On listening to this it sort of seemed that Gary Groth was trying really hard to make Todd McFarlane look stupid or expose him as a hypocrite/sellout for ditching Marvel to continue doing superheroes, but regardless of Todd’s amusing accent and love of swearing, McFarlane’s points are quite informative and he really did answer Gary Groth’s questions well. I’d listened to this when it was first on the T.C.J. site years ago and in a (comic purist’s) atmosphere of hostility at the time towards the Image boom and the speculator craze Todd would have seemed like the perfect target for a scapegoat… But listening now, it really becomes apparent that McFarlane’s point about the insular nature of the western comic industry’s business structure, (which is highlighted today by the success of comic book property movies VS the obvious lack of roll-on effect in the direct market for the source material), is still a major problem. It’s a damn shame, or is it?! Cue a debate about the problem of superhero characters’ dominance in the direct market; the success of Manga with a wider target audience; the percieved elitism/alienation used in marketing “indie” comics… This stuff just goes on and on…
Loading...
I thought Todd had some very good points. And I agree with Benji that some of the questions seemed… loaded.
What you think of his artwork (or even of him personally) does not change the fact that at the end of the day, McFarlane was hired to make the company money. He succeeded at that task. Exceedingly well, I might add.
And that still irritates some people to no end.
Loading...
Same here.
While I think a lot of McFarlane’s actions have been questionable, I thought he gave an honest and thoughtful interview. On the otherhand, I wasn’t impressed with Groth as an interviewer. Seemed like he would have rather been preaching to the choir than entering into a discussion.
I’m confused, what made this a classik?
Loading...
Todd is a very capable businessman, and a talented creator. I read Spawn for years because it was quite a time, one of the top books out there. I’ve felt his work has been diminished by his no longer being involved in story telling and I rankle a bit at the jab at writers, because that’s what I do. I spend days and days writing and rewriting my scripts so I’m not a fan of anyone impugning my efforts, even from 15 years ago. Time has vindicated that point though because its now easy to see much better Image books were when Alan Moore was writing them compared to the creators of the books and how bad the industry was in the early 90s because of the over-indulged focus on the art (Stephen Platt’s Prophet, anybody, anybody?). Neither an artist nor a writer a great comic makes.
Loading...
I really thought I was going to listen to like 5 minutes of that interview before I got bored, but I ended up listening to the whole thing. It was great!
Best part: Early in the interview I remember thinking (cuz it was hard to hear), “Did Todd just drop the f-bomb?” Then by the end thinking, “Has he said a sentence WITHOUT it?”
I thought Todd came across really well. As far as Gary “needling” Todd or whatever, I thought it was better that Gary was asking the tough questions, which got Todd to answer straight from his heart. And very funny to hear how much Todd seemed to respect and admire Gary and was very up to be asked the difficult questions.
Loading...
I listened to it for the first time early this morning. I did get that Todd was speaking ‘from the heart’ but a lot of what he was saying was gut emotion stuff that sounds good but didn’t make a whole lot of sense when you applied some critical thinking to it. Which is what Groth did, but trying hard not to sound like a complete dick in asking those questions. Although at certain points Todd did do a decent job of explaining himself when Gary was asking the superheroes vs. art/lit work type questions.
Loading...
His accent was really different back then. He sounds a lot different then anything recent I have heard him on.
Loading...
He still sound like the rich retard that he was back then.
On listening to this it sort of seemed that Gary Groth was trying really hard to make Todd McFarlane look stupid or expose him as a hypocrite/sellout for ditching Marvel to continue doing superheroes, but regardless of Todd’s amusing accent and love of swearing, McFarlane’s points are quite informative and he really did answer Gary Groth’s questions well. I’d listened to this when it was first on the T.C.J. site years ago and in a (comic purist’s) atmosphere of hostility at the time towards the Image boom and the speculator craze Todd would have seemed like the perfect target for a scapegoat… But listening now, it really becomes apparent that McFarlane’s point about the insular nature of the western comic industry’s business structure, (which is highlighted today by the success of comic book property movies VS the obvious lack of roll-on effect in the direct market for the source material), is still a major problem. It’s a damn shame, or is it?! Cue a debate about the problem of superhero characters’ dominance in the direct market; the success of Manga with a wider target audience; the percieved elitism/alienation used in marketing “indie” comics… This stuff just goes on and on…
I thought Todd had some very good points. And I agree with Benji that some of the questions seemed… loaded.
What you think of his artwork (or even of him personally) does not change the fact that at the end of the day, McFarlane was hired to make the company money. He succeeded at that task. Exceedingly well, I might add.
And that still irritates some people to no end.
Same here.
While I think a lot of McFarlane’s actions have been questionable, I thought he gave an honest and thoughtful interview. On the otherhand, I wasn’t impressed with Groth as an interviewer. Seemed like he would have rather been preaching to the choir than entering into a discussion.
I’m confused, what made this a classik?
Todd is a very capable businessman, and a talented creator. I read Spawn for years because it was quite a time, one of the top books out there. I’ve felt his work has been diminished by his no longer being involved in story telling and I rankle a bit at the jab at writers, because that’s what I do. I spend days and days writing and rewriting my scripts so I’m not a fan of anyone impugning my efforts, even from 15 years ago. Time has vindicated that point though because its now easy to see much better Image books were when Alan Moore was writing them compared to the creators of the books and how bad the industry was in the early 90s because of the over-indulged focus on the art (Stephen Platt’s Prophet, anybody, anybody?). Neither an artist nor a writer a great comic makes.
I really thought I was going to listen to like 5 minutes of that interview before I got bored, but I ended up listening to the whole thing. It was great!
Best part: Early in the interview I remember thinking (cuz it was hard to hear), “Did Todd just drop the f-bomb?” Then by the end thinking, “Has he said a sentence WITHOUT it?”
I thought Todd came across really well. As far as Gary “needling” Todd or whatever, I thought it was better that Gary was asking the tough questions, which got Todd to answer straight from his heart. And very funny to hear how much Todd seemed to respect and admire Gary and was very up to be asked the difficult questions.
I listened to it for the first time early this morning. I did get that Todd was speaking ‘from the heart’ but a lot of what he was saying was gut emotion stuff that sounds good but didn’t make a whole lot of sense when you applied some critical thinking to it. Which is what Groth did, but trying hard not to sound like a complete dick in asking those questions. Although at certain points Todd did do a decent job of explaining himself when Gary was asking the superheroes vs. art/lit work type questions.
His accent was really different back then. He sounds a lot different then anything recent I have heard him on.
He still sound like the rich retard that he was back then.