconic representation of many of the principal characters. In 2008, he was one of the artists for

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

' ''

Comic Book Tattoo ''Comic Book Tattoo '' is an Eisner award and Harvey Award–winning comics anthology, anthology graphic novel made up of fifty-one stories, each based on or inspired by a song by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, published by Image Comics i ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

. Dringenberg is an illustrator of book jackets and CD covers, most notably for various books by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

, Kij Johnson,

Charles de Lint Charles de Lint (born December 22, 1951) is a Canadian writer of Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese ancestry. He is married to, and plays music with, MaryAnn Harris. Primarily a writer of fantasy fiction, he has composed works of urban fantasy, cont ...

Kage Baker Kage Baker (June 10, 1952 – January 31, 2010Obituary: Kage Baker
" SF Site, January ...

. He drew interior illustrations and chapter decorations for

Sharyn November Sharyn November is an American writer and an editor of books for children and teenagers. Until March 2016 she was Senior Editor for Viking Press, Viking Children's Books and Editorial Director of Firebird Books, which is a mainly paperback (repri ...

's ''Firebirds Soaring'' (2009). Mike has illustrated several album and CD covers for San Francisco's

Big City Orchestra Big City Orchestra is a long-running art/anti-art group based generally in California. They have an ever rotating cast of musician and nonmusician members. They were formed in 1979 as the house band for a network of artist residences in the Sout ...

. He has also contributed artwork for a number of

cards, from 1996's ''Mirage'' to 2008's ''Eventide''.

Personal life

Dringenberg lived in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

for many years before moving to the greater

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

area, where he currently resides.

Bibliography

Acclaim Comics

* '' Arabian Nights on the World of Magic: The Gathering'' #1–2 (covers only) (1995–1996) * '' Homelands on the World of Magic: The Gathering'' #1 (text story) (1996)

Dark Horse Comics

* ''

Dark Horse Presents ''Dark Horse Presents'' was a comic book published by American company Dark Horse Comics from 1986. Their first published series, it was their flagship title until its September 2000 cancellation. The second incarnation was published on MySpace, r ...

'' #85 (1994)

DC Comics

* ''

'' vol. 2 #42 (1991) * ''

'' #1–4 (inker); #6–11, 14–16, 21, 28 (penciller) (1989–1991) * ''

Who's Who in the DC Universe ''Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe'' (1985–87), usually referred to simply as ''Who's Who'', is the umbrella title for a number of comic book series which DC Comics published to catalogue the wide variety of fictional cha ...

'' #5 (

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

illustration), #8 (

illustration), #15 (

The Dreaming The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

and

Endless Endless or The Endless may refer to: Business * Endless (private equity), a British firm * Endless.com, an e-commerce website selling shoes and accessories * Endless Computers, an American operating system company Film * ''The Endless'' (film ...

illustrations) (1990–1992)

Eclipse Comics

* '' Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters'' #3 (inker); #5 (cover only); #9 (one page only) (1986–1988) * ''

'' vol. 2 #1 (1988) * ''Clint'' #1–2 (1986–1987) * ''

'' #1 (

Prowler Prowler may refer to: * "Prowler", a song by Iron Maiden from ''Iron Maiden'', 1980 * Prowler (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics superhero * ''The Prowler'' (1951 film), a film starring Van Heflin * "The Prowler" (''Australian Playhouse''), an e ...

backup story) (1988)

Entity-Parody

* ''Enchanter: Prelude to Apocalypse'' #1–3 (1993)

IDW Publishing

* ''Hero Comics'' #1 (2011)

Image Comics

* ''

'' #1 (2008) * ''

Spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: ...

'' #34 (one page Violator illustration) (1995)

Marvel Comics

* '' Daredevil'' #339–340, 342–343 (covers only) (1995) * ''

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

, Sorcerer Supreme'' #81 (one page only) (1995) * ''Shadows & Light'' #3 (one page only) (1998) * ''

Strange Tales ''Strange Tales'' is a Marvel Comics comics anthology, anthology series. The title was revived in different forms on multiple occasions. Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (feature), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. made their d ...

: Dark Corners'' #1 (1998) * '' X-Universe'' #2 (two pages only) (1995)

Vortex Comics

* ''Kelvin Mace'' #1 (1985)

References

External links

*
Mike Dringenberg
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics

at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators {{DEFAULTSORT:Dringenberg, Mike 1960s births 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists Album-cover and concert-poster artists American comics artists Artists from Utah Comics inkers DC Comics people French emigrants to the United States Game artists Living people