According to Image Comics, Todd McFarlane’s King Spawn #1 hit a sales order milestone of half-million pre-orders, which lands the issue as the single largest superhero monthly title launch in the last 25 years.
Total pre-orders of 497K are bigger than any Marvel new monthly superhero launch, including Ironman, Hulk, Thor, or Captain America issue in the past quarter-century. McFarlane’s King Spawn #1 also topped any DC Comics new monthly title launch for the past two and a half decades, including Batman, Superman, Flash, or Wonder Woman.
No Avengers or Justice League character has debuted a monthly book with sales numbers like King Spawn #1 in the 21st century.
McFarlane said, “The numbers that came in were much higher than what I had projected. With sales that now have a historical impact in our industry. It proves that the character Spawn and the world he lives in still resonates to fans almost thirty years after I first introduced him. But the biggest thing for me is having King Spawn becoming another example to the creative community that you can have creator-owned success outside of the two huge publishing giants, Marvel, and DC Comics. Every story that shows you can make a career on your own will hopefully inspire other talented people to try. As President of Image Comics, advocating for the creators has been our goal since its inception in 1992.”
Keep in mind that pre-orders do not equate to sales to the consumer.
