Spawn (comic)

Spawn was created by writer/artist Todd McFarlane, he first appeared in Spawn #1 (May 1992).

Creation
The book began with a very superhero-like tone, much like McFarlane's previous work, but the title character evolved into a more flawed anti-hero. The current book has skewed significantly darker than early issues would suggest. McFarlane attributes this to being a necessary part of development. To introduce the book to readers it had to be slightly cleaner than he really wished it to be so that it read like a superhero tale. As the book took off and became more established he was able to alter the tone closer to his vision.

A CIA agent killed by his own boss for witnessing his corruption, Simmons was sent to hell. To see his wife one more time, he made a deal with the demon Malebolgia to become an undead “hellspawn.” Spawn has tried to retain his own humanity while finding a way out of Malebolgia’s control and battling a variety of enemies, both supernatural and mafia-related.

Largely due to the popularity McFarlane accumulated illustrating Marvel Comics ’  Spider-Man, Spawn became an instant sales sensation and perhaps the most popular comic book character owned by a third company since Marvel and  DC  dominated the market in the 1960s.

The series has spun-off several other comics, including  Angela, Curse of the Spawn, Sam & Twitch and the Japanese manga Shadows of Spawn. Spawn was adapted into a 1997 feature film, an HBO animated series lasting from 1997 until 1999 and a series of action figures whose unprecedented detail made McFarlane Toys a toy industry giant.

Spawn’s popularity has since cooled and creators other than McFarlane have been responsible for the monthly series&mdash;a source of criticism as McFarlane and others left Marvel in the belief that creators should own and control their own characters. Still, the monthly series continues, becoming, along with Savage Dragon, one of the two original Image titles still published.

Current characters

 * Spawn/Al Simmons - Main character.
 * Mammon - A Forgotten One. One of the major Lords of Hell and the primary antagonist in the series.
 * Man of Miracles - A mystery man that offers guidance to Spawn. One incarnation of the Mother
 * Christopher - A boy whose soul was sealed within Spawn's heart. He has taken the form of a young Hellspawn and uses his powers to help Spawn. He is the key to The Legion, the one who actually releases them from Spawn.
 * Sam Burke - Detective, partner of Twitch.
 * Twitch Williams - Detective, partner of Sam.
 * Zera - The queen of the Seraphim. Utterly insane.
 * The Disciple - Heaven's greatest warrior, and predecessor to The Redeemer.
 * Thamuz - A demonic Master of Torture who has vowed to unravel the secrets kept by Spawn.
 * Kali - A dark goddess who battles against Spawn. Another incarnation of the Mother
 * The Forgotten Ones - Angelic creatures who did not choose sides in the Biblical Fall, and were banished by God.
 * Wanda Blake - Al Simmons's ex-wife. She kept her maiden name both times, much to her grandmother's dismay.
 * Terry Fitzgerald - Wanda's husband/Al Simmons' former best friend.
 * Cyan Fitzgerald - Wanda and Terry's daughter.
 * Katie Fitzgerald - One of Wanda and Terry's miracle twins. Issue #158 revealed that Katie was literally evil incarnate, as she was actually Satan.
 * Jake Fitzgerald - ''One of Wanda and Terry's miracle twins. Issue #158 revealed that Jake was none other than God himself.
 * Granny Blake - Mary Blake, Wanda's grandmother. A woman of great faith and wisdom, and one of the few humans that Al has confided in since he returned from Hell.
 * The Mother - The Mother is the creator of the universe and all the worlds within it. She is neither male nor female but is referred to as Mother by Jake and Katie (God and Satan). It was her that removed God and Satan from their thrones while she attempted to unify mankind, and also her that impregnated Wanda with their human forms.

