When he paid $3 million for Mark McGwire’s home run ball, Valley resident and trend-setting comic artist Todd McFarlane became a household name—at least with baseball fans. Of course, McFarlane was already a star with millions of comic and Spawn fans.

In the past decade, McFarlane’s toy company has become one of the largest, most renowned in the world. In addition to his popular Spawn character, McFarlane Toys has created figures for KISS, Shrek, X-Files, Austin Powers, the Beatles, Jaws, Rob Zombie, Alien, AC/DC and dozens of others.

A baseball memorabilia collector, artist, business owner, Hollywood regular, NHL hockey team minority owner, father and husband, McFarlane invited the Times in for a peek around his very practical workspace, perhaps the most down-to-earth millionaire office the feature has seen.

“I don’t get too many chances to be a bachelor. This is my nirvana,” McFarlane says of his office, which his assistants actually tidied for the photo shoot. “Usually you can’t see the rug,” McFarlane adds. “As long as the consumer likes the product, they think I’m in a New York high-rise. I don’t need to impress anybody but the consumer.”