Todd McFarlane: The Devil You Know (2002)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Kenton Vaughan
Edited by Greg West

Features:

• McFarlane art gallery
  
• Spawn promotional short
  
• McFarlane Toys Catalog preview and weblink
  
• Filmmaker biography
  

Released by Docurama
Region: 1
Rating: NR, suitable for audiences 13+
Anamorphic: No

My advice: Rent it if you’re a fan.

The name of Todd McFarlane is one instantly familiar to fans and collectors of comic books. First making his name as an artist for Spider-Man, McFarlane’s biggest claim to fame came with his break from Marvel and subsequent creation of Spawn, a bloodletting vigilante stalking the world from beyond the grave, constantly torn by an inner war between his personal sense of justice and the hellish origin of his powers in a deal with the devil.

The first issue of Spawn sold 1.7 million copies, and has since launched various spinoff titles, a major motion picture, and a three-season animated series on HBO. McFarlane now sits at the head of a massive multimedia empire that spans comics, animation, music videos, film, and toys. In just over a decade, he’s gone from work-for-hire comic artist to multimillionare, largely by virtue of a relentless personality that is simultaneously the secret of his success and the source of his reputation as an impossible to please egomaniac.

Kenton Vaughan’s documentary explores McFarlane’s rock star rise to prominence, without shirking away from some of the more negative aspects of the man’s personality. While still predominantly a piece of hero-worship, the viewer has ample opportunity to observe the ruthless personality of the artist, and interviews with several current and former work associates that testify to McFarlane’s drive and occasionally abrasive personality.

The Devil You Know suffers a bit from McFarlane’s own broad-ranging interests and mercurial personality, though tighter editing might have solved this problem. There are spots where it’s completely unclear what either Todd or the filmmakers are trying to say, with quick cut snippets of conversation and footage that seems to have no connecting element. Rife with imagery drawn from McFarlane’s work and a healthy dose of comic book sound effects, there are spots where the film gets pretty disjointed.

The story is an interesting one, though, and McFarlane isn’t the least bit shy in sharing the story of his past and his present success. As a documentary subject, the man is incredibly forthcoming, and the filmmaker’s unprecedented access to him and his daily operations captures some excellent moments (including the legendary bidding war that led McFarlane to ownership of Mark McGwire’s record 70th home run baseball for a cool $2.7 million).

The DVD treatment continues Docurama’s line of solid documentary products, with a nice selection of features rounding out the set. The only soft spot is the art gallery, which consists of images that are virtually indistinguishable on any but the largest televisions. A zoom feature or perhaps some tighter shots of the artworks themselves might have been a better approach to the gallery.

If you’re a McFarlane fan, this is definitely something you want to check out, but I’m not sure if it would be a keeper to any but the most hardcore completists (the sort that own several dozen variant Spawn figures and buy them by the case to get the super-spiffy limited figs--a couple of whom get some air time in the documentary itself). The film is an interesting look into the comic industry (at least the comic industry of the previous decade), and shows exactly what sort of tireless self-promotion and sheer testicular fortitude is required to be a self-made millionaire in the world of four-color periodicals.