Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo are finally publishing a long-awaited Batman and Spawn crossover.
Announced at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), Batman/Spawn #1 is a 48-page one-shot that hits comic book store shelves on Dec. 13. It also marks the first time that Batman and Spawn have appeared on the printed page together in nearly three decades. Speaking at SDCC, Todd called Batman/Spawn #1 the "biggest book of the year." He also called Cappullo the "greatest Spawn artist ever."
McFarlane and Capullo's attempt to bring Batman and Spawn together was first planned for 2006. In 2015, McFarlane took to Facebook to explain that the book had fallen through the cracks over the years, though he did share never-before-released Capullo art showing Spawn standing in front of Batman's silhouette. "Years ago there was a deal for DC Comics and myself to do a cool Batman/Spawn cross-over book (for those not hip to comic lingo, that's a book in which both characters are in the same issue)," McFarlane wrote. "I to have written and inked it, while a talented penciller, Greg Capullo, was going to draw it. for a variety of reasons (mostly on my shoulders) the book never got off the ground, but a few pages and promo pieces were done for it. [sic]" In 2019, McFarlane revealed on Twitter that he and Capullo were working on an undisclosed project and drawing side-by-side for the first time in their many years of working together.
Capullo, who illustrated dozens of issues of Spawn on and off from 1993 to 2004, would go on to become the lead artist on Batman following the book's relaunch in 2011 alongside writer Scott Snyder. He defined the look of the Dark Knight until 2016 and continued to draw Batman in mega-events like Metal and Dark Metal, as well as the DC Black Label series Batman: Last Knight On Earth.
Previous Batman/Spawn Collaborations
Bruce Wayne and Al Simmons have encountered each other in two intercompany crossovers. The first, Spawn/Batman was published in 1994 by Image and written by Frank Miller with illustrations by McFarlane. The story showed an antagonistic relationship between the two heroes and notably ended with Batman throwing a Batarang into Spawn's face.
The second book, Batman/Spawn: War Devil, was published by DC Comics and written by Doug Moench, Alan Grant and Chuck Dixon, with Klaus Janson providing pencils. Batman and Spawn took on a more cooperative approach with each other in the story, which saw them battling a demon named Croatoan. War Devil will be reprinted by DC Comics on Nov. 15 to promote Batman/Spawn #1.
Source: DC Comics