Break Of Spawn

After 30 years of Spawn, Todd McFarlane is launching his own shared universe…

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DEBUTING IN MAY 1992, Spawn has become the longest-running creator-owned comic book, amassing 319 issues over the past three decades. But while fellow Image founders like Rob Liefeld expanded their lines to include several interlinked series, Todd McFarlane’s demonic offspring has mostly stood alone.

That’s now set to change with the launch of Spawn’s Universe, which begins later this month with a one-shot special scripted by McFarlane and featuring the art of Jimmy Cheung, Brett Booth, Stephen Segovia and Marcio Takara, on Spawn, Gunslinger Spawn, Medieval Spawn and She-Spawn respectively.

“I should have done it years ago!” laughs McFarlane. “When we began Image in 1992, there was chatter about doing it anyway, but we never formalised anything and I ended up staying on my own book, as I didn’t have a studio or anything. I’d been thinking and talking about it ever since but as I got closer to Spawn #300, I said to myself, ‘It’s either time to put this into motion or shut it down.’ So I decided to put it into motion.”

Starting with King Spawn in August and continuing with Gunslinger Spawn in October and later ensemble title The Scorched, the Spawn Universe will offer a rare chance to pick up one of McFarlane’s books from the very first issue.

“People have asked me if I was ever going to restart the numbering of the original