Spawn creator Todd McFarlane walked into the San Diego Convention Center's crowded room 6DE six minutes before his panel was due to begin. He calmly walked right past the front of the crowd and went to the curtained backstage area set up closer to the exits.

An announcement by the convention staff asked fans to not rush the stage after the panel, and McFarlane took to the stage shortly after that with still two minutes left before things were due to begin. McFarlane said, "They didn't say anything about me rushing the fans!" He then leapt nimbly down from the stage and ran, high fiving fans and shaking hands down the center aisle to loud applause. Asking how much time was left since Kirkman hadn't arrived, McFarlane started to tell a story. Kirkman came out at that moment, and sat on the table as McFarlane began.

RELATED: Spawn: McFarlane Envisions DiCaprio as Film’s Star

McFarlane said that Kirkman came to visit the Image founder in Phoenix, and while they had some time before McFarlane's son had to be picked up, Kirkman asked to go to the batting cage in the yard, despite hundred degree temperatures. McFarlane mockingly imitated what he said Kirkman's swing was like.

"I just want to point out he only tells these stories so he can say he played Pac-10 baseball," Kirkman interjected. "I often go to batting cages, because I played as a kid and I wasn't very good. I miss a lot. I'm hitting three out of every four. I'm awesome! What happened?"

McFarlane said, "You always throw it to the bat. I treated him like a six-year-old." Kirkman continued swinging far beyond 30 pitches, using a lot of strength. The next day at breakfast, Kirkman's manager comes asking, "What did you do to him?" Apparently, after the exertion, Kirkman was unable to get out of bed and said it hurt to breathe.

Next McFarlane showed pictures from a photo shoot they took together including one that had Kirkman holding McFarlane aloft. "One of us is Batman and one of us is Robin," McFarlane said. "I don't know which one ..."

"Batman's head is usually higher," Kirkman said. "I think you're definitely Robin."

McFarlane joked that they'd do a contest where the winner gets to get physically hoisted by Kirkman, recreating the pose.

McFarlane thanked the crowd for coming and said they'd have a casual conversation while the audience eavesdropped.

Spawn

He talked about why Kirkman is the only writer who is a partner at Image: "Robert figured out on his own that the way to get people to come and buy your book is it just not do work for the competitor. It's a formula I've been talking about for years. Artists can only do one book. I'm not foolish enough to think that you bought Spawn #1 because you liked Spawn. You didn't know what the hell it was. You guys go, "I liked Todd's Spider-Man, maybe that might be cool.' You were forced to go over and get Spawn, then the pressure's on me. Most writers can do three to five books in a month. Robert figured it out, if I keep doing my stuff for Marvel and DC and Image, if you guys have a limited amount of money in your pocket, you're gonna go, 'Do I want Robert Kirkman's X-Men ... Spider-Man Robert Kirkman's Batman ... Flash and then whatever book he's doing as an independent?' You guys can't buy everything, so you're gonna start with the known quantity. Because of that, I figured it was worth us tipping our hat and making him a partner."

RELATED: The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman on [SPOILER]’s Big Death

"You're doing your Marvel and DC work," Kirkman said, "and your faucet is running. If you bottle up a bottle of water and cross the street and say, 'Hey, I've got a bottle of water,' they're just gonna go to the faucet. Turn that faucet off to make them cross the street to buy your stuff."

McFarlane began breaking down and evangelizing the Image model for aspiring creators. "If you've built a fan base," Kirkman said, "and you've been doing comic books for a number of years, you still wanna work for Marvel or DC, you should get your head checked."

"Here's what drives me on Spawn," McFarlane said, changing topics. "Issue #276 just came out," he declared, pointing out that it meant more than 20 years of working on a single series. "There's no short way to get to #276. When people ask me, 'Are you gonna renumber?' Hell no ,and never. Ever. I don't know why anybody would spend 25 years of their life to get to a number, then go, 'let's just start all over with eight other companies.' I can count on fingers the number of books that are at #276. We're cool."

NEXT PAGE: McFarlane on Criticism of the Original Image Revolution



McFarlane on the Original Image Revolution

McFarlane continued, noting criticism that the original Image revolution was "lightning in a bottle," but pointed out that Kirkman made a similar move, as did Brian K. Vaughan. McFarlane said, "You should be going, 'I could be the next bottle of lightning.'"

McFarlane noted the ease at which they work together -- McFarlane making toys for Kirkman, Kirkman putting McFarlane on the upcoming TV show The Secret History of Comics -- was like the "old days" of calling a friend to do a cover, which was harder to do with exclusive contracts.

Kirkman said "There's no fun in comics anymore! They tell me, 'They said I couldn't do a cover for you!' 'Cause they're scared of me! My books sell better than most of their books now. Not all of them. Just one of my books."

RELATED: Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman Pays Tribute to George Romero

McFarlane asked why Invincible was ending with issue #144. "I'm just tired," Kirkman joked. "I'm just tired and old." He got serious and said he always wanted Invincible to have the kind of lengthy run as Amazing Spider-Man and continue after he was gone. "When I'm Stan Lee's age, I'd be able to pick up Invincible like, 'Oh my god, this book is terrible!' I looked forward to that. As I kept working on the book, I was like, 'this book is special to me.' I don't want to give it up. What if Invincible just ended? What would that be like?"

"It would be cool," McFarlane said, "except the number you're ending on is a sh**ty number."

Mark Grayson flying over the city as Invincible.

Kirkman answered, "When I come back, if I ever come back, we do six issues and we're at #150." He then dropped the wireless mic, which seemed like it might be broken.

McFarlane showed photos of himself pretending to sleep next to Stan Lee, who'd fallen asleep back stage after a shared panel. "I'm acting, he's not," McFarlane said. McFarlane showed himself holding a sign in front of Lee that said Image Comics are better than Marvel books and several other photos. "I'm gonna do a whole book. 'Nap Time With Stan!'"

Kirkman responded by showing a series of photos, trolling his 11 year old son who was angry at his father seeing the latest Planet of the Apes movie with someone else.

RELATED: Todd McFarlane Says His Spawn Movie is Inspired by Jaws

Then instead of sitting down, Kirkman stood on a chair, which McFarlane matched. Kirkman started to stand on the table but backed down, while McFarlane struck a Captain Morgan pose on the table and chair. McFarlane's wife came up to the stage and told him to come down, which he protested because he has good insurance. Kirkman promised to catch McFarlane if he fell, and McFarlane made note of the photo from earlier. She told him to take the gum out of his mouth and come down, and he did both, pretending to stick the gum under the podium. He asked for a round of applause for her, his wife of 32 years.

Kirkman talked about a new storyline in Outcast this December and McFarlane mentioned a sequel to Spawn Kills Everyone called Spawn Kills You Too, where Baby Spawn has babies. He's just gonna start turding little babies ..."

"Is that the medical term for that?" Kirkman asked. "'Turding a baby?'"

McFarlane revealed some artwork from a new Medievil Spawn project from Brian Haberlin. He said the Five Nights at Freddy's toy line was "the single biggest thing we've done, bar none. I can't make it fast enough."

Kirkman said an Invincible movie was in development from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. McFarlane talks about the new about McFarlane writing and directing a new live action Spawn movie with producer Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Get Out) attached.

McFarlane answered a fan question saying actor Michael Jai White will not be a part of the new film, which is a clean break from the past and have a hard "R" rating.

Kirkman said he wouldn't direct his own works because, "You have to get up in the morning and go to a place."