Editing Mike Wieringo (section)

==Personal life, death and legacy==
On August 12, 2007, Wieringo died of an [[aortic dissection]] at his home in [[Durham, North Carolina]], at age 44.<ref name="death" /> He was survived by his parents, Cecil and Shirley Dean Wieringo, and his brother Matt.<ref name=HeraldSunObiturary/><!--if/when this link goes out, the newspaper cite is ''The Herald-Sun'', although the paper's online site did not give a date for when obit was published in the print edition. An obit that confirmed Durham but did not list his family was published August 15, 2007, in ''The News & Observer'' (Raleigh-Durham) at http://www.legacy.com/newsobserver/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=92666980 -->

[[Mirage Comics]]' ''Tales Of TMNT'' #40, [[Image Comics]]' ''[[Elephantmen]]'' #11 and ''[[The Walking Dead (comics)|The Walking Dead]]'' #42, and [[Marvel Comics]]' ''Spider-Man: Family'' #7 were dedicated to his memory.

At the time of his death, Wieringo had completed seven pages of a ''[[What If (comics)|What If?]]'' story featuring the temporary [[List of Fantastic Four members#New Fantastic Four|"replacement" Fantastic Four]] of [[Spider-Man]], [[Wolverine (character)|Wolverine]], the [[Hulk]], and the [[Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch)|Ghost Rider]] that had originally been assembled in a 1990 three-part ''Fantastic Four'' storyline. Marvel Comics donated the script and Wieringo's art to [[The Hero Initiative]], a charity dedicated to assisting [[Golden Age of Comics|Golden Age]] and [[Silver Age of Comics|Silver Age]] comics creators who retired without pensions or benefits and require financial assistance. Wieringo's colleagues stepped in to complete the story. The completed 48-page book, ''What If?—The Fantastic Four Tribute to Mike Wieringo'', features, in addition to Wieringo's art, artwork by [[Art Adams|Arthur Adams]], [[Paul Renaud]], [[Stuart Immonen]], [[Cully Hamner]], [[Alan Davis]], David Williams, Sanford Greene, [[Humberto Ramos]], [[Skottie Young]], [[Mike Allred]], and [[Barry Kitson]], and was released in June 2008.<ref>Biggers, Cliff; Rogers, Vaneta; Batty, Ward; ''[[Comic Shop News]]'' #1086; April 2008; Page 3.</ref><ref>Cowsill "2000s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 313: "Talented artist Mike Wieringo's sudden death in August 2007 had stunned the comic community. A total of 12 top artists...joined forces to finish Wieringo's last work, a ''What If?'' story written by Jeff Parker."</ref>

In June 2017, the [[Baltimore Comic-Con]] announced the creation of the [[Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards]] (the "Ringo Awards"), to be held annually at Baltimore Comic-Con beginning in September 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/06/16/ringo-awards-named-mike-wieringo-replace-harvey-awards-baltimore-comic-con/|title= The Ringo Awards – Named After Mike Wieringo – To Replace Harvey Awards At Baltimore Comic Con|first= Rich|last= Johnston|date= June 16, 2017|publisher= Bleeding Cool|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171203153818/https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/06/16/ringo-awards-named-mike-wieringo-replace-harvey-awards-baltimore-comic-con/|archive-date= December 3, 2017|url-status= live|df= mdy-all}}</ref>