My buddy, @rigger_one, turned me onto this McFarlane insta-tweeter picture today. You can see a red cape in the bottom left that looks like Spawns cape…not to mention the links of chain too. 
I for one would be as happy as a pig in sh!t if the Toddfather did some new interiors featuring Spidey. F*ck Yeah!
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Nobody does spidey better. Even now, after all these years. Toddfather rules can’t wait…
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I would love a new Spidey book with that awesome McFarlane art.
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Some things are better left in the past. He did a great job with Spider-Man, even his writing wasn’t horrible. He loves the industry back that loves him, nothing bad to say about Todd.
But I don’t think he’d bring anything new and exciting to Spider-Man…
It is very hard for anyone to bring anything new to Spider-Man, @D-Rog, given the rich, convoluted and extensive history that the character possesses.
And the excitement would be the fact that the modern master Spidey artist would once again give us some of that spaghetti webbing Web Heab that we haven’t seen in nearly 30 years.
There is so much more than meets the eye here too. When was the last time Marvel did a crossover w/ Image? Have they ever? And if this does come to fruition, then this would potentially open the door for a possible DC / Marvel crossover, as hinted at at the end of Doomsday Clock.
Art yes on great job… writing… well, not horrible but he’s no great writer. Even when he kicked off Spawn after leaving Marvel with Image he had to bring on so many guest writers simply because his writing is well… not that great and pretty sub-par. He really should stick to what he does best, and that’s his artwork.
McFarlane will definitely always be known and recognized as a top tier penciller. A modern Icon of the industry. And he has done so much for the creators and the championing of creators rights. You don’t get the nickname ‘The Toddfather’ without being something special.
Wow, he still has it! The time for a crossover with Spawn was probably 20 years ago, but I’d be up for any new Spidey Todd art. It’s probably just a fan piece though.
On the issue of Todd’s writing- I just happened to be flipping through his solo Spidey series back issues the other day. While the writing itself leaves something to be desired, honestly, his plotting and pacing was pretty epic. He and Lee and Rob did something that other stuffy writers don’t even try- they got young kids into the hobby, by providing stories that felt like they were on a truly epic scale, yet weren’t hard to understand. I don’t think I read the words too closely when I was really little, but it’s easy to follow along with Todd’s comics and the general ideas just seem cool as hell.
If you aren’t reading the actual captions, his Spidey Torment issues just have this great sense of palpable dread with the Lizard coming back relentlessly like the Terminator, as Spidey slowly loses his mind. I can see why they’d make an impact when you’re a child, and not reading them too closely. Let’s face it, Al Ewing and his overly political screeds (or whatever) aren’t going to hook young kids, but Todd made some of them collectors for life.
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You can be bad, and still be not horrible.
I chose my words carefully. 
I’m not sure why some like to talk about Todd’s writing. He is first and foremost an outstanding artist.
Focusing on Todd’s writing, to me, is like walking in on a basketball conversation and dismissing Michael Jordans NBA career to focus on his accomplishments, or lack of, in his MLB career…lol…
I think most do because he wanted to write and draw Spider-Man (it’s the entire reason he ended his run on ASM #328, he wanted more control over story and art and Marvel didn’t want to let their star artist go so they gave him the Spider-Man title) but even his Spider-Man run where he wrote it was pretty horrendous. He was also notoriously bad about missing deadlines too, so other writers and artists had to fill in for him…
He needs to stick to art, that’s what he does best…
I admire him for wanting to spread his wings. I do not like Lemires art, at all, but he is a hell of a writer. Same with Frank Miller. There are so many creators who excel at one medium and want to do other creative things, for better or worse.
Bandrew seemed to enjoy, and explained why he did like the writing in Todd’s OG Spidey book, so, I suppose Todd’s writing is subjective. Can you, @agentpoyo, explain to me what exactly it is about that SM run of Todd’s that makes the writing so bad, in your opinion?
PS. I’m going to dig out my run and give ‘er the ol’ re-read. I haven’t read that run in 30 years, so I can’t say anything about the writing, one way or another, yet.
I think his Wikipedia page describes it best… “clumsy, unsophisticated and pretentious”… His writing was so bad that most of his issues of Spawn starting with #8 he had to get top notch guest writers…
Like I said, he needs to stick to art, not writing. I think he’s a great artist.
