McFarlane’s ‘Spawn’ celebrates 300 issues in August

Todd McFarlane’s Spawn will reach its 300th issue in August, and the creator has gone all out for the big occasion.

“I created Spawn back when I was a teenager hoping to someday break into the comic book industry,” McFarlane said in a press release.  “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. Even more exciting, Spawn is becoming the longest running creator-owned comic in the world!”

Hitting issue #300 puts Spawn in some very rare company; the only other creator-owned book that comes to mind that’s hit that milestone is Dave Sim’s Cerebus the Aardvark (who actually guest-starred in an early Spawn issue). Another comic that might come close is Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo, if you were to count up all of its issues across various series at different publishers.

Party guests for the anniversary include longtime Spawn artist Greg Capullo, current Spawn artist Jason Shawn Alexander, J. Scott Campbell, Jerome Opeña, Scott Snyder and Todd McFarlane himself, who will pencil and ink interior artwork for the first time in forever.

“The birth of Image Comics in 1992 was an exciting time, but there are few moments I remember more vividly than getting my hands on the first issue of Spawn,” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer at Image Comics. “Todd was already a comics superstar at that point – but Spawn vibrated with an energy all its own and I think everybody knew it was destined not only to be a hit but to stand the test of time. The fact that we’re approaching issue 300 nearly 30 years later is a testament to its impact not just on Image, but the industry as a whole. Go, Todd!”