Site Meter Comic Book Journal » Blog Archive » When Todd McFarlane Could Have Saved Comics

When Todd McFarlane Could Have Saved Comics

by Jessica

The early nineties trumpeted a slump in sales which almost eliminated the comic book industry as we know it. Books were not being read, the quality of art and entertaining story were on the decline. There was hope. Todd McFarlane brought new readership to Spider-Man during his run. Then he unleashed Spawn. With this title, plus other great creator-owned titles, Image could have easily generated readership and generated new sales the industry desperately needed at the time. So what went wrong? Despite generating sales in terms of deluxe variant covers, new titles, and multiple #1 titles, this wasn’t enough to save Image, or its creators from themselves. Like the proverbial Dr. Frankenstein, they were so obsessed with their creations; they did not want to share. Lawsuits and litigation filled the air with bad blood as debates raged on between creators? Was this image or name created under a work for hire principle or was it created without the rights being sold? This time period led us to other questions as well. What’s more important story or art? Can one exist without the other? What it boils down to is the industry would have been in a much better state if these creators had played nicer. Image comics could have saved the industry and revitalized a dying art, if making millions had not gotten in the way, so today I pay homage to a time when Todd McFarlane could have single handedly saved comics and Spawn could have been the anti-hero the world would embrace.


Posted in Reviews on August 8th, 2007

Link to this Entry

Recent Posts

Related Posts

One Response to “When Todd McFarlane Could Have Saved Comics”

  1. PacoDG Says:
    August 13th, 2007 at 6:48 am

    Being a big ass Marvel fanboy as well as a Jim Lee fanatic, I am both glad and pissed he jumped ship to DC, at the least he brought all his talented staff of other upcoming artists with him.

    At the least, I think Image gave some hope to indie comics, that of course they will never top Marvel/DC, they can certainly get their comics into peoples hands.

    Also, I think good to note on top of your post, is that Todd didn’t help matters by constantly delaying Spawn issues. I have too many thoughts on Image to write in this small box, I will stop now.

Leave a Reply


About Comic Book Journal

Where do capes and cowls end and horror and noir begin? What's more important: the four-color panels, or the letter balloons within them? Did comics really begin in cave walls, or just in the Sunday morning cartoons? What the heck is a graphic novel? These questions and more are answered in the Comic Book Journal, the place between the page and the panel, the motion line and the sound byte, the superhero and the every(wo)man.

Comic Book Journal Author(s)
    » Jessica

NAVIGATE

LINKS

CATEGORIES

TOP COMMENTERS

RECENT COMMENTS

SUBSCRIBE

ARCHIVES

Crafts & Hobbies Channel Posts

  • Barbie vs. Bratz: Mattel Wins 100 Million
    Well Mattel just scored a pretty big win against MGA. A jury recently awarded them a whopping 100 million dollars and CEO, Isaac Larian, for copyright infringement and general buggery. That's a [...]
  • Mark Boudreaux, My Hero
    Boston.com recently wrote about a man that had more of an effect on my life than I'd ever guess. That man is Mark Boudreaux and he's the coolest man in the world. Why? He's been designing Star Wars [...]
  • Oils to Help Cure Some Common Ailments (B)
    1. Backaches: Massage painful areas of the back with wintergreen essential oil, cinnamon essential oil and ginger essential oils that have been mixed in aloe vera gel. 2. Bad Breath: Chewing [...]
  • Excuse Me, You Haven't Seen Two Droids Have You?
    Rebelscum.com has given us a glimpse at the upcoming Star Wars Lar's Homestead that most notably comes with a part of Luke's house. Check it out: Wow, how exciting (please add a moderate [...]
  • G.I. Joe Wave 12 is... Kind of Lame
    Some of the first images of G.I. Joe wave 12 are out now (at least they are the first time I've seen them) and I have to say I'm mildly disappointed. This wave consists entirely of [...]
  • Ping Pong Relay
    This month's issue of Crafts n things has a cute project that I think would be fun for our playgroup's annual Halloween party. The craft uses orange ping pong - or table tennis - balls. You then [...]
  • TAtTF: Screw Teddy Ruxpin, There's ALF
    Hey everyone, if there's one thing that we need more of in our lives it's Alf. While on a search for toy commercials to write about I discovered one of the coolest toys that I never knew [...]
  • Condom Amulets
    A few days ago I wrote about Knitting and Safe Sex and the knitted and crochet condom amulet project mentioned at A Little Red Hen. My needles have been busy with one of the basic patterns . . . [...]
  • Crafty Tools
    I made it to the craft store this weekend. I'm not much of a shopper but can spend hours in a craft store. Thankfully there isn't one in the town I usually shop at or I would sure enough be broke all [...]
  • SDCC Cobra Commander Contest Update
    Like everything awesome, the contest to win a San Diego Comic Con Cobra Commander is over. The judges are hard at work judging and I'll make the announcement as to who the winner is as soon as [...]

 

Hot Off The Press

  • Advice
    I like other wellness professionals dispense weight loss and fitness advice. We all have our good points and have others that need to be retired. There’s one piece of advice I’ve found that [...]
  • Cells change identity in promising breakthrough
    Scientists have transformed one type of cell into another in living mice, a big step toward the goal of growing replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases. The cell identity switch turned [...]
  • New school, new diseases
    With the start of a new semester comes new health concerns for students, especially those living in the dorms. Campus Health Services warns that many factors contribute to the rise in infectious [...]
  • The View's "12 Moments to Celebrate Season 12"
    Earlier this month, I wrote that an ABC press release promised that on August 25th, the ABC website would feature "a retrospective looking back at 12 of the most outrageous, hysterical, [...]
  • Thursday 13: Freelance Writing Productivity Tips
    Set aside time to plan. Once a week is enough, if you put enough time aside to actually plan for your whole week. Sit down with your papers, your calendar or PDA or online system, your planner, [...]
  • The Plot Against Liberal America by Thomas Frank
    The most cherished dream of conservative Washington is that liberalism can somehow be defeated, finally and irreversibly, in the way that armies are beaten and pests are exterminated. Electoral [...]
  • Astrological Analysis: Anna Goldi--The Case of the Exonerated Witch
    August 28, 2008 [caption id="attachment_861" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Picture from Anna Goldi Museum"][/caption]On August 27, 2008 the Swiss government decided to exonerate Anna Goeldi [...]
  • Casting and Spoiler alert!!
    Good morning, guys! Yesterday, there was some bad news regarding Nicollette that brought things down a little. Well, today we’ve got some happier news to discuss: casting and spoilers! Don’t [...]
  • The Men of Survivor: Gabon
    Let's take a closer look at our contestants hm? And because I'm half in lust love with Ace already, we're going to start with the men. Because seriously, sexy, bald, AND with an accent? How could [...]
  • Rachael Ray to some bad tomatoes EV-O-Uh-Oh
    Rachael Ray blew a gasket or two at the Union Square Village Market when she saw some veggies that weren't to her liking. For a full 10 minutes all the perky mogul could do was scream out YUCK-O [...]