Comics McFarlane's take on Spidey

[Dangerous]

Aye, he still got it.

 

[iloveclones]

See, that doesn't prove anything to me. Just that he can make cool posters.

 

[shinlyle]

My favorite pic drawn by McFarlane will forever be the page from Spider-Man#13 where Spidey's hanging upside down eating doughnuts and talking to himself. That was just awesome.

As for that Spawn cover, it's pretty bad-ass, but it's nothign compared to the last few issues of Spawn that he drew. Still, It'd just be nice to see come more artwork from him.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I do not like Todd's Spidey work at all.
It was badly drawn, most of the time. Badly proportioned, body contorted into bizarre positions, Spidey was being made to look like this creepy, shadowy figure & that's not who he is. The cover to #1 is not who he is. Todd was trying to make him appear more SPider than Man. Calling him the "Arach-Knight"? He's not Batman nor is he anything like him. And all the webbing all over the place. He's supposed to be a guy with limited resources. Why would he waste something that's so vital to his hero persona like that? By the time he got where he was going, he'd have no webbing left to fight with. IF he could even get there. The way Todd drew those weblines sometimes, any type of movement would be next to impossible. Then he'd wrap up bad guys like he was gnna eat them. That's not who he is either.
Then there was the writing. Just bad all around. "Torment" made no sense to me. The Morbius arc even less. I don't know why so many people are so enamored of McFarlane's work. I thought it was ridiculous.

 

[Dangerous]

Dude it was not supposed to be anatomically perfect, it was intended to be exaggerated and fantastic looking. Todd just liked to make Spidey more Spidery and creepy looking, which has since become an intrinsic cornerstone in the look of SM.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I get what he was TRYING to do; I just think he went entirely too far with it. I like the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, not the crypt-keeper looking dude McFarlane drew. And whatever has been incorporated into the character's overall look since then, the creepy, spooky imagery (Thank GOD) has not.
And many of the anatomical anomalies that I'm referring to were in ordinary situations, where he was just standing still. I remember one where he was holding a pen up to his chin, & his head just looked so huge & bulbous.

 

[Cyclops]

I doubt no amount of money could get him to go back and draw for Marvel, and I don't think Marvel would even give him that money. They've got artists today that make people go, "Todd who?".

His Spider-Man work gave him his breakthrough but it was Spawn and his action figures that gave him the success that keeps him going today. Even though Spawn sucks beyond all belief now he still makes some of the best figures on the shelves.

Hel-LO, they still hire Rob Liefeld as if people actually like his work. They'd hire Todd in a second if he wasn't locked up in his ivory tower.

 

[DACrowe]

As an artist, amazing, at least early on, his MJ and Peter got really ****ty near the end.

But his writing was mediocre at best. A mischaracterization of everyone and making Spidey Batman. Bad decision. Just didn't gel, he ****ed up the Lizard royally too though.

 

[DACrowe]

As an artist, amazing, at least early on, his MJ and Peter got really ****ty near the end.

But his writing was mediocre at best. A mischaracterization of everyone and making Spidey Batman. Bad decision. Just didn't gel, he ****ed up the Lizard royally too though.

 

[Ludachris333]

I'm wondering what y'all thought of McFarlane's take on the comics. I read Spider-Man #1, volume 1 today and Todd just wrote it so intellingently and his artwork was quite superb. Anyone have that comic? I got it in August at a Toy Show in San Jose -- mainly cuz it's a collector's item.

Yeah, that's the cover I got.

So anyways, what did you guys think the issues McFarlane worked on? Any opinions on some really great issues?

I have almost every single todd mcfarlane issue of spider-man (only missing issue 319 of amazing spider-man), and i can honestly say that he was one of the most amazing artists to ever grace the pages of amazing spider-man. I loved his design for the spagheti-knot webbing (he was the one to originally think up that concept, if i remember correctly) and he drew every single villain great. I also loved how he drew spidey shooting out three million gallons of webbing each time he swung...swang...(?)
The only problem was that the faces of the people he drew sucked majorly, especially the eyes and noses. Way to cartoony sometimes.

