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If you're a regular comic book reader, you know Spawn as having existed since the early 1990s. But if you're Todd McFarlane, that big-caped character has been around since 1977. These days, McFarlane's most iconic comic book creation exists in a sprawling universe of demons, do-gooders, and demigods, but at the time of his first design, McFarlane had a built-up mythology for the character that was a lot more science fiction than horror. A mythology that looked, the writer/artist admits, a lot like a certain Galaxy Far, Far Away.

I spoke to McFarlane in advance of his next Spawn title, a miniseries that homages his original design into the existing Spawn mythology and into a new Image Comics miniseries called Spawn '77. However, McFarlane's work as a 16-year-old comic artist didn't stop at just a cool cover and a handful of character sketches - as he was happy to share, there was a whole proto-Spawn universe that came with it.

"I had this 40 page story," began McFarlane, "But it was set in sort of a sci-fi setting because, in 1977, this small little thing called Star Wars came along. So all of a sudden I was like, 'Well, people like sci-fi. I got this idea. I'll put it out in space.' The mechanics of it - of a guy that sort of made a deal with the devil came back for the love of his life - all of that was still there. I had just begun dating this lovely young lady named Wanda, who I happily say I'm married to today, almost 50 years later."

McFarlane went on to explain that Star Wars's sci-fi trappings influenced not just Spawn's original plot, but his original look as well. "His color palette was blue, blue and black," the Image co-founder said, "The reason was because he's out in space. Those are cold colors, right? I changed it later on when we were getting closer to the Image one because I go, 'Oh, he's from Hell.' [...] If you're from hell, he should be red, you know? Sort of classic devil color."

I had to know more about what that "deal with the devil" originally looked like, and McFarlane told me it was, "you know, typical stuff. Again, remember, I'm 16. [There was] a typical big overlord trying to take over some of the planets; Spawn makes a deal with them and they're supposed to be, I guess you could say, a little bit Silver Surfer-ish."

But Spawn's Faustian bargain wasn't the only thing that carried over from his 1970s origins.

"[Spawn] also had this sort of goofy sidekick in my story," the Gunslinger Spawn writer concluded, "His name was Saul and his last name was Lami. So his full name was Salami. He was sort of there to just go, 'Hey, you're being duped.' I would argue that Salami was the inspiration for Clown, years later. That short little guy that, every now and then, tries to instill humor where really the world is pretty dark."

Todd McFarlane's Spawn is 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.