A risk-taker with an unerring instinct for success, Todd McFarlane has made a multi-million dollar empire using those skills and along the way he and his companies have received nearly a hundred national and international awards, including two Emmys, a Grammy, and MTV Music Awards for his producer/director roles. McFarlane became a true comic book superstar for his record setting work on Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man franchise, where he co-created the anti-hero Venom. The Sony Pictures’ Venom film starring Tom Hardy set an all-time record for largest film opening in October and was #1 at the box office its first two weeks of release. This year, McFarlane has announced an ensemble of award-winning talent for his upcoming Spawn movie: Casting Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Jamie Foxx (Ray, Django Unchained) to play Spawn and Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, The Town, Wind River) to play police detective "Twitch" Williams. This new Spawn film will be a gritty, R-rated re-imagining of the character and marks McFarlane’s feature film directorial debut. Academy Award nominee Jason Blum and his BlumhouseProductions, the force behind recent hits Get Out, Split and Halloween, are attached to produce. McFarlane also co-founded in 1992—and serves as current President of—Image Comics. Image has been the third largest comic publisher in North America the past 26 years (behind Marvel and DC Comics). In 1994, McFarlane founded the international award-winning McFarlane Toys—now one of North America’s top action figure manufacturers, boasting over 150 licenses (including the recently announced Fortnite license) during that time. Artistically, McFarlane’s impact visually on the look of Spider-Man (while working at Marvel in the 1990s) can still be seen today. And a single page of McFarlane’s original art from an issue of Amazing Spider-Man sold for a record-smashing $657,250. Then his first issue for Image Comics, called Spawn, sold an unprecedented 1.7 million copies for an independent comic. Since its debut, Spawn has continued to be a fan favorite title around the world. Spawn is published in 12 languages and sold in 37 countries. The comic became an Emmy Award-Winning animated series on HBO and a New Line Cinema feature film. McFarlane founded the international award-winning McFarlane Toys—now one of North America’s top action figure manufacturers. A whirlwind of expansion in McFarlane’s companies followed: more comics, action figures, and award-winning entertainment projects which boast over 150 licenses. McFarlane Toys is known for making the best toys of the world’s pop-culture obsessions including the newly launched Fortnite and roleplay line.

First and foremost a comic creator, Kirkman has seen groundbreaking success in the adaptation of his comic book titles into major franchises in all forms of content. In 2010, his Eisner award winning series, The Walking Dead, was developed into an AMC television series. It has become a worldwide phenomenon as the highest-rated basic cable drama of all time. The property has also been extended into a blockbuster game franchise, licensing business and ongoing publishing success.

Additional Kirkman comics include Oblivion Song, Die!Die!Die!, Invincible, Outcast, Super Dinosaur, Battle Pope, Astounding Wolf-Man, and Thief of Thieves.

Kirkman also serves as consulting producer of The Talking Dead, the popular talk show hosted by Chris Hardwick that deep dives into each week’s episode of both The Walking Dead and its companion series Fear the Walking Dead. Kirkman is co-creator, writer and producer of The Walking Dead’s companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

He is also executive producer of the AMC series Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics, and the Korean pre-apocalyptic drama, Five Year. Kirkman’s popular demonic-exorcism comic, Outcast, was adapted and produced for Cinemax. His second longest running coming book series Invincible is currently being adapted for a live action movie for Universal and an animated series for Amazon. Kirkman will serve as Executive Producer on both adaptations.

Robert is also the Chairman of Skybound Entertainment. Robert, an advocate for creator rights, co-founded Skybound alongside his longtime business and producing partner David Alpert in an effort to ensure creators are able to maintain their intellectual property rights and creative control.

Szymon Kudranski is the creator of Blood Commandment and is also known for his work on Spawn and Punisher.