 

[Ludachris333]

I'm wondering what y'all thought of McFarlane's take on the comics. I read Spider-Man #1, volume 1 today and Todd just wrote it so intellingently and his artwork was quite superb. Anyone have that comic? I got it in August at a Toy Show in San Jose -- mainly cuz it's a collector's item.

Yeah, that's the cover I got.

So anyways, what did you guys think the issues McFarlane worked on? Any opinions on some really great issues?

I have almost every single todd mcfarlane issue of spider-man (only missing issue 319 of amazing spider-man), and i can honestly say that he was one of the most amazing artists to ever grace the pages of amazing spider-man. I loved his design for the spagheti-knot webbing (he was the one to originally think up that concept, if i remember correctly) and he drew every single villain great. I also loved how he drew spidey shooting out three million gallons of webbing each time he swung...swang...(?)
The only problem was that the faces of the people he drew sucked majorly, especially the eyes and noses. Way to cartoony sometimes.
also, what is this i hear about him not being a nice guy in real life?

 

[iloveclones]

What's with all the double posts?

 

[Ludachris333]

What's with all the double posts?

I did that on accident, cause i have a bad connection and i clicked the thing twice, after adding something to my post.
I guess it was just a coincidence that he did it to.

 

[wolvie2020]

I wonder, if Marvel were prepared to pay him insane money, would he do it?

Actually, I've read interviews with Joey Q FULL ON saying that he'd love to have McFarlane come to Marvel and do Spidey.

He actually said it a few times, and the last time he said the doors always open. He's probably up for cross over, from the way the interview went. In the same way that he's been workin' with Silvestri/Top Cow.

I think that'd be great, to do it in the same manner. I don't know if anyone remembers, but Todd did say in the back of the 1st ish of Spawn that he'd love to do a Spidey/Spawn crossover one day.

I ain't holdin' my breath though...

 

[wolvie2020]

Also, what is this i hear about him not being a nice guy in real life?

Yea, unfortunately he's a complete d**k. He wasn't always like that though, his sales made him into a complete jerk.

And then when Image lost all of it's coolness and fell apart, he's the only person left in the company who didn't go to work with another company and admit that they went a little overboard.

He doesn't really care about his longtime fans anymore, and is often rude to people in conventions. Believe it or not, he was supposed to have been quite a stand up guy when he 1st got in comics lol!

But think about it, when he was given the chance to be on ASM when he was pretty much unknown, he said he'd only do it if Spidey went back into his red and blue's. Now, I don't want to start a debate on which costume people like more, but everyone has to admit, that's quite a high and self absorbed demand from someone who didn't have a big name yet.

 

[iloveclones]

I did that on accident, cause i have a bad connection and i clicked the thing twice, after adding something to my post.
I guess it was just a coincidence that he did it to.

I was actually trying to make a joke. I purposely tried to double post that, but the Hype caught it and wouldn't let me. Kind of ironic...

 

[shinlyle]

Yea, unfortunately he's a complete d**k. He wasn't always like that though, his sales made him into a complete jerk.

And then when Image lost all of it's coolness and fell apart, he's the only person left in the company who didn't go to work with another company and admit that they went a little overboard.

He doesn't really care about his longtime fans anymore, and is often rude to people in conventions. Believe it or not, he was supposed to have been quite a stand up guy when he 1st got in comics lol!

But think about it, when he was given the chance to be on ASM when he was pretty much unknown, he said he'd only do it if Spidey went back into his red and blue's. Now, I don't want to start a debate on which costume people like more, but everyone has to admit, that's quite a high and self absorbed demand from someone who didn't have a big name yet.

Yeah, I've heard he'a a little bit of a d**k as well.

It's funny, but you can follow someone's career so long and think, "I'll bet he's a really cool guy in real life"....sadly, that's rarely the case. I've met a few pros, and most of them are cool. Every once in awhile, you meet some stuck-up jerk who is only belittling you because they are stuck as a second-tier artist in a third-rate company, but most of them are cool.

