Feature
Flashback February: Todd McFarlane
2016 is an anniversary for Tripwire. It marks the 24th anniversary of the magazine, which began back in 1992.So for the rest of February, we shall be representing some of our classic moments over the past 23 years. Many people who have been visiting the site will probably be unaware of our print history so we thought this would be a good opportunity to get them acquainted with it. So here is our interview with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, which was originally published back in Tripwire Volume 4#2 Oct 2002
On His Todd
TRIPWIRE: How do you feel now that Spawn has reached issue #100?TODD MCFARLANE: I’m pleased with the fact that, a lot of people set out to do comicbooks and, even at the big companies, a lot of them don’t actually reach #100. The fact is that it’s a lone book based at an independent company. We left the corporate world and we’re still going. You can count on the fingers of one hand in this country where that’s happened, so the landmark proves that you can set up on your own and succeed for a long time if you play your cards right.
TW: How did Brian Bendis get involved at Todd McFarlane Productions?
TM: He was doing a book for Image, a trade paperback called Jinx, and I had read it and thought it was terrific. I then started reading Torso and was completely enamoured with it, so we ended up taking the idea to Hollywood and selling it. Then I said to him ‘I’ve got this detective book and you seem to be good at detective material.’ When he took that on, I told him that I was also looking for a different slant on Hellspawn. I think that he has got a unique perspective on how to write traditionally. It’s one of the reasons why a lot of the English writers have been so successful. It’s because they don’t have that pretense of being born and raised on superhero comics, so they bring a different perspective to the work.
TM: He was doing a book for Image, a trade paperback called Jinx, and I had read it and thought it was terrific. I then started reading Torso and was completely enamoured with it, so we ended up taking the idea to Hollywood and selling it. Then I said to him ‘I’ve got this detective book and you seem to be good at detective material.’ When he took that on, I told him that I was also looking for a different slant on Hellspawn. I think that he has got a unique perspective on how to write traditionally. It’s one of the reasons why a lot of the English writers have been so successful. It’s because they don’t have that pretense of being born and raised on superhero comics, so they bring a different perspective to the work.
TW: Your line at present is more diverse than it’s ever been. Is that a deliberate decision?
TM: It was a conscious decision to try and do stories and products that continue to acknowledge that your audience is getting older. They’re not going to be a Spawn fan forever and this is my way of giving them options. If someone doesn’t want to read the main Spawn book, then Sam And Twitch may appeal to them. I assumed that it’s better for me to attract people sixteen years and older to what I do because they’ll be adults a lot longer than they’re going to be kids. If I can catch a reader at sixteen, then I might be able to keep them until sixty six.
TM: It was a conscious decision to try and do stories and products that continue to acknowledge that your audience is getting older. They’re not going to be a Spawn fan forever and this is my way of giving them options. If someone doesn’t want to read the main Spawn book, then Sam And Twitch may appeal to them. I assumed that it’s better for me to attract people sixteen years and older to what I do because they’ll be adults a lot longer than they’re going to be kids. If I can catch a reader at sixteen, then I might be able to keep them until sixty six.
TW: Now that Spawn has reached #100, what’s going to happen in the title?
TM: Once you get over a big hump like an anniversary issue and a couple of things get resolved that give Spawn a different attitude to things. He won’t be more aggressive but he won’t be lamenting his situation as much as did in the first one hundred issues. He’ll be a lot more proactive and we’re going to be bringing back some of the key bad guys that people have been asking for for a while.
TM: Once you get over a big hump like an anniversary issue and a couple of things get resolved that give Spawn a different attitude to things. He won’t be more aggressive but he won’t be lamenting his situation as much as did in the first one hundred issues. He’ll be a lot more proactive and we’re going to be bringing back some of the key bad guys that people have been asking for for a while.
TW: Obviously, the big announcement of the last couple of months is the appointment of Joe Quesada as Marvel’s Editor-In-Chief. What are your thoughts on this?
TM: It’s a weird one for me. Joe was a guy who grew up, like most of us, working for the big two. He started at DC and then went out and tried to go on his own. He couldn’t make a go of it and so he went back to Marvel. I always thought of Joe as one of us but I guess he’s not because for me, once you leave the plantation, you don’t come back. It’s hard to fathom any reason to return. I remember the spin that Jim Lee put on it when he sold Wildstorm to DC. He was going back but he was returning as the boss this time. To me, once you taste freedom, there ain’t nothing better. I guess that maybe I’m too selfish but I find it amusing that somebody who had an independent comic book now sees being editor-in-chief of Marvel as a stepping stone. I wish him luck and I think that, from a business point-of-view, it’s a terrific choice. From a rebellious, creative viewpoint, I find it a little discouraging.
