Heavyweights Joe Madureira and Michael Turner duke it out to see who's comics' best- and coolest- young artist!                                                                                      By: Matthew Senreich, Photos- J. Aronovsky/Zuma Press

    Ladies and Gentlemen!  The Wizard arena proudly invites you to a special match-up of two of today's youngest and most talented pencilers in the comic business!

    In this corner, standing 5'10" and weighing in at a lean 150 pounds, hailing from Cliffhanger, the creator of the wildly successful creator-owned title Battle Chasers, the No. 1 selling American comic book in August, even outselling his former assignment Uncanny X-Men, the man who made manga-like art popular in mainstream comics: Joe Madureira! (Add echo here.)

• Name: Joe Madureira

• Occupation: Creator/artist/co-writer of Battle Chasers, co-founder of Cliffhanger imprint.

• Born: December 3, 1974, in Queens, N.Y.

• Base of Operations: Long Island, N.Y.

• Career Highlights: Began penciling comics with a few Marvel Comics Presents stories back in 1991 and zipped into the limelight with 1993's Deadpool mini-series.  Soared to fame with four years on Uncanny X-Men before launching his own creator-owned Battle Chasers.

• Favorite Pie: Coconut custard pie.

    And in the other corner, standing 6'3" and weighing in at a whopping 175 pounds, currently reigning as the No. 1 gun at Image's Top Cow Studios, creator of 1998's best single-selling issue Fathom #1, the man who can draw an unmatched mixture of realistic scenes and beautiful women (just see his former project Witchblade): Michael Turner! (Insert reverb here.)

• Name: Michael Turner

• Occupation: Creator/artist/co-writer of Fathom

• Born: April 21, 1971, in Crossville, Tenn.

• Base of Operations: Los Angeles

• Career Highlights: Sparked his superstar career with Witchblade #1 and has penciled side projects including Tom Raider/Witchblade 1 and 2 before shuffling over to his own creator-owned Top Cow title, Fathom.

• Favorite Pie: Grandma's coconut custard pie.

    So, let the brawling begin.   Or at least the pre-fight psychological warfare.  "We're not the type to bash each other," Turner insists, in a feeble attempt to trick his opponent into letting his guard down.  "Joe and I are friends."  Feh!  Wizard wants to know who's better, so we pitted the two against each other in a war of words.   "Fans should know this is all in good fun," says Madureira, showing a little nervousness before the Thrilla in Comic-villa.  "I mean, it's all playful."  Whatever!  We posed 15 super-dooper, powerful, hard-hitting questions and let the two heavyweights lug it out.

    So here it is, the battle you've been waiting for: Who's better, Joe Madureira or Michael Turner!

1. Who's the better artist?

Joe Madureira: I have to admit..I am.  I have seniority.  I've been doing it way longer than Mike.  Seven years, baby!

Michael Turner: I think it's different.  We have two totally different art styles.

Madureira: He's right.  It's like saying, "What's the better movie, 'Titanic' or 'Godfather'?"

Turner: Yeah, what's better, "Star Wars" or "Godfather"?  They're both great movies, but completely incomparable.   But Joe, with his anime style, can do more expressions with his characters.   He can get those rubbery-type faces that just convey these great animated expressions.

Madureira: Rubbery-type faces?  What are you talking about?

Turner: Rubbery.  Y'know, that non-realistic-looking face with the big grins and the big teeth.  My art is limited because I have normal-sized faces with my more realistic art style.

Madureira: That kinda makes sense.

Turner: So with expression, he got me.

Madureira: But there's some stuff where his realistic style works a lot better than mine.  I'm limited like him, too.

Turner: If he and I switched properties, the styles wouldn't work as well.  For me to do a fantasy book, it would be a different feel and not as fun as Battle Chasers is.

2. What are the other guy's strengths and weaknesses?

Turner: He doesn't return phone calls.  He doesn't send stuff that he's supposed to send me, like Parasite Eve [a Sony Playstation game].

Madureira: I'm not touching this question.

Turner: I know my own weaknesses.

