Todd McFarlane was born March 16, 1961 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, but only resided there for 18 months at which time his family moved to California. Along with two brothers and a sister, Todd spent most of his childhood living in several areas of California only to return to Calgary in 1975 at the age of 14.

It was during his high school days at William Aberhart High School that Todd discovered the world of comic books. During that time, he bought everything he could afford, and especially the works of John Byrne, George Perez, Marshall Rogers, Michael Golden, Art Adams, and Walter Simonson who were his favorite artists. Although he spent a lot of his time drawing comic book heroes, playing professional baseball was Todd's ultimate dream.

Todd began playing baseball in little league in California, and then big league in Canada. While playing in Calgary, a scout for the Seattle Mariners, followed Todd's progress and recruited him out of the college ranks to play on the Mariners semi-pro tournament team. Playing center field and occasionally pitching, it was on this team based in Kamloops, British Columbia that Todd met Al Simmons. Upon graduation from William Aberhart in 1979, Todd attended Spokane Falls Community College before accepting a baseball scholarship at Eastern Washington State University in Cheney, Washington, and began classes in January of 1981. Eastern's team played in the Pac-10 conference, and accordingly Todd received both quality coaching and competition as a center fielder. Todd's dream to play in the majors came to an abrupt halt when he broke his ankle sliding into home. Even though Todd continued to draw comic characters throughout college, it was only now that Todd began to submit drawings to editors of many different publishing comic companies.

Determined to get a job in the comic industry, Todd continued to draw evenings and weekends while holding down two part-time jobs at both a diaper service and a comic book store called the Comic Rack, and going to school. In the Spring of 1984, Todd graduated from Eastern with a Bachelor's Degree in General Studies with an emphasis in Communication, Fine Arts, and Graphic Design, but remained in Cheney while his fiancee, Wanda finished her degree. After collecting over 700 rejection letters from every publishing company, Todd's break came a few weeks before graduation in March, 1984 from Marvel Comics. Todd accepted a job offer from Marvel/Epic Comics penciling Scorpio Rose, an eleven page back-up story in Coyote, beginning with issue # 11, and continuing through issue # 13 ( not released until May and July of 1985) at which time the book was canceled. Just as he was finishing his work on Coyote, Todd received a call from Roy Thomas at DC Comics who Todd had submitted several drawings to. Roy offered Todd a fill-in penciling job on Infinity, Inc. as its regular artist had just passed away, and its new regular artist was not able to begin at that time. Todd began with a pin-up in Infinity, Inc. #13, and then as the guest penciler an issues #14 (May 1985) and #15 (June 1985). At the same time, Todd also penciled issue #47 of All Star Squadron which was released in July of 1985. In September of that year, after the originally scheduled artist backed out, Todd began his first full-time job penciling Infinity Inc. beginning with issue #15 and continuing through issue #37 (April 1987).

Feeling secure in his employment, Todd proposed to his high school sweet heart, Wanda, in October of 1984. They married July 27, 1985 in Calgary, and returned to Cheney where Wanda completed her degree in December of the same year. In January of 1986, Todd and Wanda decided to move back to Canada and took up residence in New Westminster, a suburb of Vancouver in British Columbia. Todd moved on to pencil several issues of Marvel's Incredible Hulk beginning with issue #330 (April 1987) and continuing through issue #346 (August 1988). At the same time, Todd also took on several one-time projects including penciling Daredevil (April 1987) and GI Joe (June 1987) for Marvel Comics. Todd also took on several assignments for DC Comics which included penciling, and full art on some of the covers on the Batman book Detective for issues # 576 to #578 (July to September 1987), and Invasion, a company crossover book that gave Todd the chance to pencil many of DC's flagship characters.

At this point in his career, Todd was asked to do work for several one-shot books including True North, a Canadian benefit book promoting anti-censorship. 1988 was the year Todd's career really took off. Throughout this year, Todd completed work on DC Comics' Batman #423 (September 1988), Marvel's Wolverine #6 (April 1989), Marvel Tales issues #223 to 238 (July 1990), and other one-shot projects listed in the McFarlane checklist. In March of that year, Todd began his run doing the pencils and covers on Marvel's Amazing Spider Man with issue #298, and continued through issue #329 (December 1989). In his first issue, Todd co-created Venom with writer, David Michilinie. Since his debut, Venom has become Marvel's most popular villain, and now has his own title. Amazing Spider Man was the catalyst that ultimately launched Todd's superstar career as a comic book artist. Todd brought his own unique style to Spider Man replacing his webs, transposing his human body to spidery positions, and adding spider-looking eyes. These changes along with Todd's awesome pencils shot Amazing Spider Man up to #1 from its previous 9th ranked position. After over a year of penciling Amazing Spider Man, Todd became tired of penciling other writer's stories, and wanted to try his own hand at writing. Marvel, unwilling to replace the regular writers on their established Spidey titles, created a new title solely for Todd that he could write, pencil and ink: Spider Man. Spider Man #1 shipped in September, 1990 and became the best selling comic book of all time selling over 2.5 million copies. Remaining the #1 selling book for the duration of Todd's run, Todd decided to leave both Spider Man and Marvel after completing issue #13 in August, 1991 when his first daughter, Cyan, was born just months before Todd and his new family decided to relocate to Portland, Oregon.

