Editing Todd McFarlane (section)

==Early life==
Todd McFarlane was born on March 16, 1961, in [[Calgary]], Alberta, Canada,<ref name=Spawn#1>McFarlane, Todd (w, a). "The Spawning Ground". ''[[Spawn (comics)|Spawn]]'' #1 (May 1992). Image Comics.</ref><ref>[http://joeshusterawards.com/hof/mcfarlane-todd-1961/ "McFARLANE, Todd (1961–)"]. [[The Joe Shuster Awards]]. Retrieved November 9, 2014.</ref> to Bob and Sherlee McFarlane.<ref name=DevilYouKnow>Vaughan, Kenton (Director, 2000). [http://www.nfb.ca/film/devil_you_know_inside_mind_of_todd_mcfarlane ''The Devil You Know: Inside the Mind of Todd McFarlane'']. [[National Film Board of Canada]].</ref> He is the second<ref name=ComicTropes>{{cite web|author=Piers, Chris|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT-x4QhYfxs&t=779s&t=12m59s|via=[[YouTube]]|publisher=Comic Tropes|title=Todd McFarlane Interview: As I've Gotten Older, I Just Like Good Storytelling|language=en-US|url-status=bot: unknown|date=December 24, 2020|access-date=April 7, 2022|archive-date=April 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407153810/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT-x4QhYfxs&t=779s&t=12m59s|quote=Why am I competitive? I don't know. And then I think it got sort of..."honed"....very, very good. Because I had a brother a year younger and a brother a year older.}}</ref> of three sons,<ref name=Time>[[Grunwald, Michael]] (August 8, 2007). [http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1650788,00.html "The Man With the Million Dollar Balls"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''.</ref> which McFarlane says contributed to his competitive streak.<ref name=ComicTropes/> Bob worked in the printing business, which led him to take work where he could find it, and as a result, during McFarlane's childhood, the family lived in thirty different places from Alberta to California.<ref name=DevilYouKnow/><ref name=SpokesmanReview>Kershner, Jim (June 3, 1997). [http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jun/03/spawn-storm-spokane-artist-todd-mcfarlane-always/ "'Spawn' Storm Spokane Artist Todd Mcfarlane Always Wanted To Create His Own Comic Book Series, And When He Finally Did, It Became The Hottest Title Of The Decade"]. ''[[The Spokesman-Review]]''.</ref>

[[File:PrototypeSpawnByMcFarlane.jpg|thumb|left|Prototype version of the character [[Spawn (comics)|Spawn]], which McFarlane drew in his teens]]
McFarlane began drawing as a hobby at an early age,<ref name=ArtOfTodd>McFarlane, Todd (November 2012). ''The Art of Todd McFarlane: The Devil's in the Details''. Todd McFarlane Productions/Image Comics.</ref> and developed an interest in comics, acquiring as many as he could and learning to draw from them.<ref name=DevilYouKnow/> He was a fan of [[comics creator]]s such as [[John Byrne (comics)|John Byrne]], [[Jack Kirby]], [[Frank Miller]] and [[George Pérez]], as well as the writing of [[Alan Moore]].<ref name=Spawn#1/> (John Parker of [[ComicsAlliance]] has also noted the influence of [[Walt Simonson]] in McFarlane's work.<ref name=ComicsAlliance>Parker, John (June 12, 2012). [http://comicsalliance.com/spawn-year-one-review-todd-mcfarlane-image-comics-part-one/ "ComicsAlliance Reviews Todd McFarlane's 'Spawn' Year One, Part 1: Questions"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416180437/http://comicsalliance.com/spawn-year-one-review-todd-mcfarlane-image-comics-part-one/ |date=April 16, 2014 }}. [[ComicsAlliance]].</ref>) McFarlane created the character [[Spawn (comics)|Spawn]] when he was 16, and spent "countless hours" perfecting the appearance of each component of the character's visual design.<ref name=ArtOfTodd/>

