McFarlane’s cover for Marvel’s Spider-Man No. 1 (August 1990)

Are you a superhero comics fan–especially an old school Spider-Man fan? I’d say that I’m a sensible fan with my own set of reasons. I appreciate that Spider-Man, along with all the great characters in comics, will forever be a wonderful opportunity to tell a story. Also, from a design sense, gotta love Spidey. From a pop culture sense, ditto. And, sometimes, like many fans, I’m susceptible to buying into Spidey, or any other comic book, as a keepsake. People have become conditioned to believe that an old stash of comic books might hold some highly valuable, “collector’s item.” This is based on such rags-to-riches stories as the astronomical rise in value of such Golden Age gems as Action Comics #1. By the 1990s, that mindset was completely ingrained among comic book consumers. The comic book market in the 1990s took a sharp turn down a speculative path with numerous titles touted as collector items and it ultimately went bust for a while. One of the most celebrated titles of that era, deemed a “collector’s item” on its front cover, was the first issue of the Todd McFarlane Spider-Man run, both written and drawn by McFarlane. Part of the battle is won when you have Spider-Man in the title and promise it’s a collector’s item. Spider-Man #1 went on to sell a whopping 2.5 million copies, partly due to the collector craze (take your pick in gold and/or silver variant covers) but just as much having to do with a new direction led my Todd McFarlane.

The speculative markets will tumble!

The new horror movie, Cloud, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, features a flipper who buys up all the fan favorite items in order to resell them at jacked-up prices. It’s a cautionary tale about how we, as consumers, must be wary of traps. That’s what happened with comics. Hard-core collectors would buy multiple issues of the latest hot comic book title in order to manipulate the price. And then comic book publishers got into the act by feeding that demand for collector material: titles promising to be the next big thing with huge print runs, which, of all ironies, guaranteed they would not be scarce. Here’s a Comics 101 FYI: If you want a comic book to become valuable, one of the key factors is that it is rare to find a copy. These comics were NOT rare but were flooding the market and nearly destroyed the comic book industry. The solution? Well, it’s a hard pill to swallow but quality will always win out over quantity. So, in general, comic book publishers, despite all the variant covers and big events they create to lure in readers, are supposedly more interested in creating artful stories instead of marketing gimmicks. And that can often be true. That’s where comics reviewers lend a hand in seeking those titles out. Ultimately, let the buyer beware–and make your voice heard. Continued pushes for quality will keep the speculative beast at bay.

Howard the Duck #1 (1976), considered a collector’s item due to low distribution.

Speculation in the comics market will never die. But there are enough safeguards in place today that make it less likely we’ll have another 1990s-style market crash again. There is a greater sophistication and transparency at play and a lot more common sense. There will still be a lot of comic book collectors who don’t even read the comic books they collect. But that’s their problem. The best defense is to do more of what has helped the comic book industry survive and that is to strive for higher standards. In fact, the passion to hold comics to the highest standards is what drives what is going on here at Comics Grinder. And it only makes sense because the backbone of the market, in order for this to really work, is made up of readers, not speculators. The more readers you have, instead of vulture-speculators, the better chance of comic book shops, and publishers, weathering the market storms. Graphic novels, in all their various shapes and sizes, capable of focusing on any and all subjects, have risen to the challenge and help considerably to keep the lights on. Our best bet is that readers win out in the end.

The McFarlane Effect at its inception.

In the spirit of celebrating the art of comic books, let’s take a closer look at that iconic first issue of the McFarlane Spider-Man. What stands out? Well, one key element that McFarlane enjoyed was creating a page with a series of thin long panels, like stripes, than ran across and created a bunch of jump cuts, slivers of moments. I don’t think McFarlane has gotten any real credit for this narrative device so allow me to do the honors and introduce you to what I’m calling The McFarlane Effect. A certain number of us who keep up with comics are aware of the De Luca Effect which I have written about here and, in a nutshell, is a page that features one character (perhaps two) repeated in a succession of moments. I think it’s only now, with decades to separate us from the media phenomena that was McFarlane’s Spider-Man, that we can better appreciate the art behind the work. I honestly think that McFarlane is such a towering figure in comics that such little nuances can sort of be overlooked. How many other artists have used this narrative device? Well, overall, I think that anytime that you see a work with long panels slicing through it, there’s a good chance it is by an artist influenced by McFarlane.

A rhythm struck up by quirky panels.

McFarlane’s use of long slim panels allowed for an infinite set of variations and set an ambitious tone for his helm at the landmark character. Keep in mind that here was a young man, working his way up the ranks at Marvel Comics, given his chance to create his version of, arguably, the most renown character in comics history. He would have been well aware of the trends and cross-currents at the time. He was an artist is search of the most compelling narrative devices he could think of so, you better believe that he was up late at night at that drawing board, night after night. He did not use this long slim panel device on every page but used it where it was needed, and developed a rhythm struck up by quirky panels.

The maestro makes music with his magical panels.

The maestro was making music with his magical panels. Sure, this was a darker and more realistic Spider-Man than the higher-ups were used to, or comfortable with, at Marvel, but there he was, Todd McFarlane, the aspiring baseball player, knocking them out of the park. McFarlane would have been thinking of Frank Miller and his audacious The Dark Knight Returns. Well, he had an answer for it bringing home his own take on horror tropes and delivering with a distinctive style that has been borrowed by many great artists, including Jim Lee.

Spawn #1 is a collector’s item!

And to continue giving credit where credit is due, of course, Todd McFarlane went on to found Image Comics, where creativity and creator rights are honored. Image Comics stands as a testament to what is possible for a great comic book publisher and everyone associated with it. You may know one of the big titles lined up to launch Image Comics. That was Spawn #1 in May of 1992. Created by Todd McFarlane, the first issue was written and penciled by him and it did pretty well: It sold 1.7 million copies. Not bad, right? And the rest is history.