Cover: Todd McFarlane

Spawn #10

May 1993 · Image · 1.95 USD; 2.45 CAD

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“Crossing Over”

About this Issue

Spawn #10 is one of the most self-aware comics of the early Image era — a deliberate meta-narrative about creator rights and the ownership struggles that defined the industry in the 1990s. Written by Dave Sim (creator of the landmark self-published series Cerebus), the issue sends Al Simmons through a surreal dimension populated by thinly veiled or outright named prisoners drawn from Marvel, DC, and fellow Image titles, literalizing the argument that corporate publishers held their characters — and creators — captive. The crossover between Spawn and Cerebus stood as a statement of solidarity between two flagship independent voices, signaling that the creator-owned revolution was willing to comment on itself with wit and philosophical weight.

writer Dave Sim · artist, inker Todd McFarlane · colorist Steve Oliff · colorist Reuben Rude · colorist Olyoptics · letterer Tom Orzechowski · cover Todd McFarlane

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History

In 1993, Todd McFarlane invited a select group of celebrated writers — including Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Dave Sim — each to script one issue of his creator-owned Spawn series, with McFarlane providing the art. Sim's contribution, issue #10, picked up directly from the Angela storyline begun in Spawn #9: Spawn activates the celestial lance Angela left behind and is transported into an allegorical dimension. Sim structured the story as a meditation on creator rights, a cause he had championed through his self-publishing of Cerebus at Aardvark-Vanaheim. The two creators later established a mutual reprint agreement allowing either to republish the issue freely, a practical embodiment of the independent-creator ethos at the story's core. Decades later, Sim produced a deluxe expanded edition through Aardvark-Vanaheim and The Waverly Press, adding new covers, updated art, and archival material.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published May 1993 by Image Comics; story by Dave Sim, art and cover by Todd McFarlane, colors by Steve Oliff and Ruben Rude, edited by Tom Orzechowski.
Titled 'Crossing Over!' — a direct continuation of Spawn #9, in which Angela's abandoned lance transports Al Simmons into a surreal metaphysical realm.
Features the crossover appearance of Cerebus the Aardvark (Dave Sim's self-published character), framing the issue as a meta-commentary on creator rights and corporate ownership of characters in the comics industry.
Numerous Marvel and DC characters — including Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, The Flash, The Thing, Beast, Juggernaut, Captain Marvel, and the Joker — appear as cameos in the role of imprisoned figures, reinforcing the issue's allegorical message.
Fellow Image characters including Savage Dragon, ShadowHawk, Pitt, and WildC.A.T.s members (Spartan, Maul, WarBlade, Lord Emp, Ballistic, Riptide) also appear as cameos in the same imprisoned-hero conceit, uniting the early Image Universe in the metaphor.
McFarlane and Sim established a reciprocal agreement granting each the right to reprint the issue independently without compensation to the other — an unusually transparent example of creator-friendly publishing practice.
Reprinted in Spawn Origins Collection #1 (Image Comics, March 2010) and Spawn: Edición Integral #2 (Planeta DeAgostini, 2011).
Dave Sim later produced a deluxe 48-page expanded edition through Aardvark-Vanaheim and The Waverly Press, featuring new covers, updated art, and archival rarities from the original production.