Other characters

 * Nyx - A witch that helped Al Simmons regain his Hellspawn powers, only to betray him so that she could journey to Hell to save the soul of a friend. She appears to be attuned to Greenworld
 * Cogliostro/Cain - Spawn's former mentor and guide/current master of the eighth circle of Hell
 * The Heap - Formerly Eddie Beckett, now a walking Heap, an agent of Greenworld of trash and earth animated by necroplasm.
 * The Redeemer - A holy opposite to the Hellspawn, created by the Star Chamber.
 * Tiffany - A warrior-angel that replaced Angela in the hunt for Spawn. A member of an angelic host known as the Amazon Warriors.
 * Jessica Priest - Former CIA agent/Al Simmons' killer
 * Chapel - Bruce Stinson. Mercenary, Assassin, American Hero. Former CIA agent/member of Youngblood. Helped to kill Al Simmons, his best friend. Retconned after Rob Liefeld left Image Comics.
 * Antonio Twistelli - ''"Tony Twist" the infamous mafia don of New York City. He's been making a play for the top and seeks to inherit the power of Don Bartino. Cruel, ruthless and smarter than he looks. Oversaw both mafia supersoldier projects. With Spawn and Violator causing so many problems in New York, his plans for advancement look in jeopardy.
 * OvertKill - Seemingly unstoppable cyborg who fought Spawn to a stand still early in his career. Was defeated by a simple systems malfunction. Each time he's dismantled he comes back stronger and more dangerous than before.
 * Tremor - The predecessor of OvertKill. He is a failed prototype for the Mafia Supersolider. The process turned him into a cybernetic monster resembling a large demon, and for this he continues to wage his own personal war on the mob. Depending on his mood Spawn can't be sure if he will be a friend or a foe when Tremor comes calling.
 * The Curse - Phillip Krahn. Eccentric billionaire, religious zealot and one of Spawn's deadliest enemies.
 * Cy-Gor - A cybernetic mesh of metal and ape but with a human brain. This government project knows no control nor pleasure except for the taste of blood.
 * Clown/Violator - A tormentor of Spawn, pushing him to use his powers for the benefit of Hell
 * Ab and Zab - Minor opener-demons who serve the Lord of Hell. They've been both Spawn's enemy as well as minions and there's just some things about being on Earth they can't get enough of... cigarettes, guns, booze, babes and any other vice you can think of.
 * Urizen - The Dark God, Leveler of Hope and Destroyer of Dreams.

Deceased
While death is rarely final in Spawn Continuity, some characters are more dead than others.
 * Malebolgia - Former master of the eighth circle of Hell. Decapitated by Spawn
 * Angela - An angelic bounty-hunter sent against Spawn who later befriended him. She was impaled with her own sword by Malebolgia, who would die by Spawn's hands shortly afterwards.
 * Jason Wynn - Former CIA director/Al Simmons' superior that gave the order to kill him. Ruthless, cold and at one point, one of the most powerful men on the planet. Currently presumed dead as The Violator has taken residence in his body.
 * Billy Kincaid - A child-killer who was in turn killed by Spawn. He went on to serve as a lackey of Malebolgia and has returned from Hell multiple times to wreak havoc. He was stopped once by Spawn and most recently by young Christopher.
 * The Freak - An escapee from a mental asylum with multiple personalities. He's a sadistic murderer who believes his own delusions. Freak's tangled with Spawn and The Violator, and stole the bag of necroplasm that turned Eddie Beckett into The Heap. He currently resides in Hell.

The Adventures of Spawn
At the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) '06 it was announced that a new take on the Spawn mythos was in the works. This new Spawn story is known as The Adventures of Spawn and as stated by Jon Goff, a moderator on the Spawn.com Message Board and McFarlane employee, it is a reimagining of the Spawn story that is essentially a "What If?" universe that hearkens back to classic kid-friendly Saturday morning cartoons. The story takes place in a webcomic format and has been tied into the action-figure world through McFarlane Toys' Spawn Series 30, The Adventures of Spawn which will feature Spawn X, The Redeemer, Codename: Cy-gor, OvertKill the Destroyer, Tiffany the Amazon, Omega Spawn and the Collector's Club Exclusive, Lord Mammon.

