Todd McFarlane is more than just comics. He may have got his start penciling for DC and Marvel, and then became a superstar while working on Amazing Spider-Man, but these days he is far more known as the creator of Spawn, a character who has appeared in television and film, and as the namesake of McFarlane Toys.It’s that very ability to spread into other media that allows McFarlane to remain in the spotlight, even decades in the industry.(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=6cc529b5-0e26-45aa-a63b-0ffed4b3437f&cid=1ffe12eb-eb53-11e9-b4d2-06948452ae1a'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "6cc529b5-0e26-45aa-a63b-0ffed4b3437f", mediaId: "59d2266b-2316-48cf-ac24-c8df0afdcf14" }).render("8e675352cce944408bbd86564cf30975"); });“The one thing that I try to stress to other creative people is longevity matters,” McFarlane told Den of Geek in an exclusive interview. “At some point, over time, and I don’t care what business it is, you’re going to have high and low points. But what matters is that you make sure that your brand, that word that you’re putting out there, just never goes away. It always stays out there, even with attrition that comes over and over and over and over.”“Has Spawn had highs and lows? Of course it has,” McFarlane admits. When he debuted the character in 1992 as part of the launch of Image Comics, McFarlane experienced both record sales and critical derision. The big retail numbers, driven in part by a collector’s market that went bust within two years, and the flashy artwork seemed to make Spawn a textbook example of a fad. Sure, it would be popular in the moment. But like so many other also-rans against the Big Two, Marvel and DC, it would quickly sputter away.Yet that’s not what happened. Spawn continues to be an ongoing concern even 30 years after its debut, and has produced not only popular toys and a movie that’s reached cult status, but also some respected runs by creators such as Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Greg Capullo, and others.According to McFarlane, he’s been able to enjoy such success because he doesn’t focus on short-term wins.“My frustration as president of Image Comics is that creators come in and do four or five issues of really good books that, in my mind, could easily go 40, 50, 60 issues. You don’t have to do 300, that’s me being insane. But four or five issues and then jumping to the next thing? You’re not building anything that resonates because your book’s the hot thing for two weeks and then the hype goes away. And here’s the problem. You get big sales on your first five and then they start to flatten or taper down. And the thought is, ‘Well, I can go start another book and I get big sales for the next five of those, right?’ The answer is ‘yes,’ economically. In the short term. But I’m telling you, long term you need to get to issue 50. Every book that Image Comics has done that has gone 50 or more issues has gotten outside the bubble.”By the bubble, McFarlane refers to an invisible barrier that limits a character’s popularity to the comic book fans who have pull lists at their shops and visit comic-centric outlets. The choir isn’t at all a bad thing, McFarlane explains, but they’re only one part of a potential audience.“The choir is always coming,” the Image Comics co-founder points out. “How do you get it now out to t-shirts, hats, toys, video games, movies, TV shows, so that your neighbor may have heard the word? Walking Dead, as great as that book was, got outside the bubble. When I tell people I created Venom, they go ‘Oh my gosh, Todd,’ but it’sbecause they went and saw the movie. They didn’t buy the comic book. They got it because Venom got outside the bubble again.”Such longevity is only possible if creators don’t get distracted by the highs of a new book launch, or discouraged when sales dip and keep pushing to 50 issues. And to do that, they just have to keep focused on the work itself.“You put a book out every month, and four years and two months adds up to 50,” he states. “Here’s my frustration: I could have a room of a thousand of my peers, and I could ask a simple question, ‘How many of you have been in the business for four years and two months?’ I’m going to get an 85 percent hand-raise. And then I’m going to go, ‘And how many of you spent any of that time on your own project that you own?'”For McFarlane, that makes all the difference. A creator-owned book won’t break out of the bubble if not even the creator sticks with it. And McFarlane is convinced that creators can do it.“If you’ve been in the industry four years and two months, you could have done it,” he declares. “How many have been in the business for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years? You could have done this four times over. You could have got the 50, started a new IP. And yet, when I was talking to Eric Stephenson, the editor-in-chief at Image Comics, and we asked, ‘How many books have actually gotten to 50 in 30-plus years outside of the original founders and the partners?’ We could only count five.”For evidence of his claims, McFarlane need only look to his own work. “I’ve got Spawn #367. I’ve got seven compendiums,” he points out. “I’ve gotten to issue 50 seven times on Spawn, and now I’m adding three more.”McFarlane’s quick to point out that he says this not to boast—”It’s just math,” he points out—but rather to encourage his fellow creators to be able to reach the same level of success he has, to make his character a household name.“I have done it, one human being has done it with the help of lots of good talented people, 10 times, and the rest of my community in 30 years has done it five times.” Here’s hoping others can do the same with their characters.The post Spawn Creator Todd McFarlane Explains How to Break a Character Out of the Comics Bubble appeared first on Den of Geek.