In Memoriam - Dennis Michael Mize September 15, 1956 - March 13, 2006
Well for our 10th Anniversary Tribute piece I wanted to pay homage to the great and powerful Mr. Dennis Mize - the first Dark Sword sculptor to sign on back in 2002. Without Dennis, Dark Sword would never have gotten past a glimmer in my eye as my initial reason for starting Dark Sword was to continue on creating new Dennis Mize sculpts based on Larry Elmore artwork and then expand to the all four main TSR artists from the AD&D glory days. I am a massive Dennis Mize (and Tom Meier) fan from back in the late 1980's until Ral Partha closed their doors in the late 1990's. Dennis then sculpted for Reaper Miniatures for a few years as well, but Dennis was the mainstay Dark Sword sculptor for our first 4+ years. As anyone that has followed Dark Sword over the years knows, Dennis passed away of a massive heart attack back on March 13, 2006. On my trip out to attend the funeral in Ohio, I was able to meet many of his family members and of course his niece Melanie Mize who I keep in contact with on a regular basis and whenever I get into Ohio to visit everyone. This tribute was done with the full blessing and support of Melanie and the rest of the Mize family. Dennis loved Samurai movies and the whole code of the Samurai. So it was only fitting that Tom Meier, the second Dark Sword sculptor to join the team, sculpted up Dennis in full Samurai armor in a Frazetta Conan tribute pose with rescued damsel on his leg (and her hand squeezing his butt underneath his armor). Dennis loved Samurai and he loved Frazetta. There are three head variants you can see down in the green pics. We have the unhelmed young Dennis Mize that Tom Meier knew, the open faced helm version with older Dennis Mize that most of the rest of us knew, and then a fully helmed with mask version people can use if they simply want a cool samurai mini. They all come standard in the blister pack. The female is a totally separate piece as well if you want to do the Samurai mini on its own. I need to extend a massive thank you to Jessica for painting this up in time for Gen Con Indy. The pics below are 98% finished as she worked on him a little bit at Gen Con Indy as well. I need to get some perfected, final pictures posted up once I can get the mini photographed here in the studio. Everyone that knew Dennis and saw the mini in person nodded and said Dennis would have approved of Tom's skills on this tribute piece. Please note, this is a gaming scale miniature, not 54mm...
