Spawn #9

Mar 1993 · Image · 1.95 USD; 2.45 CAD

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“Angela”

★ 1st appearance — Angela

About this Issue

Spawn #9 is the single issue in which writer Neil Gaiman and artist Todd McFarlane together planted the structural backbone of the entire Spawn universe — introducing Angela, Count Nicholas Cagliostro, and Medieval Spawn in one story. Where the series' first eight issues had left Heaven's role vague and Spawn's hellish mythology underexplored, Gaiman's script filled those gaps at a stroke: Angela established that Heaven operates as a ruthless, bureaucratic counterforce to Hell, Cogliostro gave Al Simmons his first real mentor figure, and Medieval Spawn confirmed that the mantle of Hellspawn stretches back centuries. Beyond the mythology it built, the issue became the centerpiece of one of the most consequential creator-rights legal battles in American comics history, ultimately resulting in Angela's transfer to Marvel — where she was recast as the lost Asgardian princess Aldrif Odinsdottir and integrated into Thor's family tree.

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

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VF $6.99 VF $7 NM $7.95 VF/NM $8 VF $8 VF $8 NM- $9 NM- $9.49

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History

In 1993, Todd McFarlane arranged for four prominent writers — Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Dave Sim, and Frank Miller — each to script a single issue of Spawn, a prestige experiment early in Image Comics' existence. Gaiman took issue #9, titling it simply 'Angela,' and co-created the three new characters with McFarlane, who designed them and handled all pencil, ink, and cover art; coloring was by Steve Oliff and Reuben Rude of Olyoptics, with Tom Orzechowski lettering and editing. The issue shipped with a cover date of February 1993 (on sale March 1993) and carried a cover price of $1.95. What appeared to be a smooth collaborative guest stint quickly became a legal flashpoint: McFarlane later claimed the work was made-for-hire and that he owned the characters outright, while Gaiman maintained co-creator rights — a dispute that ran through a 2002 jury trial, a Seventh Circuit appeal, and a final 2012 settlement that awarded Gaiman full ownership of Angela and co-ownership of the issue itself.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Angela — an angelic bounty hunter tasked with exterminating Hellspawn — co-created by writer Neil Gaiman and artist/designer Todd McFarlane.
First appearance of Count Nicholas Cagliostro (later renamed Cogliostro), the enigmatic homeless mentor who begins teaching Al Simmons how to use his necroplasmic suit; his true identity as Cain, the first murderer and first Hellspawn, is revealed much later in the series.
First appearance of Medieval Spawn — referred to in Gaiman's script as 'Olden Days Spawn' — establishing for the first time that Hellspawn have existed across history, roughly one per century.
First appearance of Gabrielle, Angela's bureaucratic superior at the angelic Terran Affairs Headquarters; also the first mention of Raphaela.
This issue is the first time Spawn's demonic master is identified by name as Malebolgia rather than being referred to generically as Satan or the Devil.
The issue is dedicated to the memory of Harvey Kurtzman, the MAD Magazine creator who had died shortly before publication.
Direct Edition copies include a black-and-white centerfold pin-up of Angela drawn by Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane; Newsstand Edition copies were printed on cheaper newsprint and do not contain the poster.
Due to the unresolved Gaiman–McFarlane copyright dispute, Spawn #9 was notably omitted from the Spawn Origins Collection trade paperback series, making the original single issue the primary way to read the story in collected form for many years.