Spawn Creator Todd McFarlane and Steve Aoki Launch NFT Marketplace

Entertainment’s most unlikely duo is launching Silicon Valley’s latest startup. Todd McFarlane—the legendary comic creative and creator of Spawn—and Steve Aoki, Grammy-nominated EDM DJ, have announced they’re officially joining the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Tuesday, the duo officially revealed OddKey.co, a marketplace that is geared towards comic creators and creatives in the sci-fi, fantasy, and music landscapes.

According to a release distributed by the company, the new website “will be a permissionless on-chain protocol for buying, selling, and auctioning collectibles natively on the Solana blockchain.”

As Aoki tells ComicBook.coms, NFTs have “taken over” his life and he’s now full immersed in the metaverse, wanting to help out artists however possible. “Todd’s been a dear friend for a few years and he’s a GOAT of what he does. So, we’ve always been talking about doing collaborations,” Aoki says.

He adds, “We’ve always talked about how to merge our two different worlds together. We have a great synergy together just on the human level. So, we’ve been kind of piecing this together, making sure it’s the exact thing that we want for actually, like, I don’t know, like six months or something a while, like we’ve taken our time.”

McFarlane says OddKey.co will always remain creator-focused, allowing creators to retain control of their art and majority of the finances they’ll hopefully earn through the marketplace.

“Steve and I wanted to help build a place where creators are in complete control of their work while retaining the vast majority of the finances,” McFarlane adds. “This same model made Image Comics, which I helped co-found in 1992, the third-largest publisher in North America (behind Marvel and DC Comics). Steve and I want to give that same freedom to creators in the NFT space… and let them know it’s a place formed by two leading artists instead of people in suits.”

To lead things off, McFarlane is bringing some Spawn digital artwork to the marketplace. In fact, 6,666 of the first people to sign up for the website will receive an OdDKey NFT, a combination digital collectible feature both Spawn and Aoki’s likeness. The company says that NFT with come “with an array of ‘East egg’ surprise utilities.”