Madureira: We know our own weaknesses, but we're not going to share them.  It's like a magician.  We don't share our tricks.

3. Who has the cooler boss?

Madureira: Jim Lee is the coolest boss.  He calls me at 5 a.m. to play [the online interactive fantasy video game] Ultima Online.   No other boss would do that.  He never yells at me when I blow a deadline, because he's even worse than me.  You can't beat that scenario.

Turner: Marc Silvestri can't yell at me, because he's not even drawing anymore.

Madureira: But you guys play golf together, right?

Turner: No.  That's [Top Cow president] Brad Foxhoven.  marc doesn't play golf that much.  Marc's great.

Madureira: But Jim's just better.  [Laughs]

Turner: We don't interact as boss/employee.   We're friends.  As a mentor, he's taught me a lot about art.  He just kicks ass.

Madureira: Jim frequently takes the entire studio to paintball wars and to go gambling in Las Vegas.  C'mon, that's cool.

Turner: Marc bought us all softball jerseys.

Madureira: Just fess up, you're joining Cliffhanger next year.

Turner: Uh...[Chuckles] that'd be, "No."

4. Would Cliffhanger have been stronger with Michael Turner?

Turner: It would have been cool.  The three Cliffhanger books and mine are all so different.  They're four completely different genres.  Crimson has that vampire, gothic feel.  Joe's has the Final Fantasy feel.  And with Jeff [Scott Campbell]'s, you have that James Bond/Mike Myers-type thing...Austin Powers.  And with mine, you have sci-fi.

Madureira: Plus, it never hurts to have another A-list artist on board.  Then we'd have been the four hottest artists in comics.

Turner: It's like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.   But I'm at Top Cow.  I like Top Cow.  And I'm not leaving Top Cow.

5. Who makes more money?

Turner: You're asking all these questions that Joe and I hate to answer.

Madureira: Mike probably has more money because Mike's smart, stayed single and saved his money.  Unlike me.  I squandered it all.

Turner: He bought a house.

Madureira: Since my book never comes out, I guess that answers that question.  [Laughs]  Mike wins.  How many books did you do in the last year?  I only did like three.

Turner: I did like 11.

6. Who's better with deadlines?

Turner: I'd say with confidence...um, I am.  [Laughs]

Madureira: Where's your next issue?  [Laughs]   Okay, I'll actually give this to Mike.  I was good for a little while, but now I'm really behind schedule.

Turner: I end up taking on too many projects.  I should have waited before I launched Fathom, because I had to jump right into it after Witchblade and Witchblade/Tomb Raider.  So I'm a little behind, but I'm catching up.

Madureira: I can never catch up.  I can't turn down outside projects either.  It's what gets me excited as an artist, doing different things.  But I'm getting better with Battle Chasers.

7. Who draws the better women?

Madureira: Red Monika is the hottest woman in comics.

Turner: Please!  She's falling over.

Madureira: At least, she's not a Little Mermaid wanna be.  [Laughs]  But seriously, I'd say Mike has a lot more experience drawing women.

Turner: I just draw a lot more women in my books.

Madureira: Plus, my chicks are a lot more cartoony.   They don't appeal to everyone.  I think everyone can look at Mike's women and drool.  You'd have to be a slightly demented freak if you're attracted to mine, because they're so cartooney.

Turner: Also, a lot of women like the women I draw, because they don't have watermelons.

Madureira: Oh!

Turner: You have to admit, Monika does.

Madureira: A lot of women like Monika and her watermelon boobs.  I was trying to offend people with it.  It's a parody on how women are drawn in comics.  I wanted her to be the biggest of the big.

Turner: Oh, you definitely won.  [Snickers]

8. Quien es mas macho?

Madureira: I'm a stud!  I have a beautiful wife!   But I'll still concede this one.  Mike [gets more] action.  [Like the time he] almost had a CENSORED at one of these CENSORED.  

Turner: Oh God!  Shhh!  [Laughs]

Madureira: I've never even come close to that.   In fact, this happens all the time with Mike.

