RIP Spidey

Many in the Buffalo area and beyond are saddened by the sudden passing of Shannon "Spidey" Wheeler on Sunday. Shannon was only 33, and he graduated from ITT Technical Institute's animation program in 2011. As you can guess from his nickname, he loved Spider-Man. He also loved karaoke, and rap fashion, and God - probably not in that order. His mother died a year ago in an accident, and he leaves behind a young daughter, Caitlyn. He always had a smile on his face, and he was a hell of an artist.

Last month he posted on Facebook, "Today my mind is thinking of many things going on with life, Caitlyn, my family, my friends, friends I wish I still had around, work, and feeling LOST...very LOST....why? I don't like this feeling..going to visit the man upstairs this weekend cuz I feel I need some more time with him :)"

Sadly, this is how I'll remember Shannon - as a nice, truly sweet guy who always seemed happy in person - but revealed a lot of frustration and unhappiness when he shared his thoughts online. He considered his mother his best friend, so her death left a big hole in his life, and although I don't know what his most recent relationship status was, he often seemed miserable in that area. And then there were his health issues: he had diabetes, and he was in and out of the hospital many times, often from stress.

I met Shannon in connection with SLIME CITY MASSACRE, through our mutual friend John Renna. He did some storyboards for me, and helped John arrange the assistance of Sangria's, a restaurant which provided free dinners to our visiting cast. He disappeared early in the shoot - hospital stay - but came back. He loved working on the film, and getting to know the actors. He drew portraits of the leads in their "slime head" makeup and had a great time meeting Lloyd Kaufman, and over the last three years I lost count of how many times he thanked me for allowing him to be part of the film. Thank you, Shannon.

Not long after the film, a club owner beat the hell out of Shannon for no good reason. Restitution was paid, but the incident never should have happened; Shannon was fragile, harmless, and a good soul. I avoided events held at that club and never had anything to do with the owner. I'm glad it's gone now.

I only saw Shannon twice over the last year and a half, once at his mother's funeral and once at the stag party for a mutual friend. Just a day or two before his death, I had actually been thinking of a funny comment he made at that party: some of the guys were comparing bald spots and receding hairlines, and he sat there, cap backwards and gold chair gleaming, and said to me, "You'll never lose that big Q-tip on your head."

And now he's gone, and I'm sad that he never seemed to find the happiness he needed, except from family and friends, which he valued, and from his daughter, who will grow up never really knowing him. It's hard to put a positive spin on that, except for this: Shannon set a real example for people - he refrained from judging them or taking sides in arguments, and he tried to avoid negativity. These were his favorite quotes:

"With great power, comes great respect" - Uncle Ben (Spiderman)

"Life is like a box of chocholates, you never know what your gonna get" - Forrest Gump

"IF YOU CAN'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN....."

I hope he found some peace on that "visit to the man upstairs" last month, and that he's fully at peace, and happy, now.