Spawn: New Beginnings Volume 1 (Spawn: New Beginings)

• A bold new chapter in SPAWN begins here! Jim Downing is the new Spawn, but he's also an internationally known faith healer and media darling. How long can these dual lives continue before the world finds out the truth? And watch out for the Clown and his alliance with Bludd, the vampire master — they have plans of their own for Jim as well...

A risk-taker with an unerring instinct for success, Todd McFarlane has made a multi-million dollar empire using those skills and along the way he and his companies have received nearly a hundred national and international awards, including two Emmys, a Grammy, and MTV Music Awards for his producer/director roles. McFarlane became a true comic book superstar for his record setting work on Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man franchise, where he co-created the anti-hero Venom. The Sony Pictures’ Venom film starring Tom Hardy set an all-time record for largest film opening in October and was #1 at the box office its first two weeks of release. This year, McFarlane has announced an ensemble of award-winning talent for his upcoming Spawn movie: Casting Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Jamie Foxx (Ray, Django Unchained) to play Spawn and Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, The Town, Wind River) to play police detective "Twitch" Williams. This new Spawn film will be a gritty, R-rated re-imagining of the character and marks McFarlane’s feature film directorial debut. Academy Award nominee Jason Blum and his BlumhouseProductions, the force behind recent hits Get Out, Split and Halloween, are attached to produce. McFarlane also co-founded in 1992—and serves as current President of—Image Comics. Image has been the third largest comic publisher in North America the past 26 years (behind Marvel and DC Comics). In 1994, McFarlane founded the international award-winning McFarlane Toys—now one of North America’s top action figure manufacturers, boasting over 150 licenses (including the recently announced Fortnite license) during that time. Artistically, McFarlane’s impact visually on the look of Spider-Man (while working at Marvel in the 1990s) can still be seen today. And a single page of McFarlane’s original art from an issue of Amazing Spider-Man sold for a record-smashing $657,250. Then his first issue for Image Comics, called Spawn, sold an unprecedented 1.7 million copies for an independent comic. Since its debut, Spawn has continued to be a fan favorite title around the world. Spawn is published in 12 languages and sold in 37 countries. The comic became an Emmy Award-Winning animated series on HBO and a New Line Cinema feature film. McFarlane founded the international award-winning McFarlane Toys—now one of North America’s top action figure manufacturers. A whirlwind of expansion in McFarlane’s companies followed: more comics, action figures, and award-winning entertainment projects which boast over 150 licenses. McFarlane Toys is known for making the best toys of the world’s pop-culture obsessions including the newly launched Fortnite and roleplay line.

First and foremost a comic creator, Kirkman has seen groundbreaking success in the adaptation of his comic book titles into major franchises in all forms of content. In 2010, his Eisner award winning series, The Walking Dead, was developed into an AMC television series. It has become a worldwide phenomenon as the highest-rated basic cable drama of all time. The property has also been extended into a blockbuster game franchise, licensing business and ongoing publishing success.

Additional Kirkman comics include Oblivion Song, Die!Die!Die!, Invincible, Outcast, Super Dinosaur, Battle Pope, Astounding Wolf-Man, and Thief of Thieves.

Kirkman also serves as consulting producer of The Talking Dead, the popular talk show hosted by Chris Hardwick that deep dives into each week’s episode of both The Walking Dead and its companion series Fear the Walking Dead. Kirkman is co-creator, writer and producer of The Walking Dead’s companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

He is also executive producer of the AMC series Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics, and the Korean pre-apocalyptic drama, Five Year. Kirkman’s popular demonic-exorcism comic, Outcast, was adapted and produced for Cinemax. His second longest running coming book series Invincible is currently being adapted for a live action movie for Universal and an animated series for Amazon. Kirkman will serve as Executive Producer on both adaptations.

Robert is also the Chairman of Skybound Entertainment. Robert, an advocate for creator rights, co-founded Skybound alongside his longtime business and producing partner David Alpert in an effort to ensure creators are able to maintain their intellectual property rights and creative control.

One of the seven co-founders of Image comics, Whilce Portacio is an American Comic book writer and artist. His work includes The Punisher, X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man, Wetworks and Spawn.

