The Four Color Media Monitor

In this recent CTV article about the Calgary Expo, they wrote about veteran artist McFarlane's trip to attend the convention, and his career:

McFarlane, who hails from Calgary, rose to comic book fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the artist and later writer on "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man" titles for Marvel Comics.

He then left the character, and the company along with several other creators, to form a new business, Image Comics.

At Image, McFarlane launched his own character and title, "Spawn", which also led to toys, a feature film and an animated series, as well as other multimedia endeavours.

But Spawn was born right here, long before that.

"In the basement of a house on the corner of Crowchild and 24th, right across from McMahon Stadium. That's where Spawn was born," McFarlane said.

McFarlane celebrated 300 issues of the "Spawn" comic book series, a few years back.

I still don't see what's so great in the long run about a series that built on such massive darkness and mayhem as it did, and why something like Spawn is so deserving of attention when there could be other, brighter tales out there whose creators could use some spotlight. I guess because McFarlane's a leftist, and 8 years ago, Spawn saw a special attacking Donald Trump, that's why the Canadian press sees McFarlane as worthy of attention? Sigh.

Around the same time, the Spider-Man character McFarlane had a hand in creating, Venom, made the leap from the comic book page to the movie screen.

"Venom" has since had one sequel, and another is in the works.

No kidding. If memory serves, the sequel was less successful than the first, but all that aside, why must a character who's otherwise a villain be such a big deal either? And is Venom's assigned sense of humor any better than Spidey's? Of course not. It's ludicrous to tout this as somehow better than the heroes themselves. Also note how no mention made of whether McFarlane enjoyed any and every moment of illustrating Mary Jane Watson in the stories he worked on. That's got to be telling too.

Now, more recently, Globe Newswire announced a children's charity McFarlane's contributing to:

A worldwide community of comic book enthusiasts, particularly the devotees of comic book legend Todd McFarlane’s iconic creations, banded together in a recent one night online auction event that generated more than $80,000 for the global nonprofit Children International.

Renowned for co-founding Image Comics, bringing to life the beloved antihero Spawn, and crafting the imaginative world of The Amazing Spider-man, McFarlane’s artistic prowess and humanitarian spirit intersected in a live stream auction on Whatnot, the widely used social media marketplace app.

During a two-hour period on Feb. 12, comic book enthusiasts participated in the online auction purchasing a treasure trove of exclusive items, from original art pages to coveted memorabilia from the Spawn series. Additionally, auction bidders had the chance to secure unique opportunities for personal interaction with McFarlane himself, including personalized portfolio reviews and personal meet-and-greet sessions. And for the first time in 30 years, McFarlane put up for auction a page of his original artwork.

Every dollar raised from the auction will go to Children International, an organization that resonated deeply with McFarlane as he sought to make a tangible impact in the fight against global poverty.

I definitely think it's great to help combat poverty children are suffering through, but why must it be through auctioning Spawn art, if that's what McFarlane's putting on sale? I think there's something pretty flawed in the approach here, considering this is a charity involving children, which is hardly the right audience for Spawn. Surely Superman and Spider-Man art for auction would make a better combination? Unfortunately, that never seems to be the approach employed, if at all. And that can't be a good sign for children's charities.

Labels: conventions, golden calf of villainy, history, indie publishers, marvel comics, msm propaganda, Spider-Man, technology, violence