Take a Visual Retrospective Through Spawn's Record Breaking History
May 12, 2021
By Mike Szymanski
In 1992, Spawn blasted on the scene with a red hot fury. Loyal Todd McFarlane fans lined up outside comic stores all over the country to get their hands on Spawn #1 and the rest was history. Spawn's first issue sold an unprecedented 1.7 million copies, a record still unsurpassed for a creator-owned comic book. The original Spawn book is one of the world’s bestselling and longest-running comics, with over 100 million copies sold in more than 120 countries.
Spawn maintained footing in the world of pop culture through many years of history making milestones, top tier toys, an amazing animated series, record breaking books, and a slew of appearances in the worlds of comics and video games.
Now 28 years later, collectors and fans can finally pick up four new Spawn-related #1 titles coming to comic retailers nationwide in 2021. This is the Year of Spawn!
There's a lot to cover so lets celebrate the Year of Spawn by exploring Spawn's history and examining his impact on pop culture over the years since he was introduced to fans worldwide.
1992: Spawn #1 releases in comic stores.
1993: The popular Spawn series gets guest writers like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim, and Frank Miller to expand the lore of Spawn's world.
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1994: First wave of Spawn toys hits stores and the Spawn/Batman Crossover written by Frank Miller releases.
1995: Spawn's first video game releases on the SNES.
1996: Greg Capullo, becomes the regular series artist with issue #49.
1997: The Spawn feature film releases in theaters.
1998: The Emmy Award winning Spawn animated series premieres on HBO.
1999: The spinoff series Sam and Twitch launches, Brian Michael Bendis makes his mark on the world of Spawn with this popular series.
2000: The milestone issue Spawn #100 releases. Launching with many variant covers from artists like Alex Ross, Ashley Wood, and more.
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2003: Spawn is a playable character in the Xbox version of Soul Calibur II.
2005: Shadows of Spawn, the Spawn manga by Juzo Tokmoro, is published in America for the first time.
2007: The Adventures of Spawn, a kid-friendly Spawn webcomic, is published in print.
2011: Spawn reaches another milestone with the release of Spawn #200. The Al Simmons era ends and the Jim Downing Spawn era begins!
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2015: Al Simmons returns as Spawn in the milestone issue Spawn #250.
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2016: The miniseries Spawn Kills Everyone launches to much fan acclaim.
2019: Spawn #301 breaks the record for longest running independent comic book series.
2020: Spawn guest stars in Mortal Kombat 11 as a DLC Character. Joining other characters like Joker, Terminator, and RoboCop.
2021: The Year of Spawn, a new interconnected Spawn comic book universe launches in June.
Beginning in June, Todd McFarlane officially releases the beginning of his new “world-building” universe. Nearly 30 years in the making, the highly anticipated Spawn's Universe #1 is set to visually expand with a reveal of some of the stunning artwork by superstar artists Jim Cheung and colorist FCO.
McFarlane takes on the writing duties for this inaugural book that will be the launchpad to build a bigger multi-character, interconnected comic book universe based around his top-selling monthly Spawn comic. McFarlane’s vision is to create new exciting superheroes and new major villains over the next year and beyond.
Check out our exclusive interview with "The Toddfather," Todd McFarlane, as PWW Live host Troy-Jeffrey Allen talks about this new and exciting expansion of the Spawn universe, and more!
Contained inside Spawn's Universe #1 will be four different stories (Spawn, She-Spawn, Medieval Spawn, and Gunslinger Spawn) highlighting different Spawn characters from the past and present as well as the introduction of new villains. The acclaimed artists working on each of the chapters will be:
Jim Cheung – chapter with Spawn
Brett Booth – chapter with Gunslinger Spawn,
Stephen Segovia – chapter with Medieval Spawn
Marcio Takara – chapter with She-Spawn
Spawn's Universe #1 (APR210108), a 52-page, one-shot issue, will launch on Wednesday, June 30 at your local comic shop.
Pre-order now to get in on Spawn's next history making moment!
A double-sized issue that begins a storyline so huge that three NEW SPAWN-related monthly titles will spill out from it, including...
A new SPAWN title.
GUNSLINGER SPAWN monthly.
And a new TEAM book bringing a handful of these characters together in their own book.
With this one-shot...the world of SPAWN changes forever! New heroes. New villains, and more importantly, new titles coming to a comic shop near you. Join this list of artists as we unveil a historic moment in the mythology of SPAWN'S UNIVERSE:
JIM CHEUNG
TODD McFARLANE
STEPHEN SEGOVIA
MARCIO TAKARA