During his six month hiatus, Todd not only spent time helping to raise his daughter, but also laid plans to form his own publishing company which would allow both himself and other artists, to create and retain the rights to their own characters. Todd was aware that many creators, including the legendary Jack Kirby, who himself created nearly half of the comic book characters in existence today, were not only denied the respect they deserved, but literally ignored creatively and financially by the large publishing companies. Please read Frank Miller's introduction to the Spawn Trade Paper Back released in June, 1995 for more insightful thought on this topic. Even though Todd had become the hottest artist of the decade, he was fully aware that he, too, could easily fall among the ranks of those once famous artists. After speaking with several other "hot" Marvel artists, Todd learned that he was not the only one both frustrated by the old Marvel bureaucracy and determined to see change made.

After months of discussions amongst themselves, a plan was made, and in early 1992 this group of hot artists including Todd, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Jim Valentino, Erik Larsen and Marc Silvestri left the comfort of the comic book publishing powerhouse and formed their own independent publishing company : Image Comics. Instead of the traditional comic book companies being able to both release artists from books containing their own creations and making millions off of the licensing products of those creations without beneficial compensation for the creator, Image Comics allowed each artist to publish together, but reap the awards individually. The ideology behind Image Comics stressed the importance that each artist would both retain creative control over their character(s) and determine how or if each character should be licensed reaping rewards both creatively and financially.

Only now, after Image's formation, did Todd feel he could bring his own creation, Spawn, out of his portfolio after nearly ten years since he was first created. This was Todd's first step towards his ultimate dream: make Spawn a household name. In May of 1992, issue #1 of Spawn, written, penciled and inked by Todd, sold 1.7 million copies making it the best selling independent comic book of all time. Since its debut, Spawn sales, through issue #34, have continued at phenomenal levels remaining in the top 10 in sales in the USA as well as in several European countries, and selling over 55 million copies world wide. Todd's unique art style, and controversial story telling contribute to Spawn's continued popularity. After 3 years of publishing Spawn, Todd has brought Spawn to life, introduced new characters into its story line, and created several spin-off mini-series.

Mid-1994 saw the release of the three issue Violator mini-series based on Spawn's ultimate enemy, the Violator, written by Alan Moore with art by Bart Sears, Mark Pennington, and Greg Capullo which issue #1 became the best selling comic book of 1994 character, Angela, who originally debuted in issue #9 written by Neil Gaiman, was spun off into a three issue . Another mini-series in late 1994 and early 1995 written by Neil Gaiman, with art by Greg Capullo and Mark Pennington. Additionally, Todd, after taking much criticism about his own writing abilities, recruited some of the best and well respected writers in the comic book industry. Quieting the critics only temporarily, much praise was give to Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim, and Frank Miller who wrote issues #8 through #11 respectively. After three years of publishing Spawn, issue #32 not only introduced a new costume for Spawn, but became for the third year in a row that Spawn was the #1 selling comic book for the month of May. A special Angela promotional book, written by Beau Smith with art by Brad Gorby, Jason Gorder, Mark Pennington and Chance Wolf, was given to retailers with the purchase of 25 copies of Spawn #32. This book made history by becoming the first free promotional book to make the Top 300 list from Diamond Comic Distributors. Creating the hottest character in the comic book business, Todd drew the attention of a variety of potential licensees including movie companies, television producers, and various toy companies which included Mattel, Hasbro, and Playmates. Seeing his own characters produced as toys appealed to Todd and he pursued these proposals only to be disappointed by each company's unwillingness to grant him creative control over their production. After several months of frustrating negotiations, Todd, against the advice of every toy manufacturer, set out to produce his own toys realizing that this was the only way he could guarantee his fans quality products that he was completely satisfied with.

Todd Toys became a reality with the models of the first production line of Spawn toys appearing at Toy Fair '94 in New York. These models included action figures of Spawn, Violator, Medieval Spawn, Tremor, Overt-kill, and the Clown (Violator's human form) along with the Spawn Alley play set, Violator Monster Rig, and Spawnmobile. Proving the major toy companies wrong, Todd successfully produced his own toys from the process of design through production to consumer sales. Todd Toys' first line shipped in October of 1994 and sold to receptive fans as fast as the Power Rangers. Plans for a second line went into motion and the spring of 1995 saw the release and sell-out of Todd Toys' second line of ultra-action figures which included action figures of Angela, Commando Spawn, Pilot Spawn, Malebolgia, and Rob Liefeld's characters Badrock and Chapel. To date, Spawn fans and toy collectors have scrambled for all of these toys because of their intricate detail and collectability causing them to shoot up in value. After almost a year of producing toys under the Todd Toys label, Mattel contacted Todd and advised him that Mattel produces a doll under the Barbie line named Todd. They felt that consumers may confuse the action figure line called Todd Toys with their Todd doll, and subsequently sales on behalf of both Mattel and Todd Toys would be interfered with. Rather than create ill will between the two companies, Todd decided to change the name of his toy company to McFarlane Toys.

