I Saw Spawn Writer, Chris Killian, Talks Larger Sequel Story: "It's The Aliens to Our Alien" (Exclusive)

The Holiday season can be rough on the general population. Visiting the family, searching for the perfect gift, and dealing with snowstorms are just a few of the headaches that can erupt during the holidays. This year, Al Simmons is about to discover this fact as Image Comics has released the first issue of I Saw Spawn. Co-written by Chris Killian and Andrew Sanders, the latest comic series kicks off where I Saw Santa ended, and we here at Canon Break had the chance to talk with Killian about this sinister holiday adventure.

For those who might not have read the original series, I Saw Santa deals with Kris Kringle in the world of Spawn, Clown, and Sam and Twitch running into an unfortunate child. Dealing with an obsessed psychopath named Charlie Kohl, the end of the first comic saw Santa escaping with his life, while Charlie wasn’t so fortunate. In the latest sequel, Charlie is back, and Kringle isn’t exactly going to have the best holiday season in 2026 as a result.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Hellspawn

“I was intimidated at first,” Killian admitted in talking about the holiday sequel, “as I wondered if there was something we could explore about Christmas that hasn’t been done to death. I think we were able to tap into that. I’ve been saying from the get-go that I Saw Santa is our Alien and I Saw Spawn is our Aliens. I also think of John Wick as another inspiration, where it starts off very isolated as more of a personal story, but then the mythology expands into a larger world. Me and Andrew really wanted to dive far more into the folklore aspect of Spawn’s world. We’ve examined the religious side, but not as much the folklore side like elves and dwarves. In the last few hundred years, those figures have migrated to the North Pole as an endangered species.”

Killian explained the inclusion of Spawn and how Al Simmons was always meant to play a role in this new series, “In the first series, Charlie is just a serial killer. Meanwhile, Spawn is somewhat all-powerful, and you could argue he could take on Superman. The goal was always to try to get Spawn to fight Santa Claus. I always wanted to see the two fighting on Santa’s sleigh in the middle of a snowy night, but we gotta figure out a way to get there. Charlie simply wasn’t strong enough in the first series, but now he has the power of Christmas magic fueling him.”

Getting to Know Spawn

“I did a ton of research to get ready for this,” Chris admitted when asked about his history with Spawn, “Like so many, I was super into Spawn in the ‘90s but I fell off and didn’t keep up with it as much. Things that go on for decades, like wrestling and comics in general, you tend to fall off. I had to do some catch-up to learn where Spawn was now, as I didn’t want to interfere with what’s currently happening in the main title. I wanted a very isolated story where I wasn’t super hooked into the mythology, but at the same time, I wanted it to be a throwback to my favorite era of the character. Specifically, more like the animated series. When I write Spawn, I have Keith David in my head.”

Considering how linked to Christmas this current series is, we asked Killian if he’d be willing to tackle other holidays with the Spawn Universe. “I mean, the obvious answer to that is Halloween. Halloween and Christmas are like the two favorites. That being said, I don’t think you’ll be seeing me writing a ‘She-Spawn Memorial Day Special’ or anything, but I definitely would be down for something Halloween-related. I love the mood of both holidays, as Halloween and Christmas have such specific moods to them. I do have to be careful not to be roped in as the holiday guy, though.”

I Saw Spawn #1 is currently available at retailers, with I Saw Spawn #2 set to arrive on December 16th next month.