Popularity
Spawn enjoyed a considerable amount of popularity in the 1990s, which was a notable feat for a non DC  and non  Marvel  character. From 1994-95 on Spawn was very popular, and part of this was possibly due to the widespread popularity of McFarlane Toys, which expanded beyond specialty stores, and the toys were sold in major department stores as well as Toys "R" Us and KB Toys. This gave the title a boost, and brought it to the attention of both younger audiences and older toy collectors who were exposed to the toys. When this popularity ended is impossible to place, at least in regards to any one date. In general, Spawn's popularity peaked with the 1997 Spawn feature film. The character's popularity began to slowly decline after this, until he largely dropped off the "mainstream" radar in 1998-1999. The comic book's sales have been in steady decline, though it continues to be published today. Still, figures produced by McFarlane Toys continue to remain very popular, mostly due to their tremendous detailing. Most recently, the hype around Spawn #150 allowed the issue to sell-out very quickly as a new creative team was brought on board and fan interest in the book has again picked up, but the book is still critically panned in most circles.

Legal dispute
In 1993, McFarlane contracted Neil Gaiman (as well as other recognized authors like Frank Miller and Dave Sim) to write one issue of his Spawn series. While doing so, Gaiman introduced the characters Cogliostro, Angela, and Medieval Spawn. All three characters continued to be featured prominently in the series after Gaiman's involvement, and had many tie-ins with McFarlane's toy company. Cogliostro had a prominent role in the live-action movie in 1997. McFarlane had agreed that Gaiman was a co-creator of the characters and paid him royalties for reprints, graphic novels and action figures. After a few years he ceased the payment of royalties and gave Gaiman notice that he owned all rights to the characters, citing the copyright notice from Issue 9 and claimed that Gaiman's work had been work-for-hire and that McFarlane was the sole owner. In 2002, Gaiman filed suit against McFarlane and in response Todd counter-sued. Gaiman had partnered with Marvel Comics to form Marvels and Miracles, LLC which bankrolled the lawsuit. The main goal was to determine the issue of ownership for another character Gaiman felt he had a stake in, Miracleman, which at the time McFarlane was believed to hold a sizeable stake in after his buyout of the assets of Eclipse Comics. This issue was thrown out. Instead the court chose to rule on the breach of contract issue, the rights of ownership and the copyrightability of the characters from Issue 9. Several arguments were presented by McFarlane and all were rejected, leading to a sizeable judgement against McFarlane and Image Comics. The matter went to appeal and the judgement was upheld in a 2003 decision. Gaiman's rights as co-creator and co-owner of Cog, Angela and Medieval Spawn were acknowledged. The court's view was that Gaiman and McFarlane's collaboration led to each contributing half of the work. Gaiman wrote the story, McFarlane illustrated the character and because of this each held a 50% stake in the characters. The fallout of this lawsuit is still unclear and the issue of Miracleman is yet to be resolved. In a recent reprint collection of the first twelve issues of Spawn, the contentious issue (along with Issue 10) was excluded.

Guest authors
Spawn - The Series
 * 8 "In Heaven" - Alan Moore
 * 9 "Angela" - Neil Gaiman
 * 10 "Crossing Over" - Dave Sim
 * 11 "Home" - Frank Miller
 * 16 "Reflections - Part One" - Grant Morrison
 * 17 "Reflections - Part Two" - Grant Morrison
 * 18 "Reflections - Part Three" - Grant Morrison
 * 37 "The Freak" - Alan Moore

Comic series

 * The Adventures of Spawn
 * Spawn
 * Spawn 3D
 * Spawn Bible (1996)
 * Spawn Blood and Salvation (1999)
 * Spawn Blood and Shadows (1999)
 * Spawn Fan Edition (1996)
 * Spawn Movie Adaptation (1997)
 * Spawn The Book Of Souls (1998)
 * Spawn Toy Comics (1994)
 * Spawn-Batman (1994)
 * Spawn: Blood Feud (1995)
 * Spawn: Godslayer (2006)
 * Spawn: Shadows of Spawn Collection (2006)
 * Spawn: The Dark Ages (1999)
 * Spawn: The Impaler (1996)
 * Spawn: The Undead (1999)
 * Spawn/WildC.A.T.s (1996)