Greg Capullo is a renowned comic book artist, known for his dynamic style and attention to detail. Born in Schenectady, New York, Capullo’s passion for drawing and creating comics began at a young age. He started his career working for smaller publishers before landing a job at Marvel Comics, where he worked on titles such as X-Force and Quasar. He later moved to rival company DC Comics, where he achieved his greatest success as the primary artist for the critically acclaimed Batman series in collaboration with writer Scott Snyder.

Capullo’s distinctive style features bold lines and intricate detail. He has the ability to capture the essence of characters and bring them to life through his illustrations. His work on Batman, in particular, has received widespread critical acclaim, earning him numerous Eisner Awards and cementing his position as one of the top comic book artists in the industry.

In addition to his work on Batman, Capullo has also collaborated with writer Todd McFarlane on the creation of the iconic comic book series, Spawn. Capullo’s artwork on Spawn has garnered high praise and earned him multiple awards, including a Harvey Award. His collaborative work with McFarlane is considered one of the best partnerships in the comic book industry and has continued for many years.

With a career spanning over three decades, Greg Capullo has made an indelible mark on the comic book industry and continues to inspire new generations of artists and fans.

Re-imagining New Mutants into X-Force was only the start for industry maverick Rob Liefeld, one of the leaders of the 1990s comics revolution. After introducing both Cable and Deadpool, he launched an even bigger collaboration as one of the founders of Image Comics with his original property Youngblood. In 1996, he participated in Marvel’s controversial multi-title Heroes Reborn event. After collaborating with Alan Moore on revamped Image creations, Liefeld reunited with co-writer Fabian Nicieza on an X-Force miniseries and then revisited Heroes Reborn in Onslaught Reborn with writer Jeph Loeb. Liefeld returned to his most famous co-creation with the graphic novel Deadpool: Bad Blood and introduced a new sensation in Major X.

Marc Silvestri made history as one of the founding partners of Image comics in 1992. Creator, businessman, savant, writer, teacher, artist... these are only a few of the words that one would associate with Marc. His characters, artwork, and creations have made billions of dollars for Marvel Comics as well as his own company, Top Cow Productions, that he founded in 1992, as a partner of Image Comics. He is well known for his work on iconic Marvel titles such as The X-Men, Wolverine and The Incredible Hulk. As CEO of Top Cow Productions, his mandate was specific; produce the next generation of heroes and do it different than everyone else. Marc masterminded the Top Cow Universe through properties like Cyber Force, Witchblade, and The Darkness. When Hollywood started its love affair with comic book characters in the mid-1990s Marc helped position Top Cow as a vital production company in film and television. In addition to comic books, Marc has acted as Executive Producer in a variety of other media including the Witchblade television series and anime series, the Wanted feature film, the A-Team feature film, and two successful video games based off of The Darkness. Marc‘s much anticipated Batman/Joker team up book for DC comics will no doubt showcase his ongoing commitment to innovate and strive to always evolve as a creator and artist.

Ashley Wood is Australian comic book artist and award-winning illustrator known for his cover art, concept design and his work as an art director. Wood initially worked in both the UK and international comic book industries, working on characters such as the British character Judge Dredd, before breaking into the US market, where he worked for such companies as Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Wood has also worked for Image Comics, creating graphic novels and cover art for the various SPAWN properties of Todd McFarlane and more.

Wood generally works in mixed media, often combining oil painting with digital artmaking.

David Finch is a Canadian-born comic book artist who got his start working for Top Cow Productions.

After a lengthy stint on Cyberforce following series creator and studio founder Marc Silvestri, Finch went on to co-create Ascension with Matt "Batt" Banning. He would later work on the first three issues of Aphrodite IX with David Wohl.

In 2003, Finch returned to comics for a year-long arc on Ultimate X-Men with writer Brian Michael Bendis. Following that stint, the duo moved on to Avengers, where they destroyed Marvel's premiere superhero team only to relaunch it as The New Avengers featuring a radically different cast.

Finch is currently working on the new Moon Knight series together with novelist Charlie Huston.