Oh, I’m not into conspiracy theories but it’s pretty obvious that Jordan got caught doing a no-no and that was his punishment. The NBA couldn’t ban the best player of all time (any other player would have got booted more than likely)… so they punished him, the whole baseball playing was just his cover-up… Nobody in their prime wins 3 championships to retire and then come back 2 years later… to win 3 more… Just some shady shit going on in NBA during that time…
But writing and art are part of comics story telling, so yes, very valid to bring it up since Todd attempted to not only draw the story but write it as well where Baseball has nothing to do with Basketball.
Now if McFarlane tried to become a singer instead of writing comics and he sucked at singing, that would be a good analogy to use I think since singing and writing are completely two different things or skills. That’s if I was trashing his singing abilities…
That is beside the point. The point being that Jordan is arguably the GOAT of the NBA. He is known for his basketball skills, not his baseball skills. So, no need to focus on what he is not known for.
Pencilling is a sect of comic book creating, as is writing. But they are wholly different crafts within the respective medium. Baseball is a sect of professional sports, as is basketball. I will argue that Baseball and Basketball are a akin to each other in very much the same way that penciling comics and writing comics are. Very different positions within a shared industry. So yes, those sports do have something to do with each other. And it not like there isn’t an athlete in one sport who could very well play another sport, very much like Todd tried his hand in different aspects of his medium. Bo Jackson, RAIDER great, was an all star MLBer and an all pro NFLer. Deion Sanders, Kyler Murray, every TE in the NFL also were pro athletes in two different sports.
Drawing and writing are not completely different things or skills in your opinion, @agentpoyo? I will say that they are. Without question. Stephen King is a great writer, but I’m certain that doesn’t defacto make him a great artist.
Sorry I brought up his writing. I just wanted to say that Unless he brings something fresh to the table, I have no desire to see him draw a Spider-Man book again. He’s done a lot of Spider-Man and it’s same ‘ol stuff to me. So more of it = Not exciting. I’ll stick to acquiring more old stuff.
And if If he does a spawn/Spidey book he’ll
Likely want creative influence over the story, my guess…so careful what you wish for.
Fair enough, to each their own. Bringing up McFarlanes writing is fine. It’s a very legit knock on Todd. I just choose to admire his artwork.
Who cares what his writing is like…the guy is a kick ass comic book penciller. I don’t listen to Black Sabbath because I think Iommi is a fabulous fisherman…I listen to them because they are a kick ass rock band. And how many books do you own because you ‘liked the art on the cover’. If you have any of those types of books, cover art books, then I don’t see much of a difference buying a book to see some kick ass interiors too. 
I know writing and drawing (or art in general) are or can be two completely skill sets. I’m just saying that when it comes to comic books, the two coincide with one another. Drawing the panes is also telling the story. Without the dialogue or narrative, comics wouldn’t be what they are. So they do sort of go together when put together as a whole.
As for basketball being compared to baseball, the only thing they have in common is they’re considered a “sport”. One can be great at basketball and suck at baseball… clearly, Jordan proved that point.
The problem with McFarlane is, he’s a good artist. He wants full creative control over not only the art but the writing as well, he tried and he failed in my opinion. I guess you could say, if MJ was still playing basketball and he also owned the team, he should stick to just playing cause he sucks as a basketball owner… 
Can you explain what was it about McFarlanes writing in his OG SM run that you didn’t like? As I said above, I can’t remember it too well. I’m going to dig out my run and re-read it. Judge for myself.
I know Todd takes heat for his writing, which I believe is legit. and I honestly am not too familiar with much of anything that he’s written, as I don’t read Spawn these days, and I can’t remember the early SM or Spawn stuff from the early 90s. But, please, @agentpoyo, explain what it is about Todd’s writing that you do not like. I’m interested to hear your take.
I already said why… scroll up. His Wikipedia page said it best I think… I probably would describe it the same way they did from what I recall from those readings, including Spawn. Sadly I stopped reading Spawn early into the series, missed out on the guest writers that actually probably kept the book afloat…
I didn’t really dig his Spider-Man series, I stuck with Amazing Spider-Man back in those days. I didn’t really like all the damn variants either… probably why I’m a hater of so many variants today. Marvel is credited for pretty much starting the fall of the 90s with the variants push… It’s funny how they rinsed their hands and are now in the repeat part of the cycle…