Townsville comic-book artist, pop culture fanboy Andrew Sorohan remembered

A greatly admired Townsville comic-book artist, toy collector and pop culture fanboy has died. See how his life will be celebrated.

Townsville cartoonist Andrew Sorohan, created a “Townsville Fairytale”, a version of which was published in ‘Savvy’, in the Townsville Bulletin. He died at the age of 44. Photographer: Fiona Harding

The life of a Townsville comic-book artist, portrait sketcher, toy collector and pop culture fanboy is to be celebrated at a new exhibition.

Opening at Murky Waters Studio on Friday, the Toying with Art retrospective will feature the selected works of Andrew Sorohan, whose online comic ‘A Townsville Fairytale’ was once nominated for a Townsville City Council Arts Award and also appeared in the Bulletin’s weekly magazine ‘Savvy’.

Transformers fan art by Townsville comic-book artist Andrew Sorohan.

Sister Leah Harris said her well-liked brother died suddenly at the age of 44 on February 16 in a death that shocked his four siblings and countless fans around the world.

She said her brother’s passions extended from sketching passers-by at the Cotters Markets to toys that took the imagination of a generation in the 80s, particularly He-Man, Lego and his beloved Transformers.

According to YouTuber PerspectiveEnd, who has more than 12,000 global subscribers, Sorohan was a “great artist and absolute pillar of the online Transformers community”.

“He was a great dude and I wish I had taken the opportunity to know him more: Life is fleeting, don’t take opportunities like that for granted,” he said on a post with almost 8000 views and 550 comments.

“Rest in peace Andrew, you’ll forever be missed and cherished by all,” one person wrote.

“He was a very friendly, funny, talented guy,” wrote another, who added that Sorohan deserved to be “recognised as one of the greats”.

Townsville comic-book artist Andrew Sorohan at a recent comic convention. Picture: Supplied

A tweet from award-winning cartoonist David M Willis noting that the Townsville artist had passed was viewed 170,000 times.

Ms Harris said the retrospective would be launched on Friday with the exhibition running every Sunday from 9am till midday for the next four weeks.

She said the funeral service had been a private, family affair but looked forward to members of the public attending the exhibition to celebrate her brother’s creative life.

His works can be viewed HERE.

Originally published as Townsville comic-book artist, pop culture fanboy Andrew Sorohan remembered