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As publisher at Image Comics, Todd McFarlane gets to make a lot of big decisions, particularly when it comes to the world of Spawn. Currently, the Hellspawn's creator and owner is working on a new entry to that world, which is currently listed as a three-part miniseries. But when I had the chance to speak with the comics industry titan, I wanted to know - what would it take to make his latest project an ongoing series instead of a mini?

This was his answer.

In case you haven't been around these parts lately, the comic McFarlane is working on is called Spawn '77, which sees him and artist Mark Spears take elements of McFarlane's Spawn prototype that he drew in (you guessed it) 1977 and work those into a new story. It's a pretty cool idea, to say nothing of its already gorgeous art, so you can see why I wanted to know about there possibly being more of it to come.

"I have a luxury that a lot of my peers - probably the vast, vast majority of my peers do not have," McFarlane began, "Which is: I've got enough sort of resources that even if I have something that doesn't work, but I personally like it, I can weather the losses."

McFarlane went on to explain that, "even with the books that we do at Image, the reason [creators] move on isn't because they don't like the idea and/or the project. They just go, 'I'm not getting enough sales to sustain it financially; I've got to go see if I can come up with another idea or go someplace that will pay the bills. I've got babies to feed.' All of those are valid reasons for people doing what they do."

So in that respect, a perfectly plausible reason for McFarlane to continue publishing more Spawn '77 could boil down to, 'because he wants to.' But there's more to McFarlane's reasoning than simply doing something because he knows he can do it. 

"The bigger thing," he said, "The murkier part of it, is, 'If people want more of it, can I find the right team to do it justice?'"

Part of the reason that Spawn '77 exists in the first place, apparently, is that series artist Mark Spears is doing something different with the art, which appeals to McFarlane. Spears, who does the "heavy lifting" of the comic, says McFarlane, stands out not just in the Spawn world, but amongst superhero books in general.

"Mark succeeds in that category of saying, 'Hey, it's going to be sort of gritty and dirty and out of place. Let's go for the ride,'" McFarlane told me, "I didn't think making it look like what the [main Spawn] book is looking like would do that justice. So those are some of the components that I go around with."

"Then, if people like it," he concluded, "I can have a conversation with Mark. But if Mark says, 'I'm busy, Todd because I'm a big shot now,'  - which he is - then I go, 'Okay, what are my options now for potentially the writers and artists?' And is that enough to warrant a book going and moving forward? Or is it more that - once a year, once every two years - Mark and I put the band back together and come up with another miniseries or something like that?"

Either way, Todd, we hope it leads to more Spawn '77 than three issues.

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, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online.