Turner: But you're married!  What if we fought?

Madureira: Yeah, let's hear your karate stories.

Turner: It's kung fu.  [Chuckles]  I took it for seven years and I've taught it for four.

Madureira: But I've learned all my moves from Jackie Chan movies, so...

Turner: Oh no...[Laughs mockingly]

Madureira: Flipping over tables, throwing chairs.   But I'll concede again.  [Laughs]

9. Who has the cooler fans and gets bigger lines?

Madureira: My fans are cooler, because they are a lot of younger ones.

Turner: I don't know.  I have some great fans, too.   There's even a club: The Disciples of the Witchblade.  It's a huge group of people.

Madureira: Disciples of the Witchblade.  That's scary sounding.

Turner: My fans are loyal.  I get presents now and then.  This group of girls from New Jersey came to a Pittsburgh convention to give me alcohol and cologne.

Madureira: I had a girl make me a quilted Battle Chasers pillow where she embroidered Garrison with Red Monika on the front.  I support my back with the pillow when I'm working.

Turner: You're not telling everyone that your wife made it, are you?

Madureira: Moving right along...

10. Who's smarter?

Madureira: I'm about to hang up on you right now.   [Laughs]

Turner: I had good grades in school.  I was going to be a doctor. 

Madureira: I had terrible grades.  All I did was draw 24 hours a day.

Turner: I drew in biology class.  Oh, I took one art class and got a C.  My teacher gave us all these assignments at the beginning of the semester and we had the entire semester to do them.  I did them all in two weeks because I spent all my time playing volleyball.

Madureira: I never got less than an A in art class, so that should show who's smarter and who's the better artist Mr. C-minus.  [Laughs]

11.  Who's the better writer?

Turner: Have you written anything by yourself?

Madureira: Not really.

Turner: The only thing I wrote was Tomb Raider/Witchblade by myself.  The rest I'm getting help with.  So are you.   I'll hype up [Fathom co-writer] Bill O'Neill.

Madureira: Writing is time consuming and I never think I did as good a job as I could have or someone else could have.  It's not at the level where I'd like it to be yet.  That's why I'm working with [Battle Chases co-writer] Munier Sharrieff.

Turner: I like Battle Chasers.  And so far, I'm happy with what we're doing on Fathom.   Bill wrote a lot of Hollywood treatments and novels.  So the stories we have are cool, too.

Madureira: It's a learning process.  We're both new to writing.  And we tell stories in different ways than other writers.  I'm less influenced by comics, and more by animation, so I pace the book that way. Mike's kinda the same.  But I can't judge who's better.

Turner: Why?  You haven't read Fathom yet?

Madureira: Talk about not sending out packages when you're supposed to!

Turner: It's on the way.  Talk about just going out and buying the damn book at a comic store.

Madureira: Maybe if you weren't so hot, I could find it.  I tried.  I went all over the place.

12. Fathom vs. Battle Chasers characters?   Who wins?

Madureira: It's four against one.  What do you think would happen?

Turner: Once she gets her buddies in there, they'd kick your characters' asses.  [Laughs]

Madureira: Well, it just hasn't been revealed that all my characters breathe underwater yet.   Why don't we do that issue one day?

Turner: Yeah, we'll do a crossover and settle it.

13. What property makes a better movie?

Madureira: Mike's would be easier.  But I guess it depends on who wrote the screenplay.

Turner: I think Fathom will make it to TV really quickly.  I'd rather have a movie somewhere down the road, but if someone's willing to make a high-quality TV show, I'm not going to turn it down.

Madureira: I never really saw Battle Chasers as a live-action movie.  And my standards for animation are way too high, so it might never happen.  For live action, it'd need a huge budget and the chances of that happening are like zero.  So Fathom would make a better movie then.

Turner: And I'm not going to settle for a $20 million movie for Showtime.  I want it to be a good, high-budget movie.

Madureira: Mine would make a better video game, I think.

Turner: I already have a video game deal, sort of.  More than likely the guys who did Tomb Raider [for Sony Playstation] will work on Fathom.  Right now, they're working on the Witchblade game [also for Playstation] which will be amazing.

