King Spawn #1 Cover by Donny Cates & Todd McFarlane Revealed

Fresh off the reveal earlier this month of David Finch’s cover for King Spawn #1, Image Comics and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane have revealed three more new variant covers that will be available including one with pencils by Eisner Award-Nominated writer Donny Cates and featuring inks by McFarlane himself plus colors by Peter Steigerwald. In a statement, Cates praised McFarlane for giving him the opportunity and speaking to how much it would mean to his younger self who was a devout Spawn reader and called McFarlane his hero (something we all picked up on after reading Crossover and seeing the teases of his next project).

“In the decade I have been making comics, absolutely nothing I have worked on has filled me with more joy than being asked by my childhood hero to draw a cover for the coolest book in the world,” Cates said. “If I could go back in time and tell my 12-year-old self that I would one day be DRAWING a cover for SPAWN and that TODD MCFARLANE himself would be inking over my pencils, well, that kid would never stop smiling. And guess what, I haven’t either. I’m so incredibly honored to have played even the smallest part in the legacy of this book! Thank you so much, Todd. You’ve made a little nerd’s dream come true.” .

McFarlane also offered praise for Cates, adding: “Though some may think it’s a little strange to ask one of our industry’s top writers to pencil a cover for this high-profile book… I don’t. One of the big reasons I asked Donny Cates to take a crack at doing a cover for King Spawn #1 was to remind myself how much fun creating comics can and used to be.”

“When I first began collecting comics, I was 16-years-old and comics had this sense of ‘fun’ about them. It was common practice back then for a creator to phone up another creator friend and ask them if they wanted to draw a cover… or interior page… or write a few pages on the book they were working on. Sometimes it was for practical reasons like a looming deadline, but most times, it was just because it would be kind of cool to do something with your professional friends. The creative community was always swapping pages…”

McFarlane concluded, “I get that it might not be what Donny does most of the time, but my sixteen-year-old spirit was just aching to enjoy the process of making new books as much as possible. So, asking Donny is in the same vein as me asking other talented folks to help contribute a little of their skills to some of the new ideas in the expanding Spawn Universe. This was one of those ways. And along with great artists like Greg Capullo, Brett Booth, Puppeteer Lee, David Finch, Sean Murphy, etc., there will be plenty of options to choose from. Collect what you want and walk away from those you don’t care for….But the act of making comics with a smile on my face is a wonderful motivator. And just get ready for some of the other ‘cool and fun stuff’ coming in the near future.”

Two other covers were revealed as well by the publisher including the Greg Capullo and Brett Booth variants, both of which were also inked by McFarlane. Dave McCaig colored the Capullo variant with FCO Plascencia coloring the Booth cover. You can find both below and look for King Spawn #1 to be released next month.

Clocking in at 56 pages thick, the action-packed KING SPAWN #1 will be available at  comic book shops  and on digital platforms on August 18 for $5.99.