THE SCORCHED #1 SETS ANOTHER RECORD AS SPAWN FRANCHISE ENDS 2021 WITH 4TH SALES-SHATTERING RECORD

Biggest new team title in 30 years

TEMPE, Ariz. 01/12/2022 — Todd McFarlane’s Spawn franchise made history in 2021 with the BEST YEAR OF SPAWN EVER, breaking several long-held comic industry records. The newest record includes massive sales for his newest monthly title, The Scorched #1. Sales for the book made it the “Biggest New Team Book” from the past 30 years (including a new relaunch of Marvel’s X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy), with more than 270,000 copies sold. This is the fourth, major record-setting 2021 new title for McFarlane, all records have been set in under six months, and this marks the most records ever broken by a comic franchise in a six-month period.

Kicking off the reign of records, McFarlane's Spawn’s Universe #1 became Image Comics’ top-selling first issue of the 21st century. The sales of King Spawn #1 demolished The Avengers record, becoming the comic industry’s highest ordered monthly superhero launch of the 21st century. Gunslinger Spawn #1 was the biggest launch of a new superhero monthly title in the comic industry of the past 25 years. Gunslinger Spawn #1’s total sales are more significant than Marvel’s Spider-Gwen launch in 2015, and there hasn’t been another new character comic close to that number in the 20 years prior to its release.

Following suit with the record-breaking 2021 titles, Spawn’s Universe #1, King Spawn #1, Gunslinger Spawn #1, and now The Scorched #1 has become one of the top selling Image Comics books in the 21st century.

“Thanks to a renewed interest from fans across the globe, The Scorched will make our fourth book to top the sales charts,” said McFarlane, creator of Spawn. “My expansion of the Spawn mythology and his shared universe kicks off in a meaningful way with this team book that will set the course for many other titles we have planned for the next few years!”

The Scorched #1 is the first all-new monthly issue of McFarlane’s superhero team book by writer Sean Lewis and artists Stephen Segovia and Paulo Sequeria. After 30 years of the longest-running monthly comic title Spawn, The Scorched gathers the best characters for three decades and puts them together into one title. McFarlane has also recruited some of the top talents in the industry for this inaugural launch.

The first issue’s initial characters in The Scorched #1 will include Reaper, Spawn, Redeemer, Gunslinger, Medieval Spawn, She-Spawn, and much more waiting in the wings.

Wednesday, January 12, don’t miss your opportunity to collect the latest McFarlane #1 comic issue with the release of The Scorched #1 available at comic book shops (48 pages, full color, rated: Teen+, $5.99, FREE UPGRADE PREMIUM COVER STOCK) and on digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

ABOUT SPAWN, LEGENDARY ARTISTS AND SPAWN CREATOR AND IMAGE COMICS PRESIDENT, TODD MCFARLANE
Todd McFarlane's SPAWN is one of the world's best-selling and longest-running monthly creator-owned superhero comic books, with hundreds of millions sold worldwide in more than 120 countries.

The road to McFarlane's history-making comic run began in 1992 when he co-founded Image Comics and released SPAWN #1, still the single-best-selling issue all-time for any creator-owned comic, selling an astonishing 1.7 million copies, an unprecedented feat for a creator-owned comic. 2019 marked the year that McFarlane made history by releasing the historic "SPAWN #300" and record-breaking "SPAWN #301". These milestones have earned McFarlane the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the world's "Longest-running Creator-owned Superhero Comic Book Series.” Also, the comic became an Emmy Award-winning animated series on HBO and a live-action feature film that grossed more than $100 million.

McFarlane became a true comic book superstar for his record-setting work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise, where he co-created Marvel's top villain Venom.

After garnishing prominent success in the comic industry, McFarlane launched McFarlane Toys, one of America's top action figure manufacturers. McFarlane Toys has become an industry leader, redefining the action figure market's standards and a licensee of world-class brands and leading global franchises. Under McFarlane’s creative direction, McFarlane Toys action figures and toys are consistently on the "Best Seller" and "Top Toy" lists at national mass retailers, including Target, Walmart, and Amazon.com.

McFarlane and Grammy-winning international DJ Steve Aoki's NFT Agency, Aoki Industries, have launched OddKey.com —an NFT marketplace powered byMetaplex. Founded out of a desire to help provide creators (from comics, sci-fi, fantasy, music, and more) with a safe platform to showcase and sell their authentic digital art. OddKey empowers artists with the ability to control the destinies of their digital properties.

In November 2021, McFarlane launched the dedicated television development and production arm of McFarlane Films. Through McFarlane Films, which has a first-look television deal with wiip (MARE OF EASTTOWN), McFarlane will identify and develop new emerging talent, creator-owned properties, independent brands, stories, and characters.

McFarlane Films' initial television development slate includes projects from established creators such as Thomas Lennon, co-creator of RENO 911! and writer of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM; Anders Weidemann, who adapted HBO's BEARTOWN and created Paramount +'s INTERROGATION; prolific graphic-novel author, Sean Lewis; and ShadowMachine, who produced BOJACK HORSEMAN and Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming PINOCCHIO and SAM & TWITCH into a live-action TV series.

SPAWN and all related characters and elements © & ™ TMP.

PUBLICITY CONTACT:
Carmen Q. Bryant
Executive Director, Public Relations
Todd McFarlane Productions
602-448-8667
cbryant@mcfarlane.com

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