Comics
Todd McFarlane Just Completed His ‘Spawn’ Screenplay (*Exclusive*)
It’s been 20 years since Todd McFarlane‘s Image comic series “Spawn” was adapted to the big screen. Ever since, McFarlane has been talking about resurrecting the franchise, which has led to years and years of talk from the comic book maestro. It’s actually become a bit tiring, making us all wonder at what stage this process actually is in.
Just yesterday, we posted this story in which McFarlane explained that the next Spawn, for which he plans to direct, will be a “Dark ‘R’.“ He used both Deadpool and Logan as examples of R-rated genre success stories, which made us wonder just how close he was to getting this movie made. So we did some digging (I’m nosey, what can I say?). What I learned, exclusively, is that McFarlane just recently completed his first draft of Spawn. The script that’s been going around town is dated “February 15, 2017,” which means he was probably putting the finishing touches on the script instead of enjoying Valentine’s Day.
This is actually big huge news considering how long we’ve been talking about this alleged remake. This goes as far back as our story in 2012 in which we reported that McFarlane and Neil Gaiman had settled a long standing legal battle over character rights. In fact, we can go all the way back to 2011 in which McFarlane talked about his low budget ambition for the Spawn film.
“The story that I pitch is very tight, very contained, but done right,” he explained. “I want a movie that gets people’s hearts racing. I want to scare them. Spawn, done right, is a creepy character.”
In March 2011 he offered even more details, explaining: “In this new version, there are no supervillains, archenemies or any of that. It’s just a spook movie, something scary going bump in the night.”
Over the years he’s reiterated much of the same, which made us start to think this was all some weird lucid dream in which he thought he was developing a new Spawn movie. What’s strange, however, is in the 2011 bit he also explained that he was “three quarters through it,” adding that, “I’ll finish it and put it on a shelf for about a week. What usually happens is, I come back to it so I can see all the flaws. I do a rewrite and there’s a first draft at that point.”
It’s not a good sign that he’s been developing this for several years. I would never tell an aspiring writer to keep working on the same script over and over again. It’s the worst advice. It truly makes me wonder if the “first draft” screenplay is a jumbled mess that will no way see the light of day. With that said, I admire McFarlane’s spirit and honesty over the years and hope that he gets to see his dream project realized. It would be awesome to see the Spawn universe reignited once again.
Comics
‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’ – IDW Dark’s Next Horror Comic Will Make You Question Reality
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Bloody Disgusting is excited to exclusively announce You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, a brand new horror comic from IDW Dark.
From Eisner-Nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is described as a “paranoia-laced, socially-conscious, horror mystery that will leave you questioning reality, and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream they were expecting.”
Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation.
When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life—and what she finds is something far more terrifying than she ever imagined.
Because this place isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive.
Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Batman – One Bad Day: Clayface, Star Trek: The Last Starship) co-write the upcoming IDW Dark horror comic, featuring art by Heather Vaughan.
Jackson Lanzing said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is in many ways a spiritual successor to our last creator-owned horror, The Principles of Necromancy – a dive into the promise and consequence of playing god with the blood of innocents. But the Hivemind book this reminds me of most is Clayface: One Bad Day. This is a deeply human story with intensely raw emotions – five best friends and their five mysterious parents, tearing one another apart for the promise of some impossible glory that’s waiting just beyond their darkest actions. We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to life with our long-time partner in crime, editor Heather Antos, at IDW Dark – and we’re particularly excited to give our Clayface fans a new, brutal and emotional horror made just for them.”
Adds Collin Kelly, “We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next. YNLTPA is about growing up with the limitless potential of the future… and realizing how much it’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us under the yoke of the past. Bringing this brutal experience to life is our artist and co-creator, Heather Vaughan, who brings an incredible amount of humanity to our cast. But it’s in our youthful leads that Heather’s art really shines – you are going to fall in love with these young people, even as they go through the worst experience of their lives. What we’ve all crafted together is going to be tragic, painful, but above all else, sincere – with a future so uncertain, there’s only one thing we can trust: you’ll never leave this place alive.”
“Some horror stories are about monsters in the dark. YNLTPA is about realizing the monsters raised you,” previews Senior Group Editor Heather Antos. “Working with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly on this series has been a dream in the darkest possible way. They’ve built a story that’s layered, brutal, and deeply emotional, and every issue gives artist Heather Vaughan opportunities to push the art into places that feel both haunting and deeply personal. Some horror comics will keep you up at night…this is one that will stick with you for years to come.”
The first issue of You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive goes on sale October 14, 2026! Make sure to pre-order at your local comic shop by September to guarantee a copy.
Exclusively check out the various covers for Issue #1 down below.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW DARK features comics like A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, Smile: For the Camera, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, The Twilight Zone, Event Horizon: Dark Descent & Event Horizon: Inferno, and more.
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