In what is being called a first for a North American comic book artist, a Tokyo gallery has just opened the Spawn Art Exhibition, featuring a variety of Todd McFarlane's work, including original art boards, McFarlane Toys prototype sculpts and Spawn comics.
    The free exhibit, which will also travel from Tokyo to Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka, runs through mid-November. It was put together by Liaison in association with Itochu. Liaison produces framed art and Itochu is the world's ninth-largest corporation, a Japanese leader in telecommunications, information technology, the Internet, media and retail.
    The gallery, located next to the Tokyo Dome, will be selling signed and numbered limited-editions of framed art of five Spawn images from Todd. There will be limited prints of each illustration available for approximately 280,000 Yen, or about $2,500 U.S. Other items on display but not for sale include signed toys, movie posters, two original costume masks from the Todd McFarlane Presents Spawn animated series, Spawn movie standees, a full set of Spawn comic books, from issue 1 to current, as well as several foreign Spawn editions and other memorabilia.
    Spawn is extremely popular throughout Japan. More than 25 Japanese companies have licensed Spawn products in the last decade, and Spawn comic books have outsold Batman, X-Men and Superman by more than a 5-to-1 margin. Both the movie and animated series were very popular, with the animated series debuting at #1 in its time slot on FUJI TV in 1999. Additionally, McFarlane Toys always rank among the top-selling action figures in the country.
    Todd joins a prestigious list of artists who have had Japanese art exhibits, including Michel Delacroix, Kerry Hallam, Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones and Andy Warhol.
    For more information, visit http://www.itochu-print.com/anime/. This Web site is primarily Japanese.