TODD McFARLANE Sizes Up the Next Generation of Superstar Creator … and He’s Impressed

Todd McFarlane has strong opinions about comic books – be it the drawing, the writing, the publishing, and even how they’re sold. The Image Comics co-founder/President has never shied away from his thoughts and ideas, or thought if they would be popular or not.

Most recently, his recent idea for a concrentrated, ‘all hits’ digital-first strategy to get the comics industry out of the coronavirus downturn provoked strong opinions on both sides of the arguement.

With McFarlane now back in the thick of it balancing comics writing, comics publishing, toy manufacturing, and a little comics drawing himself, Newsarama once again spoke with the Spawn creator about the current state of comics – specifically of the artists now coming up and making a name for himself like him and six others made in the early 1990s.

Newsrama: Todd, something you talked about in the Image Revolution documentary before was the fact that you and the fellow founders were seen as rockstars and I feel like that’s coming around again with creators like Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Tom King, Babs Tarr, Donny Cates… do you think we’re there again? I mean, you’ve seen their lines, right?

Todd McFarlane: I think there’s a big enthusiasm again, but I think what we went through originally was beyond that.

There was a bit of a mania in those first six months, and the only thing I’ve seen that rivals that at least from my experience is when I shared the stage with Stan Lee a few times.

Comic books now are so wide and eclectic and diverse with all the conventions going on that it’s not pushed in one corner and so we spread that mania out in a more healthy way instead of it five, six people, there’s this big wave of popularity. It’s a different moment but the opportunities are there.

There’s always somebody who figures out a new model, a new thing that people want to get their hands on. I know that there’s somebody right now with a character that nobody knows but how they’re interacting with fans or how they’re writing books that 10 months from now will be important for our industry.

Nrama: Springboarding from that then, taking a look at the art market now, how would you compare it to when you were starting out?

McFarlane: It seems like the difference I’m seeing like cover sketches are this big need, but artist alley is so different. You have all these choices now and that’s what it’s all about. Choices.

I could get one really high-profile person for $300 or 10 lesser-knowns for $30 each. So now you’re calculating how you’re going to spend your money, but there’s this enormous appetite for original art now. I think it’s fun and gets you close to your creative heroes. You saw how big New York Comic Con and San Diego are now… are you kidding me?

Nrama: So, where do you fall in that – how much did you charge for your sketches when starting out?

McFarlane: I never really did them. I think early on I tried and charged maybe $10 but I have this style that isn’t exactly fast. So in order to do a sketch you have to go faster and I remember trying and I’d hand it back to them and people would get mad because it didn’t look like my comic book style, so I just stopped. I just shut it down and went strictly to autographs for the most part.

I would always marvel at people who can do the convention sketches. Also, when my lines got bigger I wanted to chat with as many people as possible and having to do sketches on top of that wasn’t really conducive.

Nrama: So as an artist, for somebody like who, what does that mean to you personally when you see how big artist alleys have become?

McFarlane: I think there’s way more positive and if you try to break into Marvel and DC but they keep saying no, you have an outlet. I know several artists who for some reason or another aren’t getting picked up by publishers but who are still making a living going to shows. I’m trying to think of the 17-year-old me who would have loved to see how big they are now. You’re getting paid to essentially hone your craft in the meanwhile.

The small piece of negative is that you can do so good at the shows that you don’t do as much comic work, but that’s just me being an old grumpy dad. I just don’t think having a small body of work to show is a bad thing. I think it matters, even if it’s a silly small run, especially when I think there’s never been more talent in comics than there is today.

The skill set is phenomenal but a lot of these artists are just doing sketches, and I get it, but at some point if you don’t make that jump you’re only going to be able to price your art so far, I think. You don’t want to find yourself at the mercy of the marketplace. Especially with that we’re dealing with now, like, what if there are no comic conventions for the whole year?

Nrama: Exactly, so I have to ask: what’s the future of Spawn then? Are you not worried, especially how Diamond was shut down?

McFarlane: Don’t worry about Spawn. I’ll keep moving him forward whether it’s digital or me using chalk on the ground even if I have to hand-deliver the comics myself.

The world doesn’t have to worry about what Todd McFarlane is going to do. How do you get your Spawn comics now though? We’re going to figure it out. I don’t think that absolutely nothing isn’t much of an answer.

Nrama: Lastly, since we’re talking about you being back at the drawing table so to speak, where do you see your drawing skills are now?

McFarlane: Yeah, that’s an interesting question because when somebody pays you to do it eight hours a day, you get better right? So for years I haven’t been doing that so I can’t say my artwork isn’t as good as it was ten years ago. It’s funny because when I did that Spawn/Spidey pic, Spider-Man came out how I used to draw him. That’s pretty much how I’ve always drawn him.

Nrama: It’s muscle memory in a way.

McFarlane: Yeah! It’s muscle memory, right? Luckily for me, that version of Spider-Man still resonated with fans and they actually missed it. In terms of just raw drawing ability and whatever else, there are hundreds of people better than me in terms of skill set by far. I just sort of was able to do enough with Spider-Man, Hulk, and Spawn stylistically where people liked it then I just hustled.

That’s the piece that I think set me apart from everybody else. I knew my work was not nearly as good as Marc Silvestri’s, Jim Lee’s, Greg Capullo’s so I had to hustle harder.

I would argue that Rob Liefeld is even a better example. People say things about his artwork or whatever, but that kid has milked as much as he could of his skill and I admire people who survive, especially for decades and especially in this industry given that they’re not the best at what they do. So as a matter of fact, it’s almost more admirable, but some people won’t advocate for themselves. Keep talking yourself out of why it’s impossible. If you can’t push yourself, nobody on the planet is obligated to do that for you. This is half the battle. It’s not about being good, it’s saying you’re going to attempt it.

If you’re shy and sensitive to criticism you’re barking up the wrong tree. You have to be almost delusional, that’s like Rob and me, we’re not very good but shit we think we’re great everyday. We’re going to push.

I see these kids in artist alley and they’re so good! They’re just great, like, I wish I could draw like that but a lot of them don’t have the hustle and they don’t have confidence but man, I wish I had their skills.