Todd McFarlane at Comic-Con International

[Bunky Brian]

So what, who cares, not I,

 

 

[G.A.tor]

So what, who cares, not I,

 

well, you live up in an ivory tower, with your maids and servants and caviar... us little folks need to work for a living

[A-DONIS]

I'm sorry.. but I'm starting to dislike Todd more and more every year.

 

When your really disgusted with him give me any books of his you have and I'll be even more disgusted at him for you

 

Like what.. my Spawn 150 Sketch Variant, or my CGC SS Spawn 1 ?

[Ares]

I'm sorry.. but I'm starting to dislike Todd more and more every year.

 

When your really disgusted with him give me any books of his you have and I'll be even more disgusted at him for you

 

Like what.. my Spawn 150 Sketch Variant, or my CGC SS Spawn 1 ?

which ever one disgusts you more

[BassGMan]

I like Todd. He has grown from an artist/writer to a multi-media promoter: toys, action figures, videogames, comics, t-shirts, direct to dvd-quality movies, etc. More line ups, the merrier when at SDCC.

when he was an artist/writer, he was fine...but ask anyone that had "dealt" with him, his rise came from stepping on those around and underneath him, and his business tactics are, questionable to down right unethical in some instance... for folks to "applaud" him, it is only because the don't "know" him

 

I greatly admire McFarlane and all of his accomplishments. As far as your rant above, you can probably say that about any successful businessman, even Bill Gates. Sounds like ol' Todd is not only a great talent, but business savvy as well.

if you consider trying to strongarm smaller business into accepting merchadise different than what was paid for "savy and successful"...if you consider refusing to refund $43,000 of payments for product he sold you he doesn't have or can't ship, to the point you have to get lawyers and lawsuits involved to recoup your payments "savy and successful", if you consider telling you "companies like yours don't mean mess to me, I could give a god damn about you and your orders...I don't need you, you need me.... I am only concerned about what TRU and Walmart say " (pretty much an exact quote) "savy and successful" then you obviously have different values than I do

 

Well, taken like that, it surely does not sound good. Though I have learned through the years that there are two (or more) sides to every story. Not trying to defend the dude, I really don't care, but he couldn't have been as succesful as he has been if he treated everyone in business like cr*p. If the tough guy attitude works for him, then so be it, as long as it is legal, businessmen should be able to conduct their business as they feel suited, if customers or vendors do not want to do business with a company like that then they don't have too. Maybe he could have been even MORE successful if he was more "ethical" in business, maybe less, who knows. Don't like him, don't do business with him and don't buy his products. Personally I love his action figures, find him entertaining at his panels and back when he was on ASM he was by far my favorite artist. Seems like a real character, that one.

[A-DONIS]

Time and money change people.

[G.A.tor]

I like Todd. He has grown from an artist/writer to a multi-media promoter: toys, action figures, videogames, comics, t-shirts, direct to dvd-quality movies, etc. More line ups, the merrier when at SDCC.

when he was an artist/writer, he was fine...but ask anyone that had "dealt" with him, his rise came from stepping on those around and underneath him, and his business tactics are, questionable to down right unethical in some instance... for folks to "applaud" him, it is only because the don't "know" him

 

I greatly admire McFarlane and all of his accomplishments. As far as your rant above, you can probably say that about any successful businessman, even Bill Gates. Sounds like ol' Todd is not only a great talent, but business savvy as well.

if you consider trying to strongarm smaller business into accepting merchadise different than what was paid for "savy and successful"...if you consider refusing to refund $43,000 of payments for product he sold you he doesn't have or can't ship, to the point you have to get lawyers and lawsuits involved to recoup your payments "savy and successful", if you consider telling you "companies like yours don't mean mess to me, I could give a god damn about you and your orders...I don't need you, you need me.... I am only concerned about what TRU and Walmart say " (pretty much an exact quote) "savy and successful" then you obviously have different values than I do

 

Well, taken like that, it surely does not sound good. Though I have learned through the years that there are two (or more) sides to every story. Not trying to defend the dude, I really don't care, but he couldn't have been as succesful as he has been if he treated everyone in business like cr*p. If the tough guy attitude works for him, then so be it, as long as it is legal, businessmen should be able to conduct their business as they feel suited, if customers or vendors do not want to do business with a company like that then they don't have too. Maybe he could have been even MORE successful if he was more "ethical" in business, maybe less, who knows. Don't like him, don't do business with him and don't buy his products. Personally I love his action figures, find him entertaining at his panels and back when he was on ASM he was by far my favorite artist. Seems like a real character, that one.

