McFarlane is back on Spawn Comics!
Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008Source: McFarlane Press Release
Todd McFarlane and Brian Holguin return to the pages of ‘Spawn’ with artist and Image founder Whilce Portacio.
Beginning with Issue #185 in October, SPAWN will feature a new creative team, including SPAWN creator Todd McFarlane, Image Comics co-founder Whilce Portacio and writer Brian Holguin. The new creative force promises to bring an entirely new energy to the world of SPAWN.
"We've just been talking with everybody involved about what we can do to inspire the readers," McFarlane says. "One of them was to take the book in a different direction in terms of the storyline, and the other was to take it in a bit of a different direction artistically, too."
Image co-founder Whilce Portacio (Wetworks) is poised to take the book in that new artistic direction, with McFarlane serving as creative director. The two creative forces work well together, and are excited to be pooling their talents.
"Having Todd by my side is fantastic, because he gives me all the texture he's been trying to place in his stories," says Portacio. "As the artist, I get to say, 'Okay, let me grab all of this stuff that's oozing out of your head, and let me see if I could make it visually pleasing.' For me, that is artistic bliss."
Former SPAWN writer Brian Holguin will also be returning to the series. He and McFarlane have collaborated on the title before, and Holguin looks forward to McFarlane's return to a much more active role in plotting the series and laying out pages.
"It's exciting to go back to it," says Holguin. "It's familiar, but it's changed enough. It's like going back to your home town after a couple of years - that store is no longer there, and this is moved over there. You're in the process of rediscovering things again. I have an enthusiasm for it now that I didn't have when I left the book."
The trio will only hint at their plans for where the story will go next.
"It seems that everybody had the same thought that this is a great, huge universe, and to let everybody finally see it," says Portacio. "Not just glimpse a demon here or there, but to actually get into their motivation, what factions they're part of. Todd has even given me freedom to create new factions of spawns and new factions of angels."
Whatever direction the story goes next, the newly energized creative team will have fans talking, and eagerly turning the pages.
Todd McFarlane
Widely recognized as one of the most influential comic book creators of the last two decades, McFarlane is best known as the creator of Spawn. That title’s hugely popular 1992 debut sold an amazing 1.7 million copies – an unprecedented feat in independent comics. A whirlwind of growth and expansion followed: more comics, action figures, film and award-winning animation.
Whilce Portacio
Born in the Philippines, Whilce Portacio began his career as an inker for established artists, including Art Adams (Longshot) and Jim Lee (Alpha Flight), and quickly established himself as a penciler on Punisher and Uncanny X-Men. As his popularity grew, he created new characters for X-Men and his own team for Wetworks, as well as the independent book, Stone, a comic based on Philippine mythology. In 1996, he drew Heroes Reborn: Iron Man, followed by X-Force for Marvel. Additional career highlights include Wetworks 2, Stormwatch, The Authority, Batman Confidential, and Batman/Superman.
In 1997, Portacio joined a group of established artists in founding Image Comics – a venue where creators could publish their own material and retain copyrights to the characters they created. Portacio has also been instrumental in the discovery and training of famed artists Gerry Alanguilan, Edgar Tadeo, Jay Anacleto and Leinil Yu.
Portacio now resides in southern California with his wife and three children.
Brian Holguin
Brian Holguin has been a writer in the comics and entertainment fields for more than a decade. In addition to a long sting as a writer on the groundbreaking Image comic book, SPAWN, his credits include the award-winning fantasy series, Aria, KISS: The Psycho Circus, The Magdalena, and the SPAWN spinoff titles, SPAWN: The dark Ages and Godslayer. He was also a contributor to the Eagle Award-winning anthology series, Event Horizon.
Future projects include the upcoming book series, Never, Never. Prior to entering the comic book field, he was a prominent Los Angeles-based music/film reviewer and newspaper editor.
About McFarlane Toys
Grammy-and Emmy-winning producer/director Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn and the founder of SPAWN.com, is the force behind McFarlane Toys, one of America’s top action figure manufacturers. With an eclectic array of movie, TV and music licensing tie-ins – as well as the officially licensed teams of the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, McFarlane Toys has become a leader and redefined the standards within the action figure industry. For complete information on this pop-culture powerhouse, visit SPAWN.com.
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