Madureira: But don't forget that some of the original creators of Tomb Raider left and started their own company.  So it's not the same guys.

Turner: I realize that.  It's even better guys.  Some guys who did Tomb Raider and even Goldeneye [for Nintendo 64].

14.  Who's better at video games?

Turner: Me.  I beat him bad in Ridge Racer [for Sony Playstation].

Madureira: Mike got me when I was rusty.  I hadn't played in like a year.

Turner: C'mon, I hadn't played it in a year either.  Don't cop out and make excuses.   But I think it depends on the video game.  Like Goldeneye, I'd kick his ass in that, too.

Madureira: No.  No, no, no, no, no.  In a Goldeneye deathmatch, I would take you out so fast.  I can beat every enemy on the level with one bullet.  [Laughs]

Turner: We have a match.  We'll have to get together with a TV.  Can I just say again that I beat him in Ridge Racer?  So the precedent is set.

Madureira: I wanted to play more Ridge Racer, but Mike chickened out and made me watch "Twister" on his laser disc player.  And you barely beat me.

Turner: But I won and that's all that counts.

Madureira: That game is so old.  It shouldn't even count.  We should count a game that came out this decade.

Turner: Joe probably plays more games than I do, but when I play a game, I play it until I become a professional.

Madureira: Mike definitely sticks with one game longer than me.  I'm not faithful.  I get around a lot.  I have to buy every single game, so my attention is divided.

Turner: We'll have to drop our deadlines and get together to play video games all weekend.   In a fighting game, like Tekken II?  With [the fighter] Paul, I'd destroy you, Joe.

Madureira: Paul?  I bet you use that cheesy punch that kills a guy with one blow.

Turner: I use the reversals.

Madureira: I'm King.  I like his tiger head and the wrestling moves.  And you'll hear his roar when he wins.  We never played each other, but we should.  I'd say that I'm the better gamer.  Mike can be the better artist, but I'm the better gamer.

15. What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you?

Madureira: I'd could probably think of some fanboy-like story, but I gotta say this interview by far.

Turner: Compared only to the accompanying photo shoot with the boxing gloves.

Madureira: Fans do know that we're only joking around with each other...

Turner: They will know that, right?

-W

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Face/Off

    One's the East Coast ex-X-Men artist and creative force behind the red-hot Battle Chasers, the other is the West Coast ex-Witchblade artist currently wowing the masses with Fathom.  Playful banter aside, Wizard digs deep and asks the hard-hitting questions to get to the elusive truth: Who's better?

Madureira       vs.       Turner

Clothes Style

Boobs Rendering

Boss

Company Symbolism

'Dawson's Creek' or 'Party of Five'

Coke or Pepsi

People Skills

Syllables

Ability to Score with Groupies

red= edge Madureira

Blue= edge turner

And the Winner is...

...and in a 5-4 decision, it's Michael Turner by a nose!  And no, we're not just saying that so he doesn't come and black-belt our asses into oblivion either.  But we do wanna know where he gets his groupies.

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3, 2, 1...Draw!

    Who's the better artist?   We let fans decide.

Brass knuckles?  Bean burritos?

    Nah.  If Joe Madureira and Mike Turner were truly in a war of comic art domination, Wizard decided to give 'em weapons both are familiar with: their pencils.  The pair mutually decided on a mainstream character to strut their stuff...and away they went!  We posted both of 'em on our Web site (www.wizardworld.com) and let the fans decide which one would stand triumphant.  It was a lot tougher than many thought.

    "Man, these guys are good!" said one fan.  "It was a tough pick, but you gotta go with the one that ultimately looks more like the Amazonian warrior that is Wonder Woman rather than the one that is more sexy."

    "While Turner's was sexier and almost Fathom/Witchblade-like in look, Mad's had a little more character, action and just punch," posted one respondent.  "This 'creator combat' was so cool.  Can you do more?"

    Hmm, that gives us an idea...

              Madureira's Version!              Turner's Version!

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