Growing up, Todd McFarlane was one of my favorite comic book artists. It was bliss when he formed Image and took all of the best in the industry under one umbrella. Then, he created an action figure line to create high quality toys based on his “Spawn” comics, which segued into his Movie Maniacs line that paved the way for NECA’s world domination.

But with all of the money and various business ventures, time has thinned out for the artistic visionary. Everything was delayed, for many years, and a lot of projects never even came into fruition. It’s nice to know that McFarlane cares enough to keep his fingers prints all over his work, which is why hearing about a new Spawn feature for the better part of a decade isn’t annoying.

The 1997 New Line Cinema adaptation of his comic is one of the worst movies ever made, so it’s understandable that he’s doing it or nobody will. I just wish he’d do whatever it took to move the needle a little quicker than it has been.

ComicBook has a positive update that quickly goes south. Here, let’s take a look.

“I’ve finished the script, and I’m in the process of editing,” McFarlane told ComicBook when asked for an update. “It’s 183 pages, and [producers] usually like 120. I still think it’s going to end up being about 140, because I’m putting in details for myself.”

The good news is that the script is finally complete. The bad news is that, since he wants to do it himself, the budget’s going to be super tight. This means compromised vision, which is also detailed by the addition of the need to trim nearly 45 pages out of the overly long screenplay.

Even at 140 pages we’re talking a long movie, and I fear the next Spawn, which McFarlane says he will direct, could end up back in movie purgatory.

For those who have never read a “Spawn” comic, here’s the plot breakdown, courtesy of Wiki: