Todd McFarlane is a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comic’s Spider-Man franchise in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. His reputation soared when, in 1992, McFarlane helped form Image Comics and published Issue #1 of Spawn, which sold 1.7 million copies, a record for an independent comic book.

McFarlane’s first published work was a 1984 backup story in Epic Comics’ Coyote. He soon began drawing for both DC Comics and Marvel, adding his flair to Batman: Year Two and Incredible Hulk. In 1990, McFarlane wrote, penciled, and inked Spider-Man. Spider-Man #1 became the best-selling comic book of all time, topping over 2.5 million copies.

“There aren’t enough words to express the level of excitement making its way through the volunteer grapevine about the addition of Todd McFarlane to the lineup,” Matt Solberg, Convention Director stated, “He has a lot of admirers here.”Todd Mcfarlane

In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys, which has licensed the right to produce action figures of athletes in all four major North American sports, and successful film franchises, including The Terminator, The Matrix and Shrek. He has also created Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio which produced the animated series Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, and received two Primetime Emmy awards for his efforts. Several other film projects are in the works, including a collaboration with horror/fantasy icon Clive Barker, based on the Clive Barker’s Tortured Souls series of action figures released by McFarlane Toys.

In October 2009 Image Comics debuted the comic book series Haunt, created by Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane. The series focuses on a pair of brothers, one living and one not, who unite in one corporeal form for a series of supernatural James Bond-inspired adventures.

“Todd McFarlane never stops coming up with great things for us, his fans,” said Joe Boudrie, Phoenix Comicon Programming Director, “I mean, look at his action figures. They’re the best!”

Phoenix ComiCon is the signature pop culture event of the southwest, presenting guests and programming for hobbyists and fans by attracting the top segments of the comics, anime, sci-fi, film, TV, and gaming industries. Entering its ninth year, Phoenix ComiCon is expected to draw over 10,000+ attendees to its May 27-30, 2010 convention held at the Phoenix Convention Center and Hyatt Regency located in downtown Phoenix.

For more information, please go to http://www.phoenixcomicon.com.

Press Release for April 20th, 2010