One day while in the twelfth grade<ref name=DevilYouKnow/> at Calgary's [[William Aberhart High School]],<ref name=Spawn#1/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/canbiz/mcfarlane.html|author=Nowak, Peter|title=Artist spawns a web of influence|publisher=[[CBC News]]|date=December 24, 2007|archive-date=December 25, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225120858/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/canbiz/mcfarlane.html}}</ref> McFarlane, working as a groundskeeper for the [[Calgary Cardinals FMBA|Calgary Cardinals]], was standing in the bleachers when a 13-year-old ninth grader sitting near him named Wanda Kolomyjec, who served as the team's bat girl,<ref name=DevilYouKnow/><ref name=TM-PersonalSignificance>{{cite web|url=https://mcfarlane.com/blog/amateur-piece-personal-significance/|title=Why This Amateur Piece Has Personal Significance…|author=McFarlane, Todd|publisher=McFarlane|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=September 8, 2016|access-date=December 2, 2023|archive-date=December 3, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231203031554/https://mcfarlane.com/blog/amateur-piece-personal-significance/}}</ref> began flirting with him. The two began dating, over the objections of Wanda's father, who thought she was too young for him, though in time McFarlane won him over.<ref name=DevilYouKnow/>

Right after high school, McFarlane attended baseball tryouts at [[Gonzaga University]]. Despite being a good fielder and fast, he was not a good hitter. Moreover, he could not afford Gonzaga, so he attended [[Spokane Falls Community College]] for a year,<ref name=SpokesmanReview/> his relationship with Wanda developing into a long-distance one.<ref name=DevilYouKnow/> In 1981 McFarlane began attending [[Eastern Washington University]] (EWU) on a baseball scholarship, studying as part of a self-designed program for graphics and art. His practical goal was to join his father in the printing business in [[Calgary, Alberta]], though his dream was always to be a comic book creator.<ref name=SpokesmanReview/><ref name=ArtOfTodd/> He worked part-time on campus as a janitor in the school's administration building, as his scholarship required an on-campus job, and also worked weekends at a comics shop called the Comic Rack, devoting a couple of hours late at night to practice his comics art.<ref name=DevilYouKnow/><ref name=SpokesmanReview/><ref name=ComicsThruTime>Booker, Keith M. (October 28, 2014). [https://books.google.com/books?id=hnuQBQAAQBAJ&q=McFarlane%2Cgraphicart&pg=PA1144 ''Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas'']. Greenwood. p. 1144. Archived at [[Google Books]]. Retrieved April 25, 2017.</ref>

He sought to play baseball professionally after graduation but suffered a serious ankle injury in his junior year during a game with arch-rivals [[Washington State University]]. He subsequently focused on drawing, working at the comic book store to pay for the rest of his education, and living in a trailer park in [[Cheney, Washington]] with Wanda,<ref name=DevilYouKnow/><ref name=SpokesmanReview/><ref name=ArtOfTodd/> who had moved to the area to be with him and attend EWU as well.<ref name=DevilYouKnow/> In 1984, a year after his injury, McFarlane's final chance to play for the big leagues came when he tried out with the [[Toronto Blue Jays]]' farm team in [[Medicine Hat, Alberta]], but he ended up being ranked last on the roster, ending his professional baseball prospects.<ref name=DevilYouKnow/> McFarlane graduated with a bachelor's degree that same year.<ref name=SpokesmanReview/><ref name=ArtOfTodd/><ref name=EWU>[http://www.ewu.edu/about/ewu-news/mcfarlane-returns "McFarlane Returns"]. [[Eastern Washington University]]. May 21, 2013.</ref><ref>Harris, Craig (June 17, 2003). [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2003-06-17-spawn_x.htm "Baseball, toys and comics: McFarlane finds success"]. ''[[USA Today]]''.</ref> He stayed in [[Spokane, Washington]] while Wanda finished her degree.<ref name=SpokesmanReview/> She also co-plotted and edited the pages on which McFarlane developed his own comics character, ''[[Spawn (comics)|Spawn]]''.<ref name=TM-PersonalSignificance/>