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In 1992, Todd McFarlane was at a crossroads. The legendary writer and artist had broken sales records for Marvel with Spider-Man #1, which sold 2.5 million copies. McFarlane’s next move was co-founding Image Comics and launching Spawn, but he almost took a detour to Gotham City instead. According to Rob Liefeld, who co-founded Image Comics along with McFarlane, the creator almost chose a Batman relaunch over Spawn.

“He said, ‘Rob, I know what you’re doing, and I’ve got this character, I’ve got Spawn.’ He showed his original Spawn,” Liefeld says during an episode of his Robservations with Rob Liefeld. “But he’s like, ‘I’m not sure that it wouldn’t be the worst idea for me to go do Batman #1 right now. I think I’d rewrite the record books.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ And then he tells [Jim Lee] this, and Jim is like, ‘Well, I would do Batman.’ And so now we’re auditioning for DC Comics, which is the wrinkle that I did not see coming.”

However, Paul Levitz, who was DC’s publisher at the time, didn’t agree with McFarlane’s salary demands. Liefeld believes that had Levitz agreed, Image Comics would’ve never formed.

 “I’m so glad that Paul Levitz basically told all of us – we wanted to at least be guaranteed some level of compensation because we knew how much we would mean to Marvel Comics. To wrap this up in short order, Paul Levitz did not see the same value. I’m not the biggest Paul Levitz fan. And it’s moves like this. Like, you could have taken [Image Comics] off the board, and you didn’t do everything in your power. And Image Comics never happens also, by the way, if this happens. I’m not sure it survives this massive derailing.”

In 1990 Spider-Man #1 by McFarlane sold 2.5 million copies. How much would a Batman #1 by McFarlane have sold two years later? It’s interesting to think about, especially because this was the height of the comics spectator movement. Plus, this would’ve meant no Spawn and possibly no Image Comics. This makes Todd McFarlane’s Batman #1 one of the most consequential comics that was never published.

He is vengeance, he is the night, he is... one of Popverse's favorite subjects. Learn how to do a Dark Knight movie marathon right with our Batman movie guide, and for the true World's Greatest Detectives out there, dive deep into the heart of Gotham City by getting to know Batman with Popverse. Here are some of our latest Batman stories:

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