Todd MacFarlane is a Canadian artist, writer, designer and entrepreneur, born March 16, 1961 and is best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn. With his unique style and commitment to quality work, he eventually worked his way to the top of Marvel's artist roster. His pencils and covers for Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man ultimately took that title to #1 from its previous #9 ranking and launched Todd's career into comic book super stardom. Todd MacFarlane enhanced Amazing Spider-Man with his trademark style, popularizing a new way of rendering webs, transposing the character's human body to spidery positions and adding spider-looking eyes. Marvel eventually gave Todd McFarlane a title that he solely could write, pencil and ink: Spider-Man. Spider-Man #1 shipped to stores in September 1990 and became the best selling comic book of all time, selling more than 2.5 million copies. He wrote and illustrated Spider-Man's first 14 issues, as well as #16; many issues of which were crossovers with characters such as Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider. After issue No. 16 in November 1991, McFarlane left the book due to creative clashes with new editor Danny Fingeroth. Todd MacFarlane was replaced on the title by future Image Comics co-founder Erik Larsen.

Todd MacFarlane then left Marvel with six other popular artists to form Image Comics, an umbrella company under which each owned a publishing house. Under MacFarlane Productions, Todd published his creation, the occult themed Spawn. Upon release, Spawn No. 1 sold 1.7 million copies, still a record for an independent comic book. The series continued to be a hit, and in 1993 it was declared the best selling comic on a consistent basis that was then being published. Since leaving his inking duties on Spawn with issue No. 70  in February 1998, Todd MacFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In September 2006, it was announced that McFarlane would be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. McFarlane used to be a co-owner of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He is also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs. Todd MacFarlane is currently credited with some or all of the artwork in 1,171 separate Comic Book issues.