Mike Eakins
Todd McFarlane Productions continues its celebration of the expanded Spawn Universe with Gunslinger Spawn #50, the second milestone in the 50/50/50 Program—a yearlong crossover event marking the 50th issues of King Spawn, Gunslinger Spawn, and The Scorched.
The Spawn’s Universe one-shot launched the first new Spawn titles since the ‘90s with over 200K orders and these three series subsequently went on to launch with hundreds of thousands of orders each, with combined sales in excess of 1M copies. To date, the Spawn Universe of titles has sold 150M copies worldwide since Spawn #1 launched with 1.7M orders in 1992.
This extra-length issue of Gunslinger Spawn delivers part two of an exciting new storyline set to unfold across all three titles, beginning with King Spawn #50 and concluding in The Scorched #50. An ancient force—older than time itself—has returned, and Spawn is in its crosshairs. The tale continues here in two chapters illustrated by Spawn Universe fan-favorites Stephen Segovia and Carlo Barberi, just like King Spawn #50, revealing earth-shattering consequences for Gunslinger and the future of the Spawn mythos.
“Besides Spawn, the Gunslinger Hellspawn has become the next most popular character in the Spawn Universe,” said McFarlane. “And this latest issue builds on our 50/50/50 event as we continue the creative ideas we started in King Spawn #50. This classic ‘Man out of time’ character has given us room to explore both his time here in our modern age as well as showing glimpses of his western past (and the Deadly Tales of the Gunslinger title enhances that portion).”
To mark the milestone, Gunslinger Spawn #50 will debut with a premium lineup of variant covers and incentives that mirror those of King Spawn #50 and the upcoming Scorched #50, uniting all three titles in the 50/50/50 Program. The cover lineup features artwork by Todd McFarlane, Skottie Young, Mark Spears, and Puppeteer Lee—with both Young and Lee delivering connecting cover sets that span all three issues.
McFarlane added:
“Now we are about to release the 50th issue of the Gunslinger, commemorating this anniversary with a continuous crossover storyline from King Spawn #50, as well as some wonderful covers and retailer incentives to help draw in newer readers. And I will, again, be doing original sketches for those retailers that qualify. So, get ready for a Mark Spears cover as well as connecting covers by Skottie Young and Puppeteer Lee. I will also be doing a cover or two.”
At the top of the incentive tier is Cover H, a 1:1000 Raw Pencil Virgin Variant by Todd McFarlane that includes a guaranteed hand-drawn Spawn sketch inserted directly into the book. Fifty of these sketches will be drawn by McFarlane himself. After those 50 orders are fulfilled, all remaining sketches will be randomly assigned from a group of acclaimed Spawn Universe artists: Jonathan Glapion, Carlo Barberi, Brett Booth, Stephen Segovia, and Jason Shawn Alexander. Sketch artist selection is random and cannot be requested, and ordering early does not guarantee a McFarlane sketch.
Each copy of Cover H will also be signed by Todd McFarlane and include a CGC Certificate verifying that both the signature and the inserted sketch are eligible for CGC’s Signature Series program. The certificate also confirms the authenticity of the inserted sketch. McFarlane has committed to never signing this cover again, making these copies strictly limited to this one-time release.
Gunslinger Spawn #50 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, December 31. The Final Order Cutoff deadline for comic shop retailers is slated for Monday, November 24:
