Todd McFarlane: Calgary’s Prodigal Son

Who knew Calgary would produce one of the most influential minds in the comic book world? Todd McFarlane lives the life most adolescent boys could only dream of. I guarantee, if they covered a class on how to live Todd McFarlane’s life in college; every college dude would rise out of bed and stumble in the withering cold and to that lecture. They’d probably even take notes.

What most of us, men, do as hobbies he has made it a career. The media entrepreneur, comic book writer and artist, toy manufacturer and designer, sports enthusiast, professional hockey owner and creator of the well known fantasy series Spawn, was born and raised in Canada, in a little city called Calgary.

I never knew boys growing up in Calgary played baseball, but that was McFarlane’s first love in life. I always thought it was too cold in Calgary for baseball, but he was good enough to earn a scholarship to Eastern Washington University and left Calgary for Cheney, Washington. His career was short lived as he ruined his ankle and was unable to fulfill his dream of playing professional baseball. Instead of returning to Calgary, he went out and became one of the hottest names in the entertainment world.

His love of sports never left him and since his aspirations for being a professional athlete didn’t work out, he did the next best thing. He co-owned a professional hockey team, the Edmonton Oilers. Owning a professional hockey team isn’t too bad deal for a boy growing up in Calgary, but that isn’t even the half of it.

What McFarlane is best known for is his creation of the fantasy series Spawn. I don’t know many kids who don’t love comic books, but it is definitely one topic I never get sick of hearing about.

Instead of going back to Calgary, McFarlane got his start after college by drawing for both DC Comics and Marvel. He covered the comics Infinity, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk. His big break came when he did the Amazing Spider-Man. His drawing cover for the first issue was a topic of conversation around the comic world.

After doing a 28 issue run of Spiderman, McFarlane grew tired Spiderman and sired a new comic and Spawn was formed. Spawn’s story covered an array of different mediums, including a Spawn/Batman comic series, as well as a movie and animated series.

After conquering sports and comic books, the next art he went on to master was the art of toys. He created McFarlane Toys and has produced toys for all four professional sports leagues in America and has made figurines for the film franchises The Terminator, The Matrix and Shrek. He has also ventured into creating toys for video games. One of games you may have heard of is a little game called Halo 3.

As you can see this man from Calgary, Alberta has taken every young man’s passion and turned it into a pot of gold. Calgary should be proud of their native son.

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