Spider-Man Puzzle ~ Todd McFarlane Trading Card Set (1989)
Artists: Todd McFarlane (Penciller) , Mark Pennington (Inker)
25 Comments - 12,674 Views - 24 Likes
Additional Images:
The Puzzle and the Art
Cover of Keepsake Collection
Card from Keepsake Collection
Colorized Version of Card
And on a t-shirt!
Artwork Details
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DescriptionThis is a very fun and interesting piece. Peak era Todd McFarlane, full pencils, oddball inker, used as a puzzle and a cover and a card and a t-shirt!McFarlane inked his own art almost exclusively after Amazing Spider-Man 305 and this is one of the few pieces created after that point that someone else touched. It was done in 1989, somewhere during his already insane year of ASM 311-328, the real hey-dey of McFarlaneMania. It was first used as the secret puzzle you assembled out of the backs of cards in the 1989 Todd McFarlane Trading Card Set, a huge 10" x 17.5" image that's larger than the original! It popped up again as the cover of the 'Spider-Man Keepsake Collection II' and as an over-sized trading card inside, where it was finally colored. Somewhere in there it became a t-shirt too. Mark Pennington did a stellar job inking this piece with a brush, bringing a nice line to Todd's art, quite different from the nib McFarlane used. Todd had a few inkers try to work over his pencils and most couldn't handle it. Pennington is one of the better fits (he also inked a Hulk puzzle for the card set). The most amazing thing about this bad boy is the sheer size - you simply don't see McSpideys this big. They don't escape, let alone with as perfect a Spidey pose as you can dream of and framed in spaghetti webbing! During McFarlane's Spidey peak in 1988-90 there weren't many huge standalone poses like this. Covers like 300 and 301 or full page splashes like in 317. Maybe 25 total? This is likely the only one he didn't ink. How this insane multi-hyphenate oddity fell to me for a single-kidney price I'll never know, but I'm happy for it! And here's my favorite part - it's got the cover signature! The McFarlane in the scroll! To 'Kid Me' that little McFarlane was the end all, be all, coolest freakin' signature on Earth!! You can only get them on covers, pinups, and oddities, so that was an exciting bonus:) It's also centered, another uniqueness to the piece. UPDATE: At the 2015 NYCC I got to meet Todd and ask him to sign this. As you can see, he went for the incredibly badass giant signature:) Reallyreally stoked about his choice. I also got to ask him what he thought of Pennington's inks, and he pointed out a few things he'd have done differently with line weight and thinner lines on the feet. Cool to hear him identify the differences he noticed. He was stoked enough to see the piece that he took a photo with it, and then had one of his peeps take extra photos of the art. Cool reaction by Todd! Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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P A 
Member Since 2013
Posted on 7/16/2015
This is the perfect McFarlane Spidey piece!! It doesn't get any better than this!! Congrats!!!
Eric Wilkinson
Member Since 2005
Posted on 7/16/2015
Major congrats on getting this piece:) A McFarlane Venom would be my grail page.
Thomas V
Member Since 2008
Posted on 7/17/2015
Wow, this is awesome. Even though it's not a well known image by Mcfarlane I think it's one of his most iconic. I wonder why they put it in a limited edition portfolio and not on a cover or poster. Mark Pennington did a great job on this one. Even though i'm partial to mcfarlane's nib inks this brush work is just outstanding. Looking back it's hard to believe how much of Mcfarlane's work was really butchered by most inkers who touched it. Not that they were bad inkers, just that they completely ignored the look he was going for with his work. Thankfully Mark did not. Congratulations of adding such a nice McSpidey to your collection
Mark Warunek
Member Since 2004
Posted on 7/17/2015
Congrats on an awesome addition to your collection!
Dave Kopecki
Member Since 2008
Posted on 7/19/2015
This is an outstanding score! I still own the portfolio set this was in! One of the finest Mcspidey's around! Huge congrats!
Paul P Spiderversity
Member Since 2011
Posted on 10/31/2015
This is just a glorious McFarlane Spidey piece of art, and I love how many things it was used for. I'm a huge puzzle fan, so that makes it even more interesting to me. Major congrats!
Bill J
Member Since 2009
Posted on 8/28/2018
Fabulous!! What a great McFalane piece to add to your gallery!! Stunning!!!
Frederic Lorge
Member Since 2007
Posted on 12/14/2019
I could eat up all this spaghetti webbing. Congrats.
j sly
Member Since 2011
Posted on 5/14/2021
Love this! Hope to get something by Todd some day! Congrats!
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