Bernie Mireault, creator of The Jam, Mackenzie Queen and Dr. Robot, and the artist of Matt Wagner’s Grendel: The Devil Inside, has passed away at the age of 63.
Mireault’s death was shared by his friend and fellow artist Howard Chackowicz, who posted on Facebook that Mireault committed suicide on Monday.
“Bernie was a wonderful friend (truly like a brother to me),” Chackowicz wrote. “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.”
Mireault was born in Marville, France, where his parents were stationed while working for the Canadian Forces, the unified armed forces of Canada. His family moved back to Quebec when he was an infant, where he would be raised and would eventually become an active contributor to the Montreal underground comix scene. His first art job, however, came during his college years when he was working on the animated Heavy Metal film that was released in 1981.
“I had started working on a more ambitious comic art project and was struggling to pay for school when an ad for artists showed up in the local paper, that had everyone talking,” Mireault told Alex Dueben back in 2017. “Unlike most, I knew Heavy Metal magazine and showed up with bells on. I knew nothing about animation but such was their need for artists that I made it in as an assistant animator and then everyone around me was kind enough to teach me the basics and eventually I caught up.”
That ambitious comic art project was Mackenzie Queen, Mireault’s first published comics work, which was released by Matrix Graphic Series in the early 1980s. He called it “my version of Doctor Strange.” While Mireault read and enjoyed comics like Archie, Mad Magazine, Tintin and Asterix growing up, he said North American mainstream superhero comics were what really inspired him to make comics, citing Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s work on Daredevil as an inspiration.
“Klaus Janson was more than half of it,” he told Dueben. “His bold ink lines had a wonderful style and his use of heavy blacks gave power. Also, he colored the work and we were treated to his very creative use of comic book color that showed me what was possible when someone actually cares about the work they do.”
That influence can be seen in his comic The Jam, the story of a costumed superhero with no powers who patrolled the streets of Montreal. His character “The Jammer” debuted in Matrix Graphics Series’ New Triumph Featuring Northguard #2 in 1985, and would go on to appear in his own comics. The Jam appeared in various titles from the mid-1980s on from companies like Caliber, Comico, SLG, Dark Horse, Tundra and more.
“It’s a ‘superhero in the real world’ concept, but done with Mireault’s signature wit,” comics critic Timothy Callahan wrote in 2009. “Like his other works, it’s a mash-up of Romantic fantasies and the minor details of everyday life, and though it may lack the cosmic scope of Mackenzie Queen or the sinister entropy of Grendel: The Devil Inside, it more than makes up for it with an all-encompassing humanism. The Jam is sad, funny, thrilling, and mundane, depending on the scene, but it always has plenty of heart.”
In addition to his own comics, Mireault was the artist on the story arc “The Devil Within” for Wagner’s Grendel. Mireault got the job after sending Wagner a fan letter. Mireault went on to color several Grendel story arcs, including “Warchild,” “Devil’s Hammer,” “Devil in Our Midst,” “Devil Tracks,” “Devil Eyes,” “Devil by the Deed” and “The Devil’s Apprentice.”
“His clever, innovative and, indeed, ground-breaking grasp of graphic story-telling mark him as a true genius in our beloved art form,” Wagner posted this morning about Mireault. “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.”
As a colorist, Mireault also worked with Salgood Sam, a fellow Canadian artist, on comics like Realworlds: Wonder Woman, Muties #6: The Patriot Game and Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, and with Mike Allred on Madman Jam: The Fall of the House of Escher, Creatures of the Id and The Everyman. Another of Mireault’s signature characters, Dr. Robot, made his debut in a back-up story in Allred’s Madman.
In 2017, About Comics published XVI, a collection of Mireault’s short stories, which include appearances by many of the characters he created over the years. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame.
“Bernie Mireault, like Henriette Valium (two GIANTS of comix and art in Canada/Québec) died in poverty. That’s one of the main reasons Bernie gave for taking his own life – poor health, no money, no hope,” Chackowicz’s post continued. “Both these great artists did everything right: they mastered their craft, they worked VERY hard and put out a ton of great and important work over decades, they worked hard at promoting themselves and being good ‘community’ members… it’s criminal that internationally well-known and respected artists like these died in poverty. Bernie always championed other artists, too – he was just such a great, great, wonderful human being and all of us who knew him will miss him so, so very much. 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.”
Many creators who worked with him or admired his work posted tributes on social media today as the news broke:
Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues and fans.
I love Bernie Mireault’s work. His version of Grendel is still my favorite, The Jam “Super Cool Color injected turbo from hell ” is one of my all time favorite comics from the 80’s and I look at it all the time. I’m going to read it again tonight. This is so sad , God bless you Bernie