Todd McFarlane - The Devil You Know

Product Description

A legend to his legions of fans, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane is the most successful comic book artist in history. Over the past decade, this shrewd and enigmatic entrepreneur has grown his business into a multi-million dollar entertainment empire encompassing comics, action figures, television, video games, and music videos. In addition to an Emmy®-award winning television series for HBO and a $100 million feature film, the Spawn comic has sold over 150 million copies since 1992 - more than any other urband edrama character including Batman, Spider-Man, Superman and Wolverine. Todd McFarlane: The Devil You Know offers audiences an engaging look at the man behind Spawn's thrillingly dark and edgy images and exposes the many sides of McFarlane - from corporate rebel to dedicated family man to unrelenting baseball enthusiast (in fact, McFarlane may be more famous for his 1999 $3 million purchase of Mark McGwire's 70th home run baseball than he is for Spawn). McFarlane is a controversial yet likeable character, a self-confessed man of "contradictions and inconsistencies," who ultimately just wants to play by his own rules. A candid exploration of McFarlane's most intimate thoughts, this film ultimately offers us a rare glimpse inside one of the world's most brilliant, intriguing, and creative minds.

System Requirements:

Running Time 77 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Unintended hilarity?.......2006-10-05

I think it is unintentional but Todd's hubris shines through exposing what kind of person he is. His constant inane statements are a frequent source of laughter (or tears) and the sudden switch to a baseball documentary is confusing. The fact that the speculator crash that he helped create is barely mentioned in the film leads me to believe that this film was intended as praise for Todd but falls way short of the mark with the subjects help.

Todd McFarland thinks he is great and is excited to tell you how great he thinks he is.

Damning testimony on his character, talent and waning comic book career.

The Devil You Don't.......2004-12-29

Todd McFarlane began his multimillion dollar empire as co-founder of Image Comics on the premise that creators needed the rights to their creations and stories. This "docu-ganda" would have you believe that he stuck to that philosophy, and is somehow a super-hero; a god among mortals.

Not so much. McFarlane swindled so many creators out of their work that he's undergone lawsuit after lawsuit (and lost his share of them as well, forfeiting partial rights to some of his characters and being ordered to pay damages to writers like Neil Gaiman). He claims work that isn't his, "never gives you any credit," according to employee Steve Niles, and helped turn comics from a contemplative, interesting medium into a widescreen bloodbath.

Sheer, untainted hubris is the driving force behind the McFarlane phenomenon, and don't let anyone (especially not his stooges behind the camera) tell you different.

A comic book legend in his own words!.......2004-11-30

This DVD presents a terrific look into one of the greats of comic book art. Todd McFarlane talks in detail about his views on art, business, and life. He comes across as brash, determined, confident, and hard-working, and this mentality is a large part of why he has achieved the success that he has today. Beyond comics, this DVD should be pretty inspiring for anyone who wanted to accomplish something worthwhile in life.

McFarlane discusses his childhood and his original love of baseball. He then talks about his early days as a struggling artist living in a trailer in Washington determined to break into the comics business, and his subsequent huge success years later with Spider-Man and Spawn. Not one to be satisfied with resting on his laurels, McFarlane then began to branch out into different fields, like toy design and animation. Although this program is about McFarlane, I agree with the other reviewer that it could have included more insight into Image Comics and perhaps his relationships with all the other founders.

The DVD is very well put together, showing McFarlane around his studio and home, and on business trips. It is jam-packed with McFarlane's artwork, both new and old, and unpublished work. The program also includes associates and friends like Terry Fitzgerald, Todd's wife Wanda, Al Simmons, and many many others. Two hardcore McFarlane fans are also featured on the program and they are pretty interesting. One of the best highlights of the DVD is that it actually shows McFarlane the day he bid on and won the Mark McGwire baseball.

For any comics fan, or anyone interested by comics, or anyone who wanted to achieve something in life, this DVD is highly recommended!

Great documentary on a living legend.......2002-07-10

If you are interested Todd's work (Spider-Man, Spawn. etc) this is a good DVD to watch. If you want to know how one guy went from living in a trailer in Eastern Washington to being the greatest comic book artist around to a self made million with his own companies, watch this DVD. The documentary goes through his life, his struggle from wanting to be a baseball player to ending up where he is now. He is interviewed through out the documentary along with his family and friends. It even shows the day he bought the Maguire ball for 3 million. It is truly a very interesting documentary for all McFarlane fans. It is also interesting for anyone that ever had a goal.

CONS: I wish they went more into detail about the image creation. Todd spoke from his point of view (which was interesting to begin with- How Marvel editors didn't print Shatterstar stabbing Juggernaut in the eye in Todd's original artwork on Todd's last Spider-Man book). It don't think it covered enough about Image's rise and problems they had. They talk about Image comics a little bit, but not too much.

Overall, this is must have for all fans and if you are some what interested, I'd say rent it.

I think this DVD documentary is much better put together and detailed than Stan Lee's Monsters, Mutants and Marvels.

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