SDCC Wrap Up – Nick H. Covers Todd McFarlane’s Spawn 300 Panel

So just let me state this is my third year in a row going to San Deigo Comic con. This year is probably my last year. Besides being over crowded, the lack of “comic things” was more of a concern than anything at the con. It just seems funny to me that a comic book convention is more about pop culture than the comic books that the con was started out with in mind. However the Spawn 300 / Spawn 301 panel with Todd McFarlane was quite the treat.

One of the coolest things I have ever seen at a convention was Todd was picking random people out of the crowd to ink pages for Spawn 300. Todd said he’s a little behind because it’s so massive and the fact it should be out soon. I personally would have killed for a chance to bang out a page of inking (I ink so it would have been cool to do it in a legit comic book.) Todd said he could teach anyone to ink just stay inside the lines and don’t spill the inkwell on the page

Todd came out came to introduce himself and proceeded to tell a quick story about how he made Spawn and the 27 years leading up to Spawn 300. Todd then dropped the biggest news that he is building his own Spawn universe. To me, being a Spawn fan since issue 1, I was excited to see more of the universe than just Sam & Twitch or the Violator. Todd did let it slip that there would be a couple of new characters coming in issue 300-301.

Todd then moved on to say how Spawn 300 is the only other comic book to be printed consecutively next to Cerberus. However, Spawn 301 will be the first independent comic to go over 300 and will last even after he passes it to a yet to be picked writer. Then Todd swayed to Spawn 300 being so massive that he needed help to do 60 plus pages.

To get help on the book wouldn’t be easy but he didn’t want this epic event to be like Detective 1000 and have 75 different cover artist and one interior artist. Todd said his main stipulation would be that if you wanted to do a cover you had to do some interior pages as well. Todd was adamant about letting the artists chose whatever they liked to draw and that he would incorporate it into the interior pages they would be penciling.

Todd mentioned to the crowd that he had a few special guest that he would like to call up and personally thank for helping out on this massive project. Todd first called up his current artist on Spawn, Jason Shawn Alexander, who has worked on the book for over 20 current issues. Todd was saying he’s more like a father figure to Jason and had to convert him from being used to working from a whole plotted out scripts to a lose outline on the phone or email.

Todd said the reason he hand picked Jason was because of his gritty horror art style and loved the feel for how it meshed well with Spawn. Jason admitted when he was offered the job of Spawn, that he tried hard to do a super hero comic and Todd didn’t like it. Todd stated that he wanted gritty realism for the Spawn universe not capes and tights.

Jason also admitted that Todd has being doing comics for a long time and knows what he is talking about. So back to Todd being a father figure he told Jason that all he cares about is that you meet your deadlines. Todd drilled that you do one page a day Monday through Friday. That way you can have a good work life balance or do sketches or covers.

Next up was one of my favorite writers Scott Snyder. Scott said he met Todd at 13 and gave him an expensive Spiderman 301 page when he went to a comic con with his dad on his birthday. Todd said he wasn’t sure if he could get Scott to find the time to write for Spawn 300. Scott was so happy to help out he said they talked for 2 hours on the phone. Scott was excited to work with Todd and said “it’s a joy” and likes the loose scripts and can have fun.

Todd said he couldn’t wait to see what Scott had in store for him to drawn. Todd and Scott put a new spin on an old character. They wouldn’t divulge much but it would be pivotal to issues 300 and beyond. The revamped character will stretch into the new Spawn universe and will used for years to come.

Todd then called up an old buddy that is famous for doing just covers. Todd said he wanted to see J. Scott Campbell doing interior pages again and not just covers. J. Scott Campbell is doing interiors and a cover for Todd. Todd asked Campbell what he likes to draw and Campbell said I like drawing girls… but Todd made it work with the story. Everyone chuckled when Todd said “well what would you like to do for a cover since you are so good at doing them.”

Todd told Campbell to channel your inner 15 year old! Campbell recalled how he used to read Todd’s runs on both Spidey and Spawn. Todd said to draw what his 15 year old self would like to see and that would be cool. Campbell is drawing what he does best, sexy women and monsters. Campbell has a 2 page spread coming with Spawn monsters and both Todd and Campbell be inking it. Todd trying to get Campbell to come back to doing interiors. I don’t know if it worked.

(Todd introduces Greg Capullo)

Finally Todd brought up Greg Capullo. Greg is doing 30 pages for spawn 300. Greg said he was done after Spawn 100. Greg was on a salary after Spawn 100 to do album covers and toys for Todd. Todd hit up Greg about doing Haunt after Spawn 100. Greg said he was pumped to be back on Spawn and it was so much fun. It was easy to get right back to the mind set of drawing Spawn.

Greg and Todd had many phone interviews over the years but the question about drawing Spawn 300, Todd asked him in person. Todd set up a personal meeting with Greg to show him how he wanted the mood and facial expressions. Greg told of how Todd would jump on a chair and makes faces of how he wants to characters to look like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby style.

Greg recalls that Todd hit him up while he was deep into the third issue of Batman The Last Knight. Greg told Dan Didio that he had to do Spawn 300 because of all the work he had put into Spawn over the years. Didio said they would make it work and Greg said that was great because if not he would still do Spawn 300 with or with out permission.

Greg had a few small issues with the ending of Spawn 300. So being the tight collaborators, Todd and Greg rewrote the ending to 300. Greg said he would be damned if anyone else was going to touch the ending to Spawn 300 and let alone cover the cliffhanger leading into 301. So it seems Greg is back on Spawn for at least issues 300 and 301.

I personally can’t wait for this event to happen. To be honest, I jumped back into Spawn around issue 273 and have been reading it ever since. Todd did stipulate that of you haven’t been reading Spawn for awhile issue 297-299 are nice recaps to jump back into 300. To me this sounds so hyped up that it should live up to it. We will see because anything is possible in comics.

On another note Todd was asked the night before at his panel about the Spawn movie. Todd said it’s a sore subject but he’s looking for more capital to back it. He is playing the game with the studios and financiers. If that fails he’ll just do a kickstarter to raise the rest and pay everyone back after the movie comes out. The Spawn movie is still in the work but just hit a few speed bumps along the ride, Todd said