Todd McFarlane has even more plans for expanding the Spawn Universe

Hey it’s Todd McFarlane Day — happy birthday to the creator of Spawn!

That seems like the perfect day to talk about McFarlane’s plan for growing the Spawn universe, as the shared universe he announced back in 2021 will expand with several “New U” titles this year, starting with Sam & Twitch Case Files next week.

Here’s the rundown …

Sam & Twitch Case Files

Sam & Twitch Case Files brings the duo who first appeared in those early issues of Spawn (and went on to star in their own series written by Brian Michael Bendis). The new series is written by McFarlane and co-plotted by Jon Goff, and will feature artwork by Szymon Kudrański.

Here are more details from Image Comics:

Readers will join Sam and Twitch as they navigate the treacherous streets of New York City, gumshoeing and confronting the darkness lurking around every corner. For readers in search of a comic outside the traditional superhero action found in the other popular Spawn Universe tales, these Case Files will be true-crime style murder mystery cases, showcase film noir aesthetics, and unfold like an R-rated Drama. The Sam and Twitch characters were created in 1992 by McFarlane and appeared in the chart-topping, history-making launch of Spawn #1. They have been a staple in the Spawn Universe ever since.

And here’s a look at the inside of the first issue:

And finally, here’s the first issue’s variant cover by McFarlane:

Rat City

April, as revealed in Image’s solicitations, brings Rat City #1 by Erica Schultz and Zé Carlos. Described as an “ongoing science-fiction infused series,” Rat City marks the first time a female writer has helmed a Spawn comic.  

According to Image: Readers will be immersed in the fantastical, sci-fi story of Peter Cairn, an ex-soldier, an amputee, and a Hellspawn in a post-war future. But Peter isn’t dead like Al. Peter got his Spawn powers from the nanites in his prosthetic legs—nanites that were affected when Al Simmons initiated his necroplasmic detonation in the present. Al had no clue that the effects would ripple across—not just space—and but time as well.

“We wanted to tell a compelling story about a man whose life was turned upside down by circumstances beyond his control,” Schultz said. “Peter, and perhaps others like him, are collateral damage in Al Simmons’ war… we’ll see the consequences of that unending conflict.”

Here’s a preview:

Monolith

Then in May, Sean Lewis and Valerio Giangiordano bring the big hulkin’ spawn known as Monolith to his own three issue miniseries.

It’ll answer the question, “What connection does he have to one of the most savage of his kind, Omega Spawn?” and will “follow his journey from the cosmic depths of deep-spawn to his first encounter with Al Simmons.”

But wait, there’s more!

A lot more, actually. Here’s what McFarlane has revealed for the back half of 2024:

• June and July will bring three more four-issue miniseries: Misery, Medieval Spawn and Spawn Kills Every Spawn — with that last one being the third installment in the humorous Spawn Kills series, which finds Spawn killing variants of himself.
• In August, Violator with give the villain his own oversized, six-issue miniseries, while Knights vs. Samurai will follow later that the month.
• In September an all-new ongoing series titled Deadly Tales will launch.
• And in October, a bi-monthly series with an extended page count titled No Home Here will launch.
• Titles without a date attached to them include Focus, Spawn: The Dark Ages, She-Spawn, Bloodletter and Spawn 77.

McFarlane has said his goal with all these titles “is to give readers as many different options as possible,” as they include science fiction, fantasy, true crime and even humor stories. “Having other talented creators play within, and add to, the sandbox of Spawn’s history is always a pleasure to watch over,” he said. He’s also committed to keeping the price on each title at either $3.99 or $2.99—”well below the $4.99 that is fast becoming the industry standard.”