Beau deals out a lesson in this panel from Scout: War Shaman #13. Art by Todd Fox.

by Beau Smith

You may or may not know that from 1992 through 2000 I was the vice president of marketing and publishing for Todd McFarlane Productions/McFarlane Toys. When I went to work for Todd there were basically only five of us working for him and he was still living in Canada. By the time I left, he was in Arizona and there were more than one hundred people working for him, but all that’s a story for another Beauology 101 column.

Some of you may wonder what kind of scientific process Todd used to find artistic talent in those days. Well, basically, it’s the same one he uses today.

He flips through a stack of Marvel Comics.

All you have to do is look at some of the artists that he’s hired and you’ll see that most are Marvel alumni. It makes sense when you think about it, after all, it’s where Todd came from. In the late 1980’s Todd was doing Spider-Man and Marvel was kicking the butt of DC Comics in sales and market share. He figured the best art talent was at Marvel, so that’s where he cherry picked. (Greg Capullo, Angel Medina, and Dwyane Turner for example.)

One of his picks was a smart, talented kid from the Chicago area named Tony Daniel. Tony was a heck of an artist that soaked information up like a sponge. Todd signed Tony up for Spawn: Blood Feud as well as some issues of Spawn and various other TMP/Image projects. Tony thrived there and always listened to what Todd had to say about comics. He also made a point to ask questions about the publishing process, marketing, sales, printing, and the whole game of making and creating comic books. Like I said, Tony was a smart kid.

The Tenth

In the late 1990’s, Tony, myself, and inker Kevin Conrad were all at the Pittsburgh Comicon representing Todd McFarlane Productions. It was a great show, as always, and we had a really good time. Tony and I sat together signing various books and talking. Tony told me of an idea that he had for a comic book series that he’s like to do. I’ve got to admit, it was more than an idea, it was a well though out GREAT idea. It was called The Tenth.

I was impressed at how much Tony had worked this story and characters out, even more so that he already had a beginning, middle, and end. Trust me, for someone that has never written a comic book before to have all that laid out was impressive.

Tony was also bright enough to know that even though he had the passion and creativity for this story, he wasn’t a writer, at least not yet. Tony knew I was, liked my work, and most of all, enjoyed the dialogue that I pride myself in giving the characters that I write and create. As we sat in the Pittsburgh airport waiting for our planes, he asked me if I would be interested in writing The Tenth and helping his develop it as a series. I told him that I was very interested and that we should talk the next week after we had gotten home and settled in.

It didn’t take much thinking. I was on board and told Tony that the next week. I was stoked by not only Tony’s idea and story, but by his passion for The Tenth. I can tell you, there’s nothing more satisfying as a writer than to work closely with your artist to the point where you’re talking every day, sometimes a few times every day, creating characters and stories. Tony and I spent a lot of late nights going over stuff and ending up so jacked up that talking till the wee hours of the morning became the norm.

It also helped that both Tony and I are both die-hard, lifetime Chicago Bears fans.

Tony told me that not only was I his choice because he liked the way I gave characters their own voice, but he knew I would market The Tenth through my retail, media, and distribution connections, giving The Tenth the best chance at success and a long shelf life.

Out of respect and loyalty to Todd, we offered him first refusal on The Tenth to print it under the Spawn umbrella. Todd passed on it, not because he didn’t like it, but because Todd only publishes things that he owns. We knew that, but in good faith we felt we should offer him the chance just the same.

As expected, Todd said for us to go ahead and offer it through Image Comics. Image jumped on it. (I was also the VP of Marketing for Image Comics as well. It never hurts to have the inside track, kids.) Tony and I both agreed that a four-issue mini-series was the way to start out. If it was received well, then we’d talk about another mini-series or perhaps an ongoing series.

Was the book well received? Did The Tenth continue? Tune in September 4th for the exciting conclusion!

Beau Smith
The Flying Fist Ranch

Purchase:

Go here to find back issues of The Tenth!