Besides toys, Todd has taken on other licensing offers as he proceeds towards his goal of making Spawn a household name. Some of these include an animated series to air on HBO, a major motion picture, and video games for several different game platforms and companies. Todd began discussing the possibility of HBO producing a half-hour animated series months ago, and as the negotiations developed, HBO asked Todd to be the series Executive Producer giving Todd the creative control and freedom he so desires. Alan Moore will be writing a minimum of two episodes, and Alan McElroy, who also wrote the script for the movie, will also be writing a few episodes. Unlike the very tame Saturday morning cartoons, this animated series promises to have a unique look and story line with a more mature adult-type theme. Look for these shows to air in the Summer 97.. Also scheduled to be released in the summer of 1997 is the major motion picture, "Spawn". After receiving proposals from almost every major movie studio, Todd decided to sign with New Line Cinema who greatly insisted in both Todd's input, and taking on Industrial Light & Magic, the geniuses behind the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, to head up the special effects on the movie.

Another one of the big projects Todd is working on is the video games which are being developed by Sony and Acclaim for a variety of platforms. The first platform, SNES, came out in December, 1995, and The Sony Playstation version which will be released in August, 1997. As with everything he does, Todd decided to go with Sony because they wanted his input and granted him creative control and approval of every step taken in the video's production.

Other licenses Todd has granted to date include a board game being produced by Pressman Toys, pogs which has already shipped to Canada Games, watches by Hope Industries, Halloween costumes by Rubie's costume company, and kids shoes by Angel-ettes. Not all of these products have shipped yet, but keep an eye open for them.

Todd keeps a close eye on all of his business ventures being personally involved with every step along with producing an issue of Spawn monthly. As you can imagine, Todd's time is very pressed, and accordingly, he cannot attend all of the conventions he would like to, but still wants to make some sort of appearance at as many as he can. 1997 marks the fifth year in a row of the "Spawn Tour". Touring around the country to numerous conventions, Spawn A.K.A. Al Simmons dresses in a new costume designed by Industrial Light & Magic bringing with him the life-sized Spawnmobile funny car, and statutes of the Violator and Clown giving away Spawn Freebies, sometimes Spawn issues autographed by Todd. Even after ten years in the comic book industry, and being voted by retailers as the most popular artist for 66 consecutive issues of Wizard Guide to Comics, Todd's autograph is still the most sought after in the business. With an unrivaled popularity with the fans, his attendance at comic book conventions across the United States and Canada create havoc for security personnel not expecting such fan excitement, and have, on the odd occasion become hazardous as fans scramble for autographs. If time permits, Todd reviews artists portfolios giving them his honest suggestions, reminding them that he received 700 rejections before getting a job, and encouraging them to draw, draw, and redraw characters they like with the ultimate goal of making them look better than what the original artist drew.

As each issue of Spawn hits the shelves, and with every new project Todd undertakes, Todd's dream of making Spawn a household name becomes more of a reality. Believing there are no secrets to his success, Todd attributes his achievements to a little talent, being in the right place at the right time, a lot of hard work and perseverance. Todd uses his anger at how traditional business operates and determination to prove that one never has to take "no" for an answer. When somebody tells Todd, "It can't be done", Todd's immediate response is, 'Who says so? I can do it".

Todd's biggest influences have been Rob Liefeld, Frank Miller, Wayne Gretzky, John Byrne, and most importantly his wife, Wanda, and in fact his most important accomplishments have been outside the world of comics; his marriage to Wanda, and his beautiful daughters, Cyan and Kate. Even with his busy schedule, finding time for his family is of utmost importance to Todd. They like to spend time socializing with friends, and exploring Arizona, their home since August of 1994, camping along the way. Todd believes that "if it weren't for comic books, (he'd) be working in a print shop or as a graphic designer", and as such feels proud to be both a part of Image and to have helped make a positive change in the way artists and their creations are treated in this industry. "My ability to deliver a good product to the comic book community is my greatest strength," he says. "I'd like to be remembered as a guy who turned out some quality comics while doing a few different things even if it wasn't the easiest road to follow. And also as someone who fought for his fellow creator!" In 20 years, there is no doubt that Todd would still like to be causing hell to the system whether it be in comics or not.