Take Erik Larsen, head of Image Comics and my FAVORITE Spider-Man artist of ALL TIME. I finally met him this past summer. That is one helluva nice guy! He actually talked with all the fans, myself included, looked at portfolios(even though he really didn't have to), and he even did sketches for anyone who wanted one for FREE. He was one of the coolest pros I've ever met.

Of course, the coolest would go to J.G. Jones. That guy seems like someone I would actually hang with on the weekends. He was at the came con, and, after a 2 hour signing, went back to his booth, where there was another line.

I walked up to him and apologized for asking him to sign something, and then I handed him my "Wanted" hardcover. He screamed "KICK-ASS! I love this f***king book!"

He even wrote "KICK ASS" in my book in giant freakin' letters. Cool guy.

As for Spidey artists, 'Ringo is cool as hell. He always does a sketch for free if someone hands him a hardcover. He said he felt that, if someone spent 20-30 dollars on a HC, then they shoudl get a free sketch.

Okay, I'm ranting. My point is, not all pros are jerks. 80% of them are the coolest people you'll ever meet.

 

[wolvie2020]

Yeah, I've heard he'a a little bit of a d**k as well.

It's funny, but you can follow someone's career so long and think, "I'll bet he's a really cool guy in real life"....sadly, that's rarely the case. I've met a few pros, and most of them are cool. Every once in awhile, you meet some stuck-up jerk who is only belittling you because they are stuck as a second-tier artist in a third-rate company, but most of them are cool.

Take Erik Larsen, head of Image Comics and my FAVORITE Spider-Man artist of ALL TIME. I finally met him this past summer. That is one helluva nice guy! He actually talked with all the fans, myself included, looked at portfolios(even though he really didn't have to), and he even did sketches for anyone who wanted one for FREE. He was one of the coolest pros I've ever met.

Of course, the coolest would go to J.G. Jones. That guy seems like someone I would actually hang with on the weekends. He was at the came con, and, after a 2 hour signing, went back to his booth, where there was another line.

I walked up to him and apologized for asking him to sign something, and then I handed him my "Wanted" hardcover. He screamed "KICK-ASS! I love this f***king book!"

He even wrote "KICK ASS" in my book in giant freakin' letters. Cool guy.

As for Spidey artists, 'Ringo is cool as hell. He always does a sketch for free if someone hands him a hardcover. He said he felt that, if someone spent 20-30 dollars on a HC, then they shoudl get a free sketch.

Okay, I'm ranting. My point is, not all pros are jerks. 80% of them are the coolest people you'll ever meet.

That post made me all warm and fuzzy, I love you Shin! :meow:

 

[Dragon]

I was a McFarlane fan for about 5 minutes, when he was doing Batman Year 2. Then I really started looking at his work and saw that his trick is to use so much detail in order to distract from the fact that he doesn't actually draw things very well. There's a drawing of Peter Parker's back in SM #8 I think, where there's no proper muscle structure at all. It looks like a canned ham. His style was totally wrong for Spider-Man. But he stood out because the Spidey artist preceding him were so dry.

And further, Todd pisses me off because he was a part of that dark period that swallowed Marvel up and made it into the quagmire that exists today.

 

[iloveclones]

Yeah, I've heard he'a a little bit of a d**k as well.

It's funny, but you can follow someone's career so long and think, "I'll bet he's a really cool guy in real life"....sadly, that's rarely the case. I've met a few pros, and most of them are cool. Every once in awhile, you meet some stuck-up jerk who is only belittling you because they are stuck as a second-tier artist in a third-rate company, but most of them are cool.

Take Erik Larsen, head of Image Comics and my FAVORITE Spider-Man artist of ALL TIME. I finally met him this past summer. That is one helluva nice guy! He actually talked with all the fans, myself included, looked at portfolios(even though he really didn't have to), and he even did sketches for anyone who wanted one for FREE. He was one of the coolest pros I've ever met.

Of course, the coolest would go to J.G. Jones. That guy seems like someone I would actually hang with on the weekends. He was at the came con, and, after a 2 hour signing, went back to his booth, where there was another line.

