Stephen S. 'Beau' Smith a familiar face (and voice) to pop culture retailers is leaving Todd McFarlane Productions/McFarlane Toys after serving in a number of capacities (including liaison with the specialty market) over the past eight years.   McFarlane Productions is attempting to centralize all its operations in Arizona, and Beau is not about leave West Virginia unprotected and at the mercy of evil big city interlopers.

 

Beau will be 'amping up' his freelance writing so comic readers can expect a bigger dose of larger than life Beau Smith sagas.  Currently Smith is penning Primate: The Sword of Darwin at Image, Wonder Woman vs. Zena for DC Comics and Dark Horse, and a Darth Maul story for Dark Horse.  Look for more announcements in the near future.

 

It appears that Todd McFarlane Productions is concentrating more and more on the toy portion of their business and less on comic publishing.  Publishers like Samson Comics are benefiting from the services of talented members of the McFarlane comics production team, whose professional touch is apparent on Samson's new Nanosaur comic.