TM: It’s a weird one for me. Joe was a guy who grew up, like most of us, working for the big two. He started at DC and then went out and tried to go on his own. He couldn’t make a go of it and so he went back to Marvel. I always thought of Joe as one of us but I guess he’s not because for me, once you leave the plantation, you don’t come back. It’s hard to fathom any reason to return. I remember the spin that Jim Lee put on it when he sold Wildstorm to DC. He was going back but he was returning as the boss this time. To me, once you taste freedom, there ain’t nothing better. I guess that maybe I’m too selfish but I find it amusing that somebody who had an independent comic book now sees being editor-in-chief of Marvel as a stepping stone. I wish him luck and I think that, from a business point-of-view, it’s a terrific choice. From a rebellious, creative viewpoint, I find it a little discouraging.
TW: So you could never see yourself returning to work for DC or Marvel?
TM: At best, I could see a Spawn/ Spider-man oneshot. But I’d be punching in a clock and I actually did it once with Spawn/ Batman. The deal was that I lent them Spawn and I borrowed Batman and we didn’t bug each other. So I wasn’t really working for them. I was working for Image and then getting it approved by them. I can almost say with regard to the question of working for Marvel on a regular basis is the closest to the word ‘never’ that I’m going to get in my life. I do so many other things, I’ve got too many other ideas that I’m too proud and stubborn to even give anybody the satisfaction of writing that story.
TM: At best, I could see a Spawn/ Spider-man oneshot. But I’d be punching in a clock and I actually did it once with Spawn/ Batman. The deal was that I lent them Spawn and I borrowed Batman and we didn’t bug each other. So I wasn’t really working for them. I was working for Image and then getting it approved by them. I can almost say with regard to the question of working for Marvel on a regular basis is the closest to the word ‘never’ that I’m going to get in my life. I do so many other things, I’ve got too many other ideas that I’m too proud and stubborn to even give anybody the satisfaction of writing that story.
TW: The last couple of years have seen horror and the supernatural return to the fore. Do you think that it’s enjoying a renaissance or did it never really go away?
TM: I think that people have been interested in true crime, monster movies and Stephen King novels for a long time. It’s surprising when you look at who reads Stephen King and crime novels. You see that it’s a large female audience. I think that there’s a side of us that likes to look at things that we know will never happen. We like to look at the seedy part of the world and thank god that we don’t live like that. Sixth Sense did amazingly well worldwide and it’s obviously because we like to get spooked a little bit, not grossed out in a slasher movie way but just spooked.
TW: Although it’s died down now, there was that whole situation a couple of months ago with the Marv from Sin City figure. What are your feelings on it?
TM: You do things because you think that they’ll be fun. You don’t even give certain things a second thought, like the politics of my toys. With that said and done, this toy is aimed at people who are over the age of fifteen, so I think that people misinterpreted it. It’s the wrong toy for a five year old. It’s supposed to appeal to people aged sixteen and over who get it and who are still young enough that they haven’t lost their sense of humour. In this country, especially in an election year, everybody’s got a tight ass. It drives me mad that you can’t laugh at anything anymore because someone might not get the joke or worse, they might take it personally. We live in a country now where no-one wants to stand up and take responsibility for their actions. ‘I raised a son of a bitch but it was music and films that made him like that. God forbid it was me as a parent who was actually lending a helping hand to any of this because I’m an alcoholic or an abuser.
TM: You do things because you think that they’ll be fun. You don’t even give certain things a second thought, like the politics of my toys. With that said and done, this toy is aimed at people who are over the age of fifteen, so I think that people misinterpreted it. It’s the wrong toy for a five year old. It’s supposed to appeal to people aged sixteen and over who get it and who are still young enough that they haven’t lost their sense of humour. In this country, especially in an election year, everybody’s got a tight ass. It drives me mad that you can’t laugh at anything anymore because someone might not get the joke or worse, they might take it personally. We live in a country now where no-one wants to stand up and take responsibility for their actions. ‘I raised a son of a bitch but it was music and films that made him like that. God forbid it was me as a parent who was actually lending a helping hand to any of this because I’m an alcoholic or an abuser.
TW: The other big thing in the news is the lawsuit that involves you and Canadian ice hockey player Tony Twist suing you because of a character who appeared in Spawn that bears his name. What’s the latest on that?
