Albert Francis "Al" Simmons, better known as Spawn, is an antihero appearing in a monthly comic book of the same name published by American company Image Comics, as well as in a number of films, television series, and video game adaptations set in the Image Universe. Created by Todd McFarlane, Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1.
Image Comics is an American comic-book publisher and is the third-largest direct-market comic-book and graphic-novel publisher in the industry by market share.
Robert Liefeld is an American comic book creator. A prominent writer and artist in the 1990s, he is known for co-creating the character Cable with writer Louise Simonson and the character Deadpool with writer Fabian Nicieza. In the early 1990s, Liefeld gained popularity due to his work on Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and later X-Force. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which started a wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers. The first book published by Image Comics was Liefeld's Youngblood #1.
Youngblood is a superhero team that starred in their self-titled comic book series, created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld. The team made its debut as a backup feature in RAMM #1 before the next month appearing in the one-shot Megaton Explosion #1 before later appearing in April 1992 in its own ongoing series as the flagship publication for Image Comics and the wider Image Universe. Youngblood was originally published by Image Comics, and later by Awesome Entertainment. Upon Rob Liefeld's return to Image Comics, it was revived in 2008, 2012, and 2017. In 2019, Liefeld revealed that he has not owned the rights to Youngblood for several years.
Spawn is a 1997 American superhero film based on the Image Comics character of the same name. Directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé, the film stars Michael Jai White in the title role, alongside John Leguizamo, Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, D. B. Sweeney, Miko Hughes, and Nicol Williamson in his final film role. The film depicts the origin story of the title character, a murdered US Marine who is resurrected as the reluctant leader of Hell's army. Spawn is one of the first films to feature an African American actor portraying a major comic book superhero.
Violator is a supervillain who appears in the Spawn comic books published by Image Comics. The character first appeared in Spawn #2 and was created by writer-artist Todd McFarlane.
Cogliostro, also simply Cog, is a character appearing in Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic book series published by Image Comics. Cogliostro was created in 1993 by author Neil Gaiman and artist Todd McFarlane and introduced in Spawn issue #9. Originally depicted as a supporting character, he becomes an antagonist as the series progresses, eventually becoming the supervillain Sinn and the third main antagonist of the series.
Jason Wynn is a supervillain in the Todd McFarlane Image Universe comic book series Spawn. Wynn is the director of the United States Security Group. He is perhaps the most powerful man in the world, and has politicians throughout the government on his payroll. His actions caused Al Simmons' soul to be sent to Hell and transformed into Spawn in the first place, making him a major villain in the comics as a result.
Malebolgia is a supervillain appearing as the original main antagonist in comic books featuring the superhero Spawn and reprised the role in the later issues. Created by writer/artist Todd McFarlane, the character first appeared in Spawn #1. The name Malebolgia is derived from the term in Dante's Inferno used to describe Malebolge, the ditches (bolge) in the eighth circle of Hell, where humans who committed the sin Fraud are punished. He is Spawn's former master who serves as one of the major Lords of Hell.
Curse of the Spawn is a spin-off of Todd McFarlane's popular Spawn comic book series. The book introduced other Hellspawns and characters in the "Spawniverse". It was published by Image Comics from September 1996–March 1999 and has been collected into multiple trade paperbacks. There were 29 issues in all.
The Man of Miracles is a fictional androgynous being featured in the Spawn comic book series.
Todd McFarlane's Spawn, also known as Spawn: The Animated Series or simply Spawn, is an American adult animated superhero television series that aired on HBO from 1997 through 1999 and reran on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block in Japan. It has also been released on DVD as a film series. The show is based on the character Spawn from Image Comics, and won an Emmy Award in 1999 for Outstanding Animation Program.
Awesome Comics or Awesome Entertainment was an American comic book studio formed in 1997 by Rob Liefeld following his expulsion from Image Comics, a company he co-founded five years prior.
Mammon is a supervillain from the comic book Spawn. He is Spawn's former ally and is the second primary antagonist, having replaced Malebolgia in that role until #184, in which Malebolgia again takes back this role from Mammon.
Badrock is a superhero appearing in comic books published by Image Comics. Created by Rob Liefeld, he was originally named Bedrock and first appeared in Youngblood #1.
Jessica Priest is a character from the Spawn universe. Specifically, Priest serves as a substitute in the Spawn film for Chapel, Al Simmons's killer in the comic book. Priest was played by Melinda Clarke in the film. She would later become the second She-Spawn and leader of the team called Scorched.
Shadows of Spawn is a licensed Japanese manga adaptation of Todd McFarlane's American Spawn comic series, written and drawn by Juzo Tokoro. It was originally printed in Japan from 1998 to 1999 in the monthly manga magazine Dengeki Comic Gao!, published by MediaWorks. The series retains a number of elements of the original American series, but also exhibits a number of differences from it as well.
Bloodstrike is a comic book series created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld as part of his Extreme Studios production company, and which debuted in 1993 through Image Comics as a spinoff of Liefeld's other property Youngblood. Bloodstrike features a squad of assassins, each of whom is a super-powered operative who died in the line of duty and was resurreted by a secret government program called Project Born Again. The group is led by Cabbot Stone, and its other members include Fourplay, Deadlock, Shogun, Tag, and Chapel.
Image United is an incomplete comic book limited series published by Image Comics. The intent of the series was to re-unite the founders of Image Comics on a joint project, serving as a crossover between various Image Universe titles. However, there were delays in production, and only three of the planned six issues were published in November 2009, with artist Rob Liefeld eventually confirming that no further issues would be forthcoming.
Todd McFarlane's Spawn: The Video Game is a video game based on the Spawn comic book character. It was released in the United States and Europe for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System console. Developed by Ukiyotei and published by Acclaim Entertainment and Sony Electronic Publishing in late 1995, it features Al Simmons, Spawn, trying to save the lives of thirteen children in a beat 'em up type of video game. The game received mixed reviews by critics; the graphics were praised while the unoriginality of the game was criticized.
