Todd McFarlane is a comic book artist, writer, and entrepreneur who does all kinds of work from drawing superheroes to founding one of the biggest toy manufacturers in the United States. McFarlane’s most notable work is his involvement in “The Amazing Spider-Man” series and creating the character Spawn. But who is this guy? Anchor News is continuing its series “Creators YOU SHOULD KNOW” by taking a look at Todd McFarlane’s achievements in the world of comic books.  

Early Life

According to McFarlane.com, Todd McFarlane was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. McFarlane spent a lot of his early childhood in Southern California, returning to Canada at 14. McFarlane grew up a huge baseball fan and played through college, even earning a scholarship to Eastern Washington University. 

Todd McFarlane found his love for comic books in high school, collecting as many he could afford and spending a lot of his free time drawing superheroes. McFarlane worked as a janitor and at a comic book store during his time in college, and, in addition to his baseball scholarship, was able to fully fund his education. McFarlane acquired a general studies degree in graphic arts, communication, and art. 

Marvel Comics

After McFarlane’s college baseball career ended and no Major League Baseball teams wanted him, he continued to pursue a career in the comic industry. McFarlane sent his artwork to many comic book editors and received more than 700 rejection letters for his efforts. In March 1984, McFarlane was finally offered the position of penciler from Marvel to work on a comic called “Scorpio Rose”.

The Artist then moved on to start penciling multiple issues of “The Incredible Hulk” and got involved with DC comics on the Batman titles. McFarlane worked his way to the top, eventually being offered to draw “The Amazing Spider-Man” comic. 

McFarlane met David Michelinie with both of them working on Spider-Man in 1988. McFarlane had a unique art style for Spider-Man resulting in a more modern look on the character. McFarlane drew Spider-Man in more active positions, doing all kinds of dynamic movements in his artwork. McFarlane is the artist that created the big eyes for Spider-Man’s costume in 1988. 

This creator has also co-created a new character with the help of Micheline by adding a new villain in Spider-Man’s expansive rogue’s gallery. In the last panel of issue 299 of “The Amazing Spider-Man”, Venom makes his first appearance drawn by none other than Todd McFarlane. McFarlane was making a huge impact at Marvel, even writing a Spider-Man comic for a time. However, he soon quit due to wanting more in his career. 

Image Comics

In 1992, Todd McFarlane and many other artists consisting of Jim Lee, Erik Larson, Jim Valentino, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silverstri, and Rob Leifeld founded Image Comics. McFarlane became frustrated with publishing companies that allowed artists very little creativity and freedom. Image Comics allowed the creator to make important decisions for their characters with no more companies holding back their creativity. Artists also take in 100 percent of the profits. 

McFarlane created the character of Spawn and launched the first issue to the success of 1.7 million copies sold. Spawn went on to be known as the highest-selling independent comic book of all time, making all kinds of appearances in media such video games, an animated TV show, and even getting a feature-length movie. McFarlane always like the idea of his characters being made as toys, and this gave the creator an ambitious idea.

McFarlane Toys

McFarlane spoke with many different toy manufacturers only to be disappointed since he wouldn’t be given 100 percent creative control over the production of the toys. McFarlane then decided to build his own company, currently known as McFarlane Toys. McFarlane’s toys are high quality, reasonably priced, and left McFarlane satisfied with the product. Many consider these action figures amongst the best on the market. 

McFarlane Toys originally made only Spawn action figures for other media in pop culture. They started to manufacture toys from Sports, DC, and even Marvel. The company went on to be one of the biggest and most successful toy manufacturers to this day. 

Todd McFarlane is an artist, writer, and entrepreneur who made his mark and left a huge impact on the comic book industry. McFarlane’s work can still be seen today with his characters such as Spawn, Venom, and his products. McFarlane is a man who never limits his ideas to just one thing instead he branches out to other areas. Make sure to follow CHS Anchor News for more articles like this on Fusfoo, Twitter, and Instagram

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Comicsbeat.com

Header photo courtesy of ComicBook.com