Some duos are so iconic that they transcend the thing they are a part of. Even people who don’t watch or know anything about basketball are aware of how well Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen played together for the Chicago Bulls in the late ’90s. DC Comics’ Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, are in the same boat. There isn’t one without the other, but the Dark Knight has been known to leave his sidekick at home from time to time when he teams up with another character. One notable instance occurred over 20 years ago, when Batman decided to fight crime with Image Comics’ most popular anti-hero, Spawn.
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Spawn creator Todd McFarlane was making waves in the early ’90s, which put him on Frank Miller’s radar. The acclaimed writer and artist agreed to guest-write an issue of Spawn, which laid the groundwork for the Spawn/Batman one-shot that saw The One and the Caped Crusader come to blows in New York City. Well, after 25 years, McFarlane and Miller are working together again, collaborating on a cover for The Curse of Sherlee Johnson #3.
During an interview with ComicBook, McFarlane explained what the process of working with other popular creators was like a couple of decades ago and how much the industry has changed.
“When we were both back in the late ’80s and ’90s, the formality of doing comic books wasn’t there like it is today in terms of, like, people started getting under exclusive contracts, and you only work with one [company],” he said. “There was a lot of just being friends back then, of like, ‘Hey, I’ll do a cover for you, you do a cover for me.’ And you didn’t really have to get any clearance to some extent through the editors of the company, cause you just swapped pages and did stuff, and it was way easier. And especially when exclusives came around, it got tough.”
Todd McFarlane’s Latest Collab With Frank Miller Is Long Overdue
McFarlane also can’t believe how long it’s taken for him and Miller to link back up after the success of Spawn/Batman and their other projects.
“When Frank and I did a couple of things back then, and the big one, which was the Spawn/Batman, you know, again, it was just like, ‘Let’s have some fun together, right?’ I mean, that’s it,” he continued. “Let’s come up with a crazy idea and do it, and here we are now again, 25 years later. And again, it just shoots you back to like, ‘We should’ve done this.’ Like, as you mentioned, it’s been 25 years. Like, why? There’s no good reason it should’ve taken this long for any two friends or collaborators to not have done it over and over.”
The Curse of Sherlee Johnson #3 arrives in stores on September 17th. Miller drew a variant cover for the issue, and then he and McFarlane worked together on another one. McFarlane can’t wait for readers to get their hands on both and decide which one they like better. Let us know in the comments below which one you are going after!
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