2022 marks the 30th anniversary of Image Comics and its flagship superhero title Spawn, with Todd McFarlane's fan-favorite creation enjoying a year of new series launches spurred on by chart-topping sales records throughout 2021.

The latest Spawn comic book launch, the team series The Scorched, written by Sean Lewis and illustrated by Stephen Segovia and Paulo Siqueira, has sold over 270,000 copies of its first issue. Published Jan. 12, the series brings together Spawn, Gunslinger Spawn, She-Spawn, Medieval Spawn and Redeemer to combat an epic threat that could doom the entire world. The Scorched's impressive sales numbers were enough to set a new record for the bestselling new team comic book series in the past thirty years, outperforming relaunches of X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy. To commemorate the record, Todd McFarlane Productions unveiled all the covers for the initial printing of The Scorched #1.

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The Scorched's massive launch is the fourth sales record the Spawn line has set within the past six months, the most records set by a single comic book franchise within that time frame. Spawn's first major sales achievement in 2021 was earned by June's Spawn's Universe #1, with the double-sized anthology issue selling over 200,000 copies to become Image Comics' bestselling #1 issue in the 21st century. August's King Spawn #1 sold 497,000 copies, becoming the highest ordered superhero title from any publisher in the 21st century. The successful expansion of the Spawn line continued with October's Gunslinger Spawn #1, moving 385,000 copies to become the bestselling monthly superhero comic book series launch in the past 25 years.

In addition to the Image Comics line expanding its publishing line from one title to four in the past six months, a new feature film adaptation of Spawn has been in various stages of development for years. McFarlane explained that the film will not rehash the superhero's origin story, with Brian Tucker signing on to write a new draft for the planned reboot. The movie does not currently have a release window but McFarlane will likely issue updates as production continues.

Written by Sean Lewis, with additional dialogue from Todd McFarlane, and illustrated by Stephen Segovia and Paulo Siqueira, The Scorched #1 is on sale now from Image Comics.

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Source: Todd McFarlane Productions