Todd McFarlane Confuses Marvel CCO For Another Artist In Spider-Man Homage

Todd McFarlane, the creator of Spawn, star Marvel artist of the 1990s, and Image co-founder made a surprising error on his cover for the Spawn #1 Director’s Cut.

The cover pays homage to the cover of Ultimate Spider-Man #1, released in 2000. However, McFarlane signed the cover “McFarlane after Bagley,” a typical way of acknowledging that the art is an homage to another artist’s original work. The “Bagley” in question is Mark Bagley, the original artist for Ultimate Spider-Man. The problem is that Bagley did not draw the Ultimate Spider-Man #1 cover.

The cover was actually drawn by Joe Quesada, the current chief creative officer of Marvel Comics. Quesada was the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics at the time that Ultimate Spider-Man debuted, and he drew the first issue’s cover himself.

“Cool and flattering,” Quesada tweeted of the cover. “Todd’s cover for Spawn 1 Directors Cut is an homage to USM. I wonder if he knows that I drew the cover & not Bagley :^)”

It is easy to understand where the confusion may come from. Bagley drew Ultimate Spider-Man for 111 consecutive issues and also provided most of the covers. Bagley’s name has become synonymous with the series, and so it isn’t surprising to see someone jump to the conclusion that he drew the first issue’s cover as well.

Ultimate Spider-Man launched Marvel Comics‘ Ultimate Marvel lines of comics designed to update their most popular characters fro the 21st century and for easy consumption by new readers. The line finally came to an end when the Ultimate Marvel universe was destroyed as part of Secret Wars.

The Spawn #1 Director’s Cut is being released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Image Comics. Spawn was one of the first titles published by Image in 1992. The first issue of Spawn sold 1.7 million copies.

The Spawn #1: Director’s Cut reprints the entire first issue of Spawn, which was written and drawn by McFarlane, with some extras: original Spawn #1 storyboards, commentary by McFarlane, and other “vintage surprises” from Spawn‘s early days.

The Spawn #1 Director’s Cut goes on sale this week, May 17, in comic book stores and through digital comics apps.

Spawn #1 Director’s Cut
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(W) Todd McFarlane (A/CA) Todd McFarlane

2017 marks the 25th anniversary of SPAWN, created by TODD McFARLANE. Spawn debuted to the public, selling 1.7 million copies in 1992 and is on track to be the longest running independent comic ever.

Director’s Cut edition of SPAWN #1 includes:

• Original SPAWN #1 art boards

• Page commentary by TODD McFARLANE.

• Vintage surprises from the early days of SPAWN

In Shops: May 17, 2017
SRP: $4.99

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