Spawn Comics Confirmed To See The End Of An Era

Um … holy s&*t. If there’s another emotion that effectively describes the Spawn news I’m about to deliver to your doorstep, feel free to experience it but, seriously, this bombshell from Todd McFarlane can’t be ignored because it is indeed the end of an era for his iconic franchise and anti-hero.

Since its conjuring into our lives way back in May 1992 by Image Comics, when McFarlane first put pencil to paper to illustrate a character he’d imagined back in his days as a teenager, it’s been McFarlane’s critically-acclaimed hand responsible for the core series — 34 years and counting.

Well, stop counting, because for the first time in the history of Spawn, the core series will no longer be illustrated by McFarlane.

Is Todd McFarlane Stepping Away From Spawn??

Yes, sort of. McFarlane is stepping back and allowing a new creative team to entirely (not on occasion, but entirely) take the helm for one Albert Francis "Al" Simmons, so it’s exactly as I said … the end of an era has officially arrived.

“Todd McFarlane is stepping away from writing the main titles, Spawn, The Scorched and Gunslinger Spawn as was solicited (with Rory McConville writing King Spawn)," per BleedingCool.com.

It appears it'll be in more-than-capable hands, at least: "And handing Spawn and King Spawn over to writer Matthew Rosenberg, best known for writing Punisher, X-Men, The Joker, We Can Never Go Home, We're Taking Everyone Down With Us, What's The Furthest Place From Here, and 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank.

"With new teams for those books, Gunslinger Spawn, and The Scorched, with each debut issue including a special Cover C 1:50 Foil Variant commemorating the transition, as the line heads towards Spawn #400 in two years, schedules depending.”

Todd McFarlane Explains the Massive Spawn Shakeup

Though this clearly has Malebolgia's insidious fingerprints all over this change, McFarlane did explain exactly why he's finally chosen to make the change after nearly 40 years of rightfully controlling his most-prized creation.

"After all these years, it is always exciting to have talented creators jump on board and take the world of Spawn for a spin around the block," he said. "I have been a great admirer of both Matt and Erica's writing skills and asked them to come and give their own interpretation of how the Spawn Universe should work. Asking them to go into some corners, creatively, that no one has done before.

Lastly, the creative team won't be entirely new, McFarlane assured: "Artistically, I am having two of the more well-known Spawn universe artists, Stephen Segovia and Carlo Barberi, staying on board with Segovia tackling the original Spawn title. Artists Thomas Nachlik and Alessandro Vitti jump onto their first monthly Spawn Universe titles with moody artwork that fits both those books. The hope here is to give new readers a chance to jump on board as we begin our bigger plans heading towards the release of Spawn #400 in a couple of years."

Solicits for books that had already named McFarlane as a creative hand/mind are currently being changed, such as Spawn #376 (Matthew Rosenberg, Stephen Segovia), The Scorched #51 (Thomas Healy, Alessandro Vitti), Gunslinger Spawn #54 (Erica Schultz, Carlo Barberi), and King Spawn #55 (Matthew Rosenberg, Thomas Nachlik).

The end of an era .... so ... yeah ... holy s&*t.