I walked up to him and apologized for asking him to sign something, and then I handed him my "Wanted" hardcover. He screamed "KICK-ASS! I love this f***king book!"

He even wrote "KICK ASS" in my book in giant freakin' letters. Cool guy.

As for Spidey artists, 'Ringo is cool as hell. He always does a sketch for free if someone hands him a hardcover. He said he felt that, if someone spent 20-30 dollars on a HC, then they shoudl get a free sketch.

Okay, I'm ranting. My point is, not all pros are jerks. 80% of them are the coolest people you'll ever meet.

It's funny that you mention Larsen. For the longest time, I dismissed him as nothing more than a bad McFarlane clone. His run on Defenders a few years ago really changed my opinion. I'd definately buy a title if he were drawing.

I always maintain that John Byrne deserves a spot among the greats of comicdom for his great work in the 80s. But personality-wise? Yeeesh! I've never heard of someone who seems more intent on causing controversy. Well, maybe Bendis. But at least with him, he's doing it with a chuckle, even if fans don't see it that way.

As for McFarlane, and whether he'd draw for Marvel: The Toddster has always seemed to be about the money to me. I'm sure there's a price you could pay to make it worth his while, but I hope Marvel is never stupid enough to make that investment.

 

[Dangerous]

I get what he was TRYING to do; I just think he went entirely too far with it. I like the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, not the crypt-keeper looking dude McFarlane drew. And whatever has been incorporated into the character's overall look since then, the creepy, spooky imagery (Thank GOD) has not.

I would have to contest your claim that the creepiness Todd brought to Spidey was not later incorporated into the characters look by subsequent artists.

Larsen was clearly influenced by Todd and in his post McFarlane issues of SM he seemed to go out of his way to make SM more elongated and spider-esque than he had been drawing him in ASM. Obviously to narrow the gap between artists and make the book flow better.
Jae Lee did some issues, #41-43 I believe of SM, were his take was clearly influenced by the 'crypt keeper' look that Todd had pioneered.
Manny years later we can still see examples of SM looking decidedly creepy and arachnid like on the painted covers of Tangled Web #1-3 by Glen Fabry. While Glen may not have been directly influenced by McFarlane here, it did attest that the more dark, sinister and dirty looking SM was now a recognisable slant on the character that many an artist liked to call upon.

Larsen

Lee

Fabry

And many of the anatomical anomalies that I'm referring to were in ordinary situations, where he was just standing still. I remember one where he was holding a pen up to his chin, & his head just looked so huge & bulbous.

Again this was his style. Everything was exaggerated.
I guess you either love or hate it.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I'll give you Larsen, but I view the rest as simple imitation. What I mean by it not being incorporated is that, unlike the "spaghetti webbing", tighter web patterns on the suit or the large eyes, the creepy elements did not become a staple of Spidey's look.

 

[wolvie2020]

I'll give you Larsen, but I view the rest as simple imitation. What I mean by it not being incorporated is that, unlike the "spaghetti webbing", tighter web patterns on the suit or the large eyes, the creepy elements did not become a staple of Spidey's look.

Actually, I'd have to whole heartedly disagree with you there. The 'creepiness,' was one of the main staples created Ditko in the 1st place. Many other artists did it, (when suited,) after Ditko, and before and after McFarlane. It's a dramatic effect, used when needed.

 

[Dangerous]

Well, all artists did not continue to make Spidey look creepy as Todd had,
but as illustrated a few did. It made enuf of a mark on SM that some artists liked to make Spidey look creepy again.

 

[Dangerous]

Actually, I'd have to whole heartedly disagree with you there. The 'creepiness,' was one of the main staples created Ditko in the 1st place. Many other artists did it, (when suited,) after Ditko, and before and after McFarlane. It's a dramatic effect, used when needed.

True, Ditko's Spidey was hella creepy and Todd has gone on record to say that Ditko was a big influence on his SM. As 'Creepy Spider-man' was created by Ditko and then later had a renaissance w/ McFarlane and the subsequent artists, I think we can accept that it is one of the popular and definitive looks of the wall crawler.