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| Spider-Man #16 |
RANDOM THOUGHTS ... Spider-Man #16 was published in November 1991 and was the final issue for this title written and illustrated by Todd McFarlane. Months later McFarlane headlined a collection of artists that founded Image Comics, where he launched his own title, Spawn. Spawn went on to become the most successful Image Comics title, and McFarlane revolutionized comic book merchandising along the way.
• This is a special sideways issue; All pages are written and drawn in a landscape layout. In this book, it works, and as you might expect, McFarlane fills the frames with awesome images.
• The fact that #16 is McFarlane's last on the title is acknowledged in several places throughout the issue:
On the cover, Spidey says "Bye, Todd".
On the last panel of the issue, a fantastic 2-page mural featuring Spidey and X-Force, there is a message thanking the fans for reading, signed by Todd McFarlane.
In "Crawl Space", the reader feedback page at the end, McFarlane devotes the entire page to explaining his exit and giving thanks.
• Before writing/illustrating the Spider-Man series (which began it's run in 1990), McFarlane had inked Amazing Spider-Man issues #298-323, 325, and 328. He gained notoriety after conceptualizing and drawing the first full appearance of Venom, in Amazing Spider-Man #300.
• McFarlane was succeeded on Spider-Man by artist Erik Larsen, the same fellow who had previously succeeded McFarlane on Amazing Spider-Man. Larsen inked a 6-issue story arc for Spider-Man (issues #18-23), then joined McFarlane as one of the original Image founders in 1992, where he launched Savage Dragon.
• Todd McFarlane is not only an amazing artist, creator, and businessman, but he's also a former college baseball player who collects historic baseballs (i.e. Mark McGwire's record-breaking 70th- home run ball from 1998). I like comic books and baseball. Todd McFarlane is probably the coolest human being on the planet.
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