Comic Books

Todd McFarlane talks ‘Spawn’ #350 and the anti-hero’s future

The busy creator talks about all things Spawn ahead of the record-breaking issue.

October 12, 2023

Todd McFarlane might be one of the hardest working men in entertainment.

He helped co-found Image Comics in the early ’90s and still plays an active role at the publisher, serving as its president. Meanwhile, McFarlane Toys continues to pump out action figures of all shapes and sizes.

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But at the center of it all is Spawn.

The hell-powered anti-hero has been breaking numerous records in recent years; Spawn #300 and #301 (from September and October 2019) officially made Spawn the independent character with the longest running comic book title. From there, a whole universe of more recent titles, including Gunslinger Spawn, The Scorched and King Spawn, have enjoyed their own success.

Now, Spawn is slated to break another record when Spawn #350 releases in early 2024, which will see someone finally take the throne of hell.

It’s a big milestone for McFarlane, who says that it was always the goal.

“When we started Image way back in 1992, I wanted to create a character that in a perfect world outlives my lifespan,” he said. “I go, ‘Man, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby co-created a bunch of characters, there’s Superman and Batman, but can I just come up with one that’ll last and be relevant after I’m dead?’ That was always the goal. I’m still here!” McFarlane added that he hopes to see the release of the 700th issue of Spawn.

Main cover by Puppeteer Lee. Courtesy of Image Comics.

Spawn’s longevity also led to the advent of the Spawn Universe. In addition to the three other Spawn titles mentioned, there are upcoming titles, including No Home Here from longtime Spawn inkers Daniel Henriques and Jonathan Glapion as well as a new Sam and Twitch book.

“If you’re going to do other characters, they have to have a unique reason to do what they’re doing and act a bit differently,” McFarlane said when asked about how to make these characters stand out from Spawn. “It’s like the Avengers, the X-Men, whatever…you get a bunch of characters and start picking your favorite. If I do my job right, 10years from now everyone’s favorite shouldn’t be Spawn.”

He added, “In the beginning, maybe you liked him or you don’t…but the more I introduce new characters on a regular basis, some people might say ‘Oh man I really like that book you’re doing’ we can expand.”

He even brought up Marvel and DC as an example of this dynamic.

“If you don’t like Batman, there’s plenty of DC books you can buy without Batman,” said McFarlane. “If you don’t like Spider-Man, there’s plenty of Marvel books you can buy without Spider-Man.”

I also pointed out that Spawn’s big milestones tend to come with a massive status quo shift. For example, Spawn #100 saw Simmons finally killing the demon lord Malebolgia, and Spawn #300 sowed the seeds for the Spawn Universe to expand. McFarlane said that the seeds for Spawn #350 were set up back in Spawn #100, and that for decades the war for Hell’s throne has been heating up — especially as Spawn is fighting to stop his former mentor Sinn and his perennial archenemy the Clown from getting to the throne.

“Because of that, Spawn — who doesn’t want to be on the throne, who doesn’t want to be king — he understands that if he lets any of those guys or someone else sit on the throne, it’s game over,” said McFarlane. “And he’s trying to figure out how to solve this problem and the answer may be that he has to do it himself…He’s trying to figure a way out of that.”

Variant cover by Jonathan Glapion. Courtesy of Image Comics.

The expansion of the Spawn Universe also had its roots in Image’s early days; when the founding members chose to do their own books, McFarlane did Spawn solo but always wanted to connect with the other books.

“It never really fermented,” he said. “But I wanted to focus on Spawn and make him the best I could…I set a goal saying I wanted to do 50 issues before I even did my first miniseries. I wanted to plant the seed and water and nurture it and make sure it was growing big and strong before I become distracted.”

In that same vein, he decided that Spawn #300 was the perfect place to plant a “new seed,” as there were 1,600-plus characters inhabiting the world of Spawn.

“I knew once I committed in my head that the two covers that Jerome Opeña did for Spawn #300 and #301, that was basically me saying, ‘Get ready, boys and girls, something’s about to happen,'” said McFarlane. Even then, he joked that he was being “slow” compared to Marvel and DC with Spawn as well as explaining that he wants to continue to expand beyond the hellish anti-hero.

Beyond the printed page, Spawn has been a major fixture in video games. Though he headlined a few of his own solo exploits, he’s best known for showing up in fighting games, including Soul Calibur II and Mortal Kombat 11. Most recently, Spawn even became a playable character in Call of Duty. When I asked what makes Spawn such a great character for crossovers (including his appearance in Killadelphia and last year’s Batman/Spawn one-shot) McFarlane was very frank.

“On a practical level…if you can’t get Marvel and DC for any reason, you have to go outside of that bubble and look at Image and IDW,” he said. “Image is #3…that’s been us for three decades, for over 30 years.” He also pointed out that Spawn’s longevity made the character valuable, as well as his “badass” factor.

“If you do a wordcloud of Spawn, I think the biggest word would be badass,” said McFarlane.

Variant cover by Todd McFarlane. Courtesy of Image Comics.

Finally, when I asked if there were any writers or artists who he’d love to see tackle Spawn in the future, McFarlane said that he’d love almost anybody to come in and tackle his antihero. He once again brought up the fact that he’d been painting on a “canvas” with Spawn and wanted other creators to expand beyond his work.

“If you’re going give me a poor man’s Todd, I’ll do it myself,” said McFarlane. “Add your own strokes.” Artist-wise, he listed off Chris Bachalo, Jorge Jimenez and David Finch as dream collaborators.

To close off the interview, McFarlane exclusively revealed to me that Spawn #350 will be a double-sized issue priced at $4.99. It’s great to know that even after 30 years, Spawn — as well as his creator – will keep breaking comics boundaries.