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Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man Issue #1 — Torment Part 1 |
Todd McFarlane is widely-considered & world-renowned as the Greatest Comic Artist of All-Times. theKONGBLOG™ labels him the Michael Jordan of Comic Book Artists — he single-handedly revolutionized the comic book industry.
In fact, his artwork is so respected & revered that a tattoo design has been permanently place on Kong from theKONGBLOG™'s back after the Tragedy of 9/11:
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in 1961, Todd McFarlane began drawing comic book heroes in high school. Despite his growing love for comics, he dreamed of playing professional baseball — watching baseball games on TV, memorizing statistics and collecting baseball cards.
As a young, aspiring artist and comic book fan, he dreamed of one day breaking into the comic book industry and began submitting countless art works by mail — the old-fashion way, to numerous comic book editors across the United States and Canada. After more than 700 rejection letters, his dream of being a comic book artist seemed like a daunting task, but he wasn't discouraged by his humbled beginnings.
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Iconic image of Batman from the “Year 2” storyline in Detective Comics #577. Artwork by Todd McFarlane. Published by DC Comics, August 1987. |
As fate would have it, McFarlane accepted a penciling assignment from Epic Comics — his first published work was a backup story in a 1984 issue of Epic Comics' Coyote, and before long he was drawing for Marvel and DC Comics.
His first major work was a two-year run on DC's Infinity, Inc. from 1985-1987, and he also illustrated several issues of "Batman: Year Two" in Detective Comics before moving onto Marvel's The Incredible Hulk. In 1988, McFarlane was partnered with writer David Michelinie on The Amazing Spider-Man, beginning with issue #298 and the rest is pretty much history.
He relentlessly worked his way to the top of Marvel's talent roster, where he eventually wrote, penciled and inked Spider-Man. His first issue sold more than 2.5 million copies — the best-selling comic book of all-time.
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Todd McFarlane's Wolverine |
In 1994, Todd founded McFarlane Toys eventually become one of the largest and well-renowned toy manufacturers in the world. In addition to Spawn, McFarlane Toys has produced figures from such properties as KISS, Shrek, X-Files, Austin Powers, Metal Gear Solid, Akira, the Beatles, Army of Darkness, Jaws, Rob Zombie, Alien, Predator, AC/DC and countless others.
He currently has the official rights to produce action figures of professional football, baseball, hockey and basketball players. Today, Todd McFarlane is a multi-faceted businessman w/ a broad range of experience in entertainment, sports and publishing. McFarlane continues to be a passionate sports enthusiast — owning over 10 historic baseballs from the 1998 Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa historic home run race plus memorabilia from Hall of Fame sports athletes of the 20th century.
Additionally, he is also part-owner of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers. He's also won an Emmy for the animated Spawn series, two MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy for Korn's "Freak on a Leash" music video. He received a Grammy nomination for the Pearl Jam animated "Do The Evolution" music video.
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This particular spread depicts Spawn in command of what appears to be Marvel comic book characters locked-up behind bars |
Can you imagine being the person who signed and returned one of seven-hundred rejection letters to the legend of the comic book world? If –at first, you don't succeed...
...would be an under-statement of epic proportions.
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