Image Comics president Todd McFarlane mused about the possibility of one day producing NFTs for buyers on a budget, rather than for collectors with thousands of dollars to spend.
In a far-reaching interview with Newsarama, the Spawn creator said that he'd likely dip his toes into the NFT pool, "just for the curiosity factor."
"The question I've been asking is like can we do NFTs for like...two dollars," McFarlane said. "Like if I sell an original page, that's the only one I have, but what if I could have some pages that are across multiple platforms. I'm trying to figure out if you can have a crowd that only has $0 to $10 to spend, and another that has $10 to $100, and then the crowd that has $100 to $1000. I know there are some elite buyers out there, but that's only a handful. Trying to see if there's a business model for this for everybody, so that's my curiosity with it."
McFarlane clarified that he had no definite plans yet, but was "having conversations with people," and expected there to be an announcement before the end of the year. His interest in NFTs and more budget-conscious consumers ties in with similar views the Image president shared over the last two years, including the belief that major comic companies needed to band together in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and offer free digital downloads of top-selling titles.
NFTs, or "non-fungible tokens," are a form of cryptocurrency that offer unique, one-of-a-kind certificates of ownership. They can be used for digital assets such as images and videos, and NFT versions of limited edition artwork have sprung up over the last year, attracting a sea of collectors with big money in their pockets.
Former Wonder Woman artist Jose Delbo, for instance, sold $1.85 million worth of NFTs based on the character in March. Other creators, including artist KC Green -- the mind behind the popular "This is Fine" meme -- have blasted NFTs, arguing that they resemble a pyramid scheme, go against the fun nature of sharing artwork online and are potentially damaging for the environment, since the cryptocurrency exchanges required to buy them necessitate major electricity usage.
The ongoing debate over NFTs has not prevented large comic book companies from entering the game. DC partnered with Palm NFT Studio for a series of free environmentally sustainable NFTs that the company will give away during its FanDome event in October. Marvel, meanwhile, announced a partnership with VeVe Digital Collectibles App in June to launch official NFTs featuring Marvel characters, arguing that "collecting has always gone hand in hand with being a Marvel fan." Prices for the Marvel NFTs range from $40 USD to $400.
Source: Newsarama