McFarlane Toys

Todd McFarlane first broke into the comic-book industry in the mid- to late 1980s as an illustrator for DC and Marvel on Batman and The Amazing Spider-Man. From the beginning, he was highly regarded for his obsession with detail. That obsession, though, led to creative differences in 1991 with Marvel, which considered some of his imagery for Spider-Man too violently graphic. By 1992, McFarlane had launched his own imprint, which he used as a platform for Spawn. The densely drawn characters in that comic would become the first products in McFarlane's line of equally detailed action figures, which were first released in 1994. McFarlane sold millions of Spawn figures, making him an overnight force to be reckoned with in a world dominated by G.I. Joe, Mego, and Transformers. Quickly, McFarlane Toys began licensing the likenesses of characters from television and film, as well as sports stars playing baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. Rare McFarlane toys include Mandarin Spawn and Overkill, both from Spawn comics; characters from the 1988 Japanese animated film, Akira; Jareth, as played by David Bowie in Labyrinth; the Predator monster; and Robocop. Sought vintage McFarlane sports figures include Bob Lilly of the Dallas Cowboys, Earl Campbell of the Houston Oilers, James Worthy of the Los Angeles Lakers, Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers; and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. McFarlane has also licensed the likenesses of rock stars, from Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and Jim Morrison of the Doors to members of Metallica and KISS. In fact, McFarlane is such a fan of Pearl Jam that he made an animated video for the band in 1998, as well as a rock poster in 2012, a collaboration with an artist named Maxx242.