Todd McFarlane returns to Spawn for special 300th issue

Image Comics and Todd McFarlane will celebrate a major milestone for the seminal Spawn series this year, with Spawn #300. The 72-page comic will include work from both veterans and newcomers to the hell-touched hero.

Spawn #1 hit shelves in 1992, the high-water mark of the comic artist rebellion that rocked the American comics world. And Spawn itself is still going — one of the 1990s’ biggest success stories that’s still around.

“I created Spawn back when I was a teenager hoping to someday break into the comic book industry,” McFarlane, now president of Image Comics, said in a statement. “Now, over 40 years later, not only was I able to have a career drawing and writing comics, but Spawn has been by my side for most of that journey.”

McFarlane has not always written or drawn Spawn, and Spawn #300 will see him return to the series, along with veteran Spawn artists Greg Capullo (Dark Nights: Metal) and J. Scott Campbell (Gen 13). Batman scribe Scott Snyder and artist Jerome Opeña (Seven to Eternity) will also contribute work to the issue. The book will hit shelves on Aug. 29.

Image’s news release names Spawn the “longest-running creator-owned comic in the world,” which doesn’t seem to be exactly true — Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, to choose just one example, kicked off in 1987 and is still running. But Spawn might have the claim to “longest-running creator-owned comic in the American direct market.” Polygon has reached out to Image for clarification.

Todd McFarlane/Image Comics