I hear you, and I did stop doing business with him...

refusing to refund payment for product he couldn't ship (contracturally obligated) is illegal , and that is what prompted the successful lawsuit (thumbs u

 

bottom line is everyone is entitled to their opinion... some of us have more direct dealings and knowledge that allow us to make a more informed decision towards our opinions, and others just see the frosting on the cake (not realizing the cake underneath the frosting is rotten)... just the way it is

[Mac Man]

Are people unaware of what Neil Gaiman went through with McFarlane?

 

I've heard Gaiman tell about it in person and I've never thought of McFarlane the same way since.

 

Rick's story doesn't surprise me at all, it seems perfectly in character with everything else I've heard about McFarlane.

 

Care to elaborate? I've never heard of this...

[G.A.tor]

Are people unaware of what Neil Gaiman went through with McFarlane?

 

I've heard Gaiman tell about it in person and I've never thought of McFarlane the same way since.

 

Rick's story doesn't surprise me at all, it seems perfectly in character with everything else I've heard about McFarlane.

 

Care to elaborate? I've never heard of this...

Litigations

In 1993, Gaiman was contracted by Todd McFarlane to write a single issue of Spawn, a popular title at the newly created Image Comics company. McFarlane was promoting his new title by having guest authors Gaiman, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Dave Sim each write a single issue.

 

In issue #9 of the series, Gaiman introduced the characters Angela, Cogliostro, and Medieval Spawn. Prior to this issue, Spawn was an assassin who worked for the government and came back as a reluctant agent of Hell but had no direction. In Angela, a cruel and malicious angel, Gaiman introduced a character who threatened Spawn's existence, as well as providing a moral opposite. Cogliostro was introduced as a mentor character for exposition and instruction, providing guidance. Medieval Spawn introduced a history and precedent that not all Spawns were self-serving or evil, giving additional character development to Malebolgia, the demon that creates Hellspawn.

 

As intended (and legally allowed)[60], all three characters were used repeatedly throughout the next decade by Todd McFarlane within the wider Spawn universe. In papers filed by Neil Gaiman in early 2002, however, he claimed that the characters were jointly owned by their scripter (himself) and artist (McFarlane), not merely by McFarlane in his role as the creator of the series.[61][62] Ironically, disagreement over who owned the rights to a character was the primary motivation for McFarlane and other artists to form Image Comics (although that argument related more towards disagreements between writers and artists as character creators).[63] As McFarlane used the characters without Gaiman's permission or royalty payments, Gaiman believed his copyrighted work was being infringed upon, which violated their original, oral, agreement.[citation needed] McFarlane initially agreed that Gaiman had not signed away any rights to the characters, and negotiated with Gaiman to effectively 'swap' McFarlane's interest in the character Miracleman[64] (McFarlane believes he purchased interest in the character when Eclipse Comics was liquidated; Gaiman is interested in being able to continue his aborted run on that title) but later claimed that Gaiman's work had been work-for-hire and that McFarlane owned all of Gaiman's creations entirely.[citation needed] The presiding Judge, however, ruled against their agreement being work for hire, based in large part on the legal ruling that "copyright assignments must be in writing."[65]

 

The 24 February 2004 ruling ultimately upheld a district court ruling in October 2002[66] granting joint ownership of the characters to Gaiman and McFarlane. On the specific issue of Cogliostro, presiding Judge John Shabaz proclaimed "The expressive work that is the comic-book character Count Nicholas Cogliostro was the joint work of Gaiman and McFarlane—their contributions strike us as quite equal—and both are entitled to ownership of the copyright".[67]

 

[G.A.tor]

and again, I am not just responding to "one" person in this thread... my response was to get a more macro point across... folks, that don't "know" about some of McFarlanes dealings, don't have a frame of reference to truly know the individual...

 

folks "like" or "admire" him for what they see...and that is fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinions... but, my guess is that if the majority of "fans" really knew some of the dispicable acts and tactics that this person has used, it might cloud their sunny view on this person...

 

and again, it is not just "me"...if you really take the time to do the research, you will see the road to success wass paved with many illegal, immoral, unethical and down right bad decisions... even if I wasn't negatively involved in months long battle years ago, I think this knowledge would at least make me question some things I "thought"

 

does this detract from the good, to me it does... if it doesn't for you, then cool (thumbs u