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You might recall Popverse reporting a while back that a major shake-up was going on in Image Comics' Spawn Universe. Todd McFarlane, who had been writing not only the main Spawn title, but also King Spawn, GunSlinger Spawn, and The Scorched, was stepping away from writing duties. At the time, no official reason was not given for the change, but now, the Spawn creator was kind enough to reveal what happened.

I sat down with McFarlane in advance of the latest entry to his Heaven Vs. Hell universe, Spawn '77. The comic is the first Spawn comic that McFarlane offered his writing talent to since handing off Spawn #375, King Spawn #54, GunSlinger Spawn #53, and The Scorched #50 to a host of various other authors. Naturally, I wanted to know why.

"Stepping back from writing Gunslinger and Spawn," McFarlane answered, "It allowed me to just try to change things up and see if I could give myself a little bit more breathing space to do more artwork."

Admittedly, that's a pretty simple answer, but there's good reason that McFarlane would want to return to his artist's roots. Spawn '77, in case you aren't aware, is based on the original drawing McFarlane did as a teenager for the character that would eventually become Al Simmons, AKA Spawn, and even though it's artist Mark Spears doing what McFarlane calls the "heavy lifting" of the book, it's hard to argue that the book would've come about without the Toddfather of comics getting more space to focus on art.

Todd McFarlane's Spawn and GunSlinger Spawn are available now wherever you get your comics. Spawn '77 arrives on shelves September 9.

Interested? Here's where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online.