As the Year Of Spawn continues, Image Comics is releasing artwork from SPAWN'S UNIVERSE #1.

The press release follows:

Media Release -- Beginning in June, Todd McFarlane officially releases the beginning of his new "world-building" universe. Nearly 30 years in the making, the highly anticipated Spawn's Universe #1 is set to visually expand with a reveal of some of the stunning artwork by superstar artists Jim Cheung and colorist FCO. McFarlane takes on the writing duties for this inaugural book that will be the launchpad to build a bigger multi-character, interconnected comic book universe based around his top-selling monthly Spawn comic.

Spawn's Universe #1 will be available with several variant covers. Most prominently, featuring the extraordinary artwork of J. Scott Campbell, who will be doing a set of four covers, each depicting one of the major characters who will be making the biggest impact in all the 2021 comic titles McFarlane is unleashing. Additional variant covers will be created by McFarlane and a group cover by artist Brett Booth—with inks by McFarlane. More covers and incentives will be announced later. However, these initial six covers will set the stage for over a dozen high profile artists to add their depiction of Spawn and other fan-favorite heroes that will set the stage for three new monthly spin-off Spawn titles: King Spawn, Gunslinger Spawn, and The Scorched, all releasing nationwide in 2021.

Contained inside Spawn's Universe #1 will be four different stories (Spawn, She-Spawn, Medieval Spawn, and Gunslinger Spawn) highlighting different Spawn characters from the past and present as well as the introduction of new villains. The acclaimed artists working on each of the chapters will be:

JIM CHEUNG – chapter with Spawn
BRETT BOOTH – chapter with Gunslinger Spawn,
STEPHEN SEGOVIA – chapter with Medieval Spawn
MARCIO TAKARA – chapter with She-Spawn

Spawn's Universe #1, a 52-page, one-shot issue, will launch on Wednesday, June 30 with a retail price of only $5.99. Given the current pricing from other comic companies, this will be one of the comic's most outstanding value of the year!

McFarlane's vision is to create new exciting superheroes and new major villains over the next year and beyond.

Todd McFarlane said: "I've waited almost 30 years to be able to get to this moment. To deliver on ideas, I hope they will grow from this initial seed called Spawn's Universe #1 into a fully formed world populated with hundreds and hundreds of characters in the near future. The stage will be set with this book, and soon I'll be launching into new monthly titles for the first time since 1992. I can't wait to show comic readers all the crazy ideas in my head as well as opening up the floodgate to so many talented creators that have said they'd like to join me on this journey."

It has been more than 28 years for collectors and fans since a Spawn #1 title has released, and 2021 will bring four new Spawn-related #1 titles to comic retailers nationwide. In 1992, the Spawn comic's first issue was released and sold an unprecedented 1.7 million copies, a record still unsurpassed for a creator-owned comic book. The original Spawn book is one of the world's bestselling and longest-running comics, with over 100 million copies sold in more than 120 countries.

For more information, visit mcfarlane.com or follow McFarlane @ Facebook • Instagram • Twitter

ABOUT SPAWN AND LEGENDARY ARTIST AND SPAWN CREATOR TODD MCFARLANE

Todd McFarlane's Spawn is one of the world's best-selling and longest-running monthly creator-owned comic books, with hundreds of millions sold worldwide in more than 120 countries. 2019 marked the year that legendary artist Todd McFarlane made history with the release of the historic Spawn #300 and record-breaking Spawn #301. These milestones have earned McFarlane the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the world's longest-running creator-owned superhero comic book series.

SPAWN is currently a top 5 monthly selling title on the Diamond Distributors Top 100 Chart and was one of the best-selling comic titles for all of 2019. SPAWN was the only title to have two issues in the Top 11. SPAWN #300 claimed the #2 spot. The World Record Breaking SPAWN #301 placed #11 on a list of more than 8000 books published in 2019.

The comic became an Emmy Award-winning animated series on HBO and a live-action feature film that grossed more than $100 million.

In 2020, the new release of a SPAWN figure on Kickstarter set a new Kickstarter record, in its category, for raising just under $3.5 million in 30 days. That figure was also recently awarded the prestigious People's Choice 2021 Toy of The Year (TOTY) by The Toy Association, Inc.

McFarlane established himself as a force in the entertainment world. McFarlane has won 2 Grammy nominations, 2 Emmy-Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards, 1 Canadian MuchMusic Award, and more than 150 International awards in action figures, comic books, and publishing.