McFarlane to illustrate 'Spawn' #200

Todd McFarlane is to return to art duties on Image's Spawn for the book's 200th issue, it has been confirmed.

During the publisher's panel at Comic-Con International, the series creator revealed that he will illustrate the milestone issue in collaboration with other artists.

"I want to put a couple little flashbacks [in the issue]," he explained. "What I'm hoping for is seeing if I can actually bug Rob [Liefeld] and Jim [Lee] and Whilce [Portacio] - everybody, sort of the founders - and see if I can get them to do it.

"I'm going to start stretching my artistic reach a little deeper. You'll start seeing it in the covers and the Spawn comic books leading up to #200."

Created by McFarlane in 1992, Spawn is currently the bestselling independent comic book of all time. It follows the story of former CIA agent Al Simmons, who returns to earth as a hell spawn after being murdered by his own boss.