Spawn #1A, Image '92

KEY ISSUE: Spawn #1 marks the first appearance of Spawn (Al Simmons), Malebolgia, Wanda Blake, and Terry Fitzgerald. One of the most significant debut issues in comic book history, Spawn #1 launched Todd McFarlane's creator-owned magnum opus and helped establish Image Comics as a powerhouse. Al Simmons — a government assassin murdered by his own men — makes a deal with the demon Malebolgia to return to Earth. He comes back as a Hellspawn with no memory, a disfigured body wrapped in a living symbiotic suit, and five years already gone. He seeks out his wife Wanda, only to find she has moved on and married his best friend Terry Fitzgerald. McFarlane's kinetic, detail-saturated artwork set a new visual benchmark for the industry in 1992, and the series has run continuously ever since. Together with Savage Dragon, Spawn is the only original Image Comics launch title still in ongoing publication.