Back in the days of the mid '90's, a "controversial" comic came out: Spawn. Spawn was one of the first independent comics that outsold Marvel and DC in a first run, and one of the most prolific adult comics out there. The comic was about an anti-hero named Spawn who made a deal with a demon to come back to Earth to reclaim his wife. Only, he's sent back five years later, his best friend is now married to his wife with a kid, and he's more cooked than a hamburger on the 4th of July. People raved how this was original, and a great adult concept, but we're appalled that this was in a "child's medium." Don't you love how often people forget the more adult comics they've read, i.e. Alan Moore's run of Miracleman, where Kid Miracleman's human form is sodomized, unleashing Kid Miracleman who destroys London in one of the most unsettling ways depicted in comics. Or Legends of the Dark Knight which deals with drugs, murder, serial killings, and, in the storyline "Flyer," an Aryan obsessed woman who wants to bear Batman's child. Or even the Watchmen, the comic that has a naked blue man walking around because he can, and even tries to have a threesome with his girlfriend. Oh, yeah, sure... kids medium. Right.
Well, anyway, the creator of this comic is Todd McFarland, and at the time, the man was my hero. This is when I was a naive child, and wanted to create a comic that I, at the time, refused to make scary despite the fact that it is. Now, I look at his works, and despair... just not in the King Ozymandias sort of way.
Anyone who has read the most recent issues of Spawn now realizes that Spawn's K7 Leetha suit is pretty much nothing but the symbiote suit that Venom wears in Spider-Man. Let's face it, it's possessed Al Simmons, Nyx (twice), Morana, Al Simmons' aborted daughter who is now a vrykolakas, and and now a guy that was introduced in the second storyline of the comic's run. A magical symbiote suit, how original. Then, we get Haunt, a character who is possessed by his dead brother's ghost, and can spin webs. Singlehandedly, McFarland ripped-off The Darkness and Spider-Man. Among comic fans I've talked to about this, I found that I am not the only one who thinks this, as several forums have been using this comic as a laughing stock.
Admittedly, despite this, I was a little hurt that an artist I looked up to could sink this low. I was told time and again that he created Venom, and even if Spawn was essentially the same character, that isn't too bad. Well, then I find this out: McFarland didn't create Venom. He only derived a version of the costume from a preset. David Michelinie created the concept of making a different character to wear the symbiote costume, and McFarland drew someone else's design, and character, and took credit for it. Not completely, mind you, but he is usually credited as co-creator along with Michelinie. Controversy has also been thrown over Michelinie's contribution as well, due to it just being an evil Spidey, but consider this: Venom is a different character completely.
We can say that McFarland drawing Venom put the character as a popular figure, but he didn't design Venom. He used someone else's design. That isn't a ripoff, due to him being hired to draw the comics, but why is he given credit for drawing a pre-existing design? Should I get credit for designing a menu for a restaurant that changes nothing but switching the drinks and entres? No, because I didn't design the template, I changed the arrangements. If I made a new template, then I should take credit.
I can say one good thing has happened from learning this: I'm more secure in myself that I have more original ideas than using the same few over and over. Yes, many characters in Goria are "Infected," but consider how vastly different they all are. It'd be boring if all of them made tendrils to swing from using their skin or muscle. People may not like it, but you can't deny this, I'm not a one trick pony based on this. Or else I'll have to change my name to Todd.
- Ben
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