While I'm not a huge comic book fan, I have read a few of the classic graphic novels, Like Watchman, V for Vendetta, Sandman, and a series called Seekers into the Mystery, along with issues of several other 90's comics. I first checked out Spawn in the mid 90's a few times. As a writer and artist, Todd's story is far more fascinating to me. This 45 minute interview gives a great look at how Todd McFarlane went from a wannabe comic artist, to building an empire in comics and toys.
As I'll mention over and over in this blog, I came from the early days of BMX freestyle, when it was just turning into a actual sport in the mid-1980's. My first creative work was a zine. BMX, skateboarding, and other 1980's action sports, were entrenched with the DIY- Do It Yourself- mantra of hardcore punk rock. So I've always been a fan of self-publishing, when others aren't interested in publishing you.
Todd McFarlane is probably the best example of that spirit in the comic world. In his 20's, he worked his way into Marvel as an artist, and eventually drew issues of classic characters like Spiderman and Batman. But the time came to go out on his own, with a few other artists, they formed Image Comics. There Todd brought a teenage idea, a character named Spawn, to life. With his own company, and full creative control, Spawn went on to outsell the classic characters issues he had worked on earlier. He later took Spawn to Hollywood, for a couple of series. When he couldn't find the right partner to make toys for Spawn and other Image characters, he started his own toy company. Todd's continued work of breaking new ground usually started with a simple question, "Can we make this look cooler?"
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