The devil’s in the details. Ain’t that the truth? It’s also the name of the recently released collection of Todd McFarlane’s art from his 3-decade-spanning career. I was excited when Image announced the illustrated biography of Todd McFarlane in hardcover. Not so excited about the price tag. I got $99.00 and Tood McFarlane ain’t one of them. So, I instead opted for the more affordable $39.00 softcover. Not that the hardcover wouldn’t have been worth it. I just po’.

The book itself is gorgeous. A sleek, over-sized tome (most likely to better showcase the insane detail of Master McFarlane’s art work.) At first I scoffed thinking there wouldn’t be much to fill it, as he hasn’t done regular artwork in years. Boy, was I wrong – this puppy is thick as Hell! Weighing in at 400 pages, it makes The Bible look like chump change. And, it is a beautiful, lavish addition to any McFarlane fan’s book case.

I remember discovering McFarlane’s innovative design sense in the pages of Infinity, Inc. He really spread his wings on Detective. I followed him to Hulk and then Spider-Man. I jumped ship after he stopped drawing Spawn. McFarlane is one of those polarizing people. Even Tom Defalco, Editor-in-Chief at Marvel during McFarlane’s hay day, lamented Spidey’s “spaghetti webbing.” Known as difficult, outlandish, and controversial, he made Mary Jane pretty, Peter Parker hunky, and human anatomy a loose guideline. He loves comics and has sold more of them than most people have.

Todd McFarlane is an innovator and a pioneer leading the Marvel exodus to form Image Comics. Like him or not, give the devil his due.

Note: The art accompanying this piece is my McFarlane homage for a project I was attached to a few years ago.

Michael Troy is a deeply superficial person. Born in the midwest in the ’70s, Michael came to Los Angeles to pursue his bi-polar career path as an actor and artist. 2005 saw the release of Michael’s first published book, Homo-Hero’s Big Book of Fun and Adventure (www.greencandypress.com). Michael has contributed to the Lady Gaga comic book from Bluewater Productions and has his hand in various other upcoming projects. Michael has performed stand-up comedy at all of the major comedy clubs in Los Angeles and is making his triumphant return to the main stage of The Comedy Store in September. Michael offers an off-beat sense of humor as the star of such youtube cult classics As The Gays on Film (www.youtube.com/fullfrontaltv), A Minute With Margot, a loving tribute to Superman legend Margot Kidder (http://www.youtube.com/user/rktcommander), and currently hosts a vlog style series Lethally Blonde over at www.monsterburg.com. Sitting alongside industry heavyweight Phil Jimenez at the “Divas and Lassoes” panel for the 2010 San Diego comic-con, Michael maintains and cherishes his “underground” status. A staunch believer in Blonde Ambition, Michael hopes his new comic about shallow blonde super heroes in Los Angeles, The Blonde Squad, will set the world on fire (or at least brighten it a bit). Check out Michael Troy and Lethally Blonde updates here!!!