Possibly the best indicator of what you'll get from this film is the fan quote on the back of the DVD: "I think people who are jealous call him an egomaniac, and to people who know him better, he just kicks butt." That's about as powerful a statement as "give 'em heck" and "son of a female dog" - the same power of DEVIL. While in the course of the documentary McFarlane's egomania is lightly discussed, not much is done to shed light on this aspect of his personality. One leaves the film feeling that this is merely a slanderous overstatement about a guy who works his ass (sorry, should have said butt) off to build one of the most impressive mass media enterprises in the market today. Little mention, make that no mention, is made of McFarlane's tendency to write his enemies into SPAWN as nasty villains awaiting the brutal vengeance of the title character, and more tellingly, all those interviewed are decidedly pro-McFarlane. The most vocal of all his critics is surprisingly his wife whose revulsion at a particular episode of SPAWN led to her dismissal/quitting as editor of the series. (Don't worry, she's got a better job since: she's Chief Operating Officer of his companies. I wonder if she had an in?)
Without the benefit of some serious two-way criticism which you can find in plenty with a casual net search the documentary becomes a character profile or a true rag to riches tale with gushing praise from friends and business associates punctuating the proceedings. This would pose more of a problem if DEVIL ever attempted to say is was anything but. Once one accepts this, things go quickly as McFarlane the character takes center stage.
One of the premier illustrators working today, McFarlane has created a distinct style that actually manages to get a viewer's adrenaline rushing: fluid, impossible motions crossing the boundaries of conventional page layouts topped with exaggerated features that play into inner notions of power and fear. If one is to think of art as something that produces an emotional response, and not a nod to refined sensibilities, then McFarlane is a true artist, visually speaking. His stories may be fueled by, what is considered in polite society, base desires of brutal vengeance, heightened by cartoonish erotic overplay of bloodletting - but so what? This aspect is probably the cherry on the cake that made SPAWN an overnight success, and as we've all read time and time again, media doesn't influence anybody to do anything (unless it's a political ad or a cigarette commercial).
As a personality McFarlane displays outsider characteristics hyperactivity, outspoken beliefs, sleeveless T-shirt and in that way he shares a link to the antiquated idea of the artist as "different" (that is before Warhol came around and helped redefine the notion of the artist as the consummate cocktail party prick). Outside of his overwhelming personality traits, one discovers a man dedicated to family at an almost fanatical level, even incorporating his loved ones into the pages of his work. On one hand McFarlane will be supporting the death penalty (big shock) and the next gushing about his wife and child; he's like a Republican poster child in the best possible sense. Interestingly, in the final moments of the film when McFarlane accepts an award his demeanor makes a radical shift and he suddenly becomes a composed, eloquent speaker, suggesting, well, suggesting coaching.
While McFarlane may strike the viewer as one of the last people on Earth you'd expect to run a business empire, the simple reality of it is he is. Apparently fueled by the notion that if he likes it, other people will like it too, he's managed to prove himself right. On top of co-founding his own highly successful comics label, Image, creating the label's centerpiece title, SPAWN, and directing music videos for bands such as Pearl Jam and Korn, he's founded the single best action figure company in America today, McFarlane Toys. Marketing to both the young and old, and not necessarily with the same product, he's put out lovingly recreated, highly detailed figures for reasonable prices and has managed to get his name in households where Spawn is nothing more than a grating nickname for the kids.
Clocking in at 80 minutes, the documentary can really only play lip service to McFarlane's many accomplishments, giving its biggest focus, outside of his home life, on his purchase of Mark McGwire's 70th home run baseball for three million dollars, documenting, with suitable tension, the actual event.
All right, I'll say it again, this isn't in-depth journalism, but when you're dealing with a guy as multifaceted as McFarlane it doesn't need to be. McFarlane's many accomplishments are engagingly glossed over in a way that holds interest and encourages repeat viewings. Heck (now I'm getting the hang of it), when you're dealing with a guy with so much credit under his belt why spoil the story with the dirt under the fingernails, unless you want SPAWN to come after you?
Docurama's DVD is a nicely packaged release that provides a decent amount of extras. You get a McFarlane art gallery, a toy catalog preview, a Spawn 2000 promo and a filmmaker biography. Docurama has also provided a catalog of some of their other titles, many featuring trailers, that includes such gems as DON'T LOOK BACK, PIE IN THE SKY, SOUND AND FURY, and the incredible THE ATOMIC CAFÉ.
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