TM: We lost the case in July and were back in front of the judge in the middle of September. Soon he makes his ruling and then, depending on what his ruling is, it starts to go before the appellate courts. If he says that it was a farce, then the other side’s not going to be happy and if he keeps it, then I’m not going to be happy. It’ll probably be another year and a half of appeals. We need to get into the driver’s seat as soon as possible because there could come a time when the courts tell us that there’ll be no more appeals and that’s that.
TM: We lost the case in July and were back in front of the judge in the middle of September. Soon he makes his ruling and then, depending on what his ruling is, it starts to go before the appellate courts. If he says that it was a farce, then the other side’s not going to be happy and if he keeps it, then I’m not going to be happy. It’ll probably be another year and a half of appeals. We need to get into the driver’s seat as soon as possible because there could come a time when the courts tell us that there’ll be no more appeals and that’s that.
TW: If it was in Twist’s favour, would it have a big impact on TMP?
TM: If I had to pay it tomorrow, would I be fucked? Absolutely. Let me just say that the other side is banking on this so that we’ll settle along the line. It’s a classic nuisance suit.
TM: If I had to pay it tomorrow, would I be fucked? Absolutely. Let me just say that the other side is banking on this so that we’ll settle along the line. It’s a classic nuisance suit.
TW: Do you think that the state of the market has improved or is it continuing to shrink?
TM: I think that unfortunately, it’s still continuing to slowly shrivel. What matters is how we can prevent that and nobody’s got the answers yet. I think that a lot of the stores have figured out how to sell other product and we’ve been very fortunate that, when comicbooks were down a few years ago, there was Magic The Gathering and then Pokemon and action figures.
TM: I think that unfortunately, it’s still continuing to slowly shrivel. What matters is how we can prevent that and nobody’s got the answers yet. I think that a lot of the stores have figured out how to sell other product and we’ve been very fortunate that, when comicbooks were down a few years ago, there was Magic The Gathering and then Pokemon and action figures.
TW: So obviously you’re sad that this has occurred?
TM: I love comicbooks and I’d like everybody in the world to be reading one. But, unfortunately, I have had to take some of those ideas and put them into different formats to reach the big audience that you’re looking for. I don’t know how much more we can continue to lose before we reach critical mass. I don’t know where that point is but we’re not doing anything to stop it or hurt the decline,
we’re just co-habiting with it. I wish that I had the answers because I usually pride myself on being able to solve problems but this one has me baffled.
TM: I love comicbooks and I’d like everybody in the world to be reading one. But, unfortunately, I have had to take some of those ideas and put them into different formats to reach the big audience that you’re looking for. I don’t know how much more we can continue to lose before we reach critical mass. I don’t know where that point is but we’re not doing anything to stop it or hurt the decline,
we’re just co-habiting with it. I wish that I had the answers because I usually pride myself on being able to solve problems but this one has me baffled.
TW: So do you think that it’s too tough a problem to come up with a solution to?
TM: I think that the answer is longterm and we’ve all become too comfortable with short term analysis. The reason we’re where we are is down to short term thinking. The people who got us here on some levels are still dictating policy. If someone suggests that we’re going to have to take it on the chin for the next five years, then we’ll get out of it. If it’s suggested that we have to figure something
out in six weeks, then that’s not going to work. This is a problem that will take six years to sort out.
TM: I think that the answer is longterm and we’ve all become too comfortable with short term analysis. The reason we’re where we are is down to short term thinking. The people who got us here on some levels are still dictating policy. If someone suggests that we’re going to have to take it on the chin for the next five years, then we’ll get out of it. If it’s suggested that we have to figure something
out in six weeks, then that’s not going to work. This is a problem that will take six years to sort out.
TW: The ironic thing is that Todd McFarlane Productions are involved in so many other things, it wouldn’t matter if comics ceased to exist. Isn’t that the case?
TM: I don’t really have to worry about them, that’s true. They could shut down tomorrow and I’d still be in business. What amazes me is that there are people who have all of their eggs in one basket, in the comic book industry, who aren’t doing anything to help or might even be detrimental to the industry. I find it amusing that I’m the guy who’s warning everybody about this train that’s coming when I’m not even on the tracks. It’s not something that one or two people can fix, it will take the entire industry to fix and it’s hard trying to get their attention now.
TM: I don’t really have to worry about them, that’s true. They could shut down tomorrow and I’d still be in business. What amazes me is that there are people who have all of their eggs in one basket, in the comic book industry, who aren’t doing anything to help or might even be detrimental to the industry. I find it amusing that I’m the guy who’s warning everybody about this train that’s coming when I’m not even on the tracks. It’s not something that one or two people can fix, it will take the entire industry to fix and it’s hard trying to get their attention now.
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