Spawn Batman (1994) #1
Published 1994 by Image.

This prestige format one-shot pits Bob Kane's classic creation Batman against Todd McFarlane's Spawn (a product of Image Comics).

Frank Miller, author of The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One and Sin City, brings Batman to New York City in his search for an arsenal of high-tech weapons and robots that use decapitated human heads as their brains. Antagonistic, confrontational and suspicious of each other, Spawn and Batman engage in violent battles before realizing they are both after the same villain. Grudgingly, they decide to work together. The person they seek has been kidnapping and decapitating the homeless for use in the robots, but that’s only part of the plan: there is also a nuclear arsenal ready to be deployed. Will Spawn and Batman be able to foil the plan to destroy the world? It’s a story filled with many twists and turns and a surprise ending that affected Spawn for years afterward.

This Elseworlds-style story is something of a companion to Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight, taking place outside of the normal continuity of either DC or Image comics. It begins with Batman investigating Russian technology that someone is using to turn Gotham City street bums into killer cyborgs. Meanwhile in Manhattan, Al Simmons (a.k.a. Spawn) is haunted by a figure from a bloody war of his past who now is masquerading as an angel of mercy. Batman encounters Spawn just as Spawn incinerates two would-be murderers who were trying to kill him. This, understandably, gives Batman the wrong message about Spawn, although his issue-long urge to beat up Spawn comes across as bizarre for a character famed for thinking with his head as well as his fists.

Spawn-Batman is the second of two crossovers pairing Batman and Spawn (the first was Batman-Spawn: War Devil). This special features writing by Frank Miller with art by Todd McFarlane.

Spawn Reboot Development Is Getting 'Hot and Heavy,' Todd McFarlane Says

Could we finally see some solid progress on the long, long-awaited Spawn reboot?

Comic book writer Todd McFarlane has provided yet another promising update on the development of the upcoming Spawn reboot, revealing that progress on the long-awaiting project is getting "hot and heavy." Speaking on the Comicbook Nation podcast, McFarlane commended the likes of Venom and Joker for introducing wider audiences to the idea of a comic book antihero leading a tentpole blockbuster.

"I think that anytime any of those have success, I think it began a little bit with what Venom did. Because, he's sort of an anti-hero and then really got turbocharged with Joker. Now, like you're saying, the iteration of Batman and Moon Knight we're seeing. That there is a hunger there. That everything doesn't have to quite go down to the seven-year-old level."

The proposed Spawn reboot has been in development for quite some time, and while there has been very little in terms of major updates, McFarlane believes that the huge success of Venom and Joker, as well as the recent The Batman and Marvel’s upcoming Moon Knight, will help him finally bring Spawn back to the big screen.

His description of the work on Spawn being “hot and heavy” is just the latest optimistic update regarding the project. Producer Jason Blum recently provided an equally promising update regarding the reboot, stating that the project is still in active development and that he and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane are just taking their time to get the script just right.

"It's gonna be very different, it's gonna be very edgy,” Blum said of their approach. “What excited me about it is that Spawn is kind of the last great unexploited comic. So that seemed like an amazing opportunity. It's taken longer than I hoped it would have to get the story right, but we're still working on it."

Spawn, who begins life as an assassin named Albert Francis Simmons before being murdered and making a deal to become a Hellspawn, has adapted for the screen before back in 1997. In an effort to differentiate the reboot from what has come before, McFarlane has revealed that the movie will not re-tread the character’s origin.

"I didn't want to do the comic book origin story from issues #1-3 in the movie,” McFarlane, who plans to make his directorial with Spawn, revealed. “We were looking for people, without even telling them that, to give something a little bit different. Unfortunately, 80 to 90 percent of them, according to the other person involved who was interviewing most of them, were falling into the trap of retelling the comic book story in the movie. We saw that movie. That movie came out 20-plus years ago from New Line. So what haven't we seen that would be interesting and relevant today, both in terms of filmmaking and social content."

Set to star Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx as the titular Spawn alongside Avengers: Endgame star Jeremy Renner, could we at long last see the Spawn reboot begin to take shape?

Comic-Con 2022: New Batman/Spawn Crossover Announced

Officially announced as part of DC's Jim Lee & Friends Panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, legendary writer Todd McFarlane and legendary artist Greg Capullo are officially teaming up for an all-new Batman/Spawn comic book crossover. McFarlane will pen the script for the issue with Capullo providing interior art, marking a reunion for the two that previously did countless issues of the flagship Spawn series together. The new Batman/Spawn crossover marks the first time that the two heroes have been together since 1994's Batman/Spawn: War Devil and the Spawn/Batman one-shot by Frank Miller and McFarlane. DC confirmed the former will be reprinted ahead of the new issue.

Batman/Spawn #1, a one-shot for now, will be released on December 13 by DC Comics, with the Batman/Spawn: War Devil rerelease happening on November 15. The new issue, a premium 48-page one-shot already has fans clamoring for more details, but little is actually known about it as of now. Two covers for the comic were shown at the event, one where Batman stands on-top of Spawn and another where Spawn is victorious over the Dark Knight. Knowing McFarlane there will likely be a ton of other variants for the issue.

McFarlane and Capullo would collaborate on dozens of issues of Spawn at Image Comics, starting with Spawn #16 and carrying on regularly through Spawn #103. Capullo returned to the character in guest spots and providing covers sporadically and also worked on several spinoffs with McFarlane like Violator and Haunt. In the time since though he's gone on to draw countless issues of Batman, collaborating with Scott Snyder on the fan-favorite "New 52" run of the character, making him the perfect artist for this new crossover.

"We had the first one Frank Miller and I did, that did pretty well. Then years later we announced another one that I was going to do and Greg Capullo was going to draw," McFarlane previously told ComicBook.com in 2017 about another Batman & Spawn crossover. "Then Greg ends up being the pre-eminent Batman artist of the last few years, so we were sort of ahead of the curve. Maybe we'll resurrect that when the time's right. I think that both of the characters visually fit with each other, and I think that there's enough character differences that it's not just the same guy in a different suit. The story I pitched them was about how all the opposites -- character flaws if you will. Hopefully someday I can find an opening there to do that myself".

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