Todd Mcfarlane Turns 40, March 16
Wish Todd A 'Happy Birthday' Via E- And Snail-Mail

Todd McFarlane Productions is undertaking a "Todd is 40" Campaign to alert the world (without Todd's knowledge!) that his 40th birthday is on Friday, March 16, 2001.

What do you get the man with a $3,000,000 ball?

Well, we thought that cards and e-mails from around the world would be a unique surprise. So, we are alerting anyone and everyone associated with the world of McFarlane, including fans, artists, distributors, Hollywood and the media to send either birthday cards and/or e-mails to recognize the milestone!

The following e-mail account has been set up: [email protected]. All e-mails will be channeled through the PR office - please keep them somewhat civilized! This e-mail is for in-coming birthday wishes only. No one will receive a reply to any message sent here. Other comments, questions, etc. should be directed to other sources. If you wish to contact someone at TMP, please check out the Contact Us section of Spawn.com.

If someone plans to send a snail mail birthday card, mail it to Todd McFarlane at the Spawning Ground, PO Box 27228, Tempe, AZ 85285-7228.

We are asking everyone in the Spawn Message Board community to keep this off the McFarlane boards for now, as Todd is frequently on the boards and we don't want to ruin the surprise, which will be hard enough to maintain as it is. There may be an opportunity to talk it up on the boards in a week or so, but for now, please do not bring this up as a topic stream.

The deadline to receive cards and e-mails is March 15.

Toy Fair 2001, A Big Success
Check Out Spawn.Com For News, Virtual Tour Of The Showroom

The two-ups (toy prototypes) have been removed, the dioramas partially disassembled, and the lights darkened the McFarlane Toys showroom in Manhattan, signaling the end of Toy Fair 2001. Didn't get to NY? Spawn.com played a major role in the Toy Fair 2001 event with its huge online catalog of 2001 products, a virtual tour of the showroom, message board and live news straight from New York.

The Devil You Know' Todd Mcfarlane Documentary Makes U.S. Debut At SXSW Film Festival, March 12

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will screen The Devil You Know: Inside the Mind of Todd McFarlane at the 2001 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), March 9-17 in Austin, Texas.

With unprecedented access to this pop culture icon, The Devil You Know, reveals the complex personality of the one of the most successful comic-book artists in history, Todd McFarlane. It will have its U.S. premiere on March 12. Director Kenton Vaughan will be in attendance at festival screenings, scheduled for Monday, March 12 at 11:15 AM; Tuesday, March 13 at 9:30 PM and Thursday, March 15 at 2 PM. The Flashing Lights, who performed some of the music in the documentary, will also be appearing at the festival. For more info about the film, including how to buy a video, go to http://www.nfb.ca/E/4/films/devilyouknow/index2.html.

Toy Information

With Toy Fair having just completed, McFarlane Toys has released a bunch of new info on its upcoming toy lines. There is a lot of info available on the Toy Fair section of Spawn.com. And, to really tide you over, here's information about three contests involving McFarlane Toys.

• Win A Piece Of Toy Fair 2001 Memorabilia Big Contest Takes Place All Over Spawn.Com
  Here's your chance to win a one-of-a-kind Spawn item. One lucky winner will score a real piece of Toy Fair 2001. That's right, we removed a portion of the Spawn Series 18: Interlink 6 diorama and the IL6 signage to send to the champion Web crawler who wins the contest. For more information about this contest, go to the News section of Spawn.com. The contest runs from Friday, March 2, until noon (Mountain Time), Friday, March 9.
• Win An Evil Ash From Zombiekeeper.Com
  If you had the chance to be a horror icon for a day, who would it be? Reggie Bannister of Phantasm? NO! Michael Myers of Halloween? NO! What about Ash from the Evil Dead series? HELL YA! ZombieKeeper.com in cooperation with Spawn.comand McFarlane Toys is giving away one Evil Ash from Movie Maniacs 4. Over the next two weeks we're taking contest submissions for the figure pictured on the site below. The contest ends March 14. Go to http://www.zombiekeeper.com/misc/contest.html.
• Win A Set Of Spawn 18 From Alternative Press Magazine
  Alternative Press Magazine, in conjunction with McFarlane Toys, is giving away an autographed set of McFarlane Toys Spawn 18 action figures! Grand prize: all six Spawn 18 figures, autographed by Todd. To participate in the contest and find out more information, visit http://www.altpress.com/sections/contests/07-28-2000/contest/165/index .asp?contestid=165. The contest ends April 15.

10 Historic McGwire & Sosa Home Run Baseballs, Including #70 Visit Az Diamondbacks Spring Training At Tucson Electric Park, March 8-11

Some Major League parks may be smaller, but the strike zone is bigger, so it's going to be harder than ever for the big guns of baseball to make a run at one of baseball's top achievements: 70 home runs.

But in summer 1998, home runs captivated the sports world, when Mark McGwire's 70 homers shattered Roger Maris' 37-year-old home run record, with Sammy Sosa not far behind.

Fans attending Diamondbacks spring training games March 8-11 at Tucson Electric Park can relive the summer of swat through The McFarlane Collection containing 10 of McGwire's and Sosa's record-breaking home run baseballs. A ticket to the games is all it takes to see this dramatic 28-foot wall of memorabilia, sports stats and more.

The McFarlane Collection chronicles some of the greatest moments from the 1998 season - showcasing McGwire's #70 home run ball, and his #1, 63, 64, 67, 68 and 69 home run baseballs, and Sosa's #33, 61 and 66 baseballs, plus additional memorabilia from baseball's home-run heroes.

Since the tour kicked off in June 1999, more than 1 million fans have viewed the exhibit in Major League cities, the Triple-A All-Star Game and World Series and more. For 2001, the Collection visits more than a dozen Minor League stadiums, shows and malls.

The non-profit ALS Association is the national charity of choice for The Collection's tour, receiving 100 percent of fund-raising proceeds to fight Lou Gehrig's disease. When Gehrig died of ALS in 1941, little was known about the disease, which has taken the lives of such notables as baseball Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter. For more information, visit www.alsa.org.

Want to know where the Collection is going next - visit http://www.spawn.com/eventschedule.html.

Quotables By Todd McFarlane

Speaking with Toronto Star writer Robert Faulkner about The Devil You Know documentary.

"You don't want to hide your warts. The (National Film Board) freelancers had enough film on me to make me look like a saint or the devil himself. I can be very good and I can be very bad, but for the most part I'm average."