A Story of Revenge in the SPAWN Universe: Q&A with BLOODLETTER Co-Writer Joseph P. Illidge

Image Comics recently announced the BLOODLETTER trade paperback, collecting the five-issue supernatural comic book miniseries set within the Spawn Universe. From writers Joseph P. Illidge and Tim Seeley, with art by Christian Rosado and letters by AndWorld Design, the trade will be released on May 6th, and I caught up with Joseph P. Illidge to talk all about "The Bloodletter" in our latest Q&A:

Tell me about your familiarity with Spawn over the years before taking on Bloodletter. What drew you to the series and this universe?

Joseph Illidge: My familiarity with Todd McFarlane’s Spawn goes back to 1992, when Spawn #1 arrived in comic book stores nationwide, and I picked up a copy. The emergence of Image Comics was explosive, and Spawn stuck out to me as the horror corner of the company. 

I was drawn to Spawn because it didn’t pull any punches. It was mature, violent, hyper-horrific, and ultimately, cool. It did things DC Comics wouldn’t and Marvel couldn’t.

When the full range of the Spawn Universe expanded into a line a few years ago, I saw the same excitement and confidence from the books that I remembered from the first two years of the original Spawn series!

How did this project originate, and what brought you together with Tim Seeley and Christian Rosado to bring this story to life?

JI: I met Todd McFarlane Productions’ Editor-in-Chief Thomas Healy, and we had a great conversation about the expanding Spawn Universe and the idea of adding new corners of the landscape to the overall mythology. Readers had been seeing the big picture from Spawn’s point of view, but what secrets could be revealed if we widened the view?

With that, I spoke with my good friend Tim Seeley! Both of us had worked together at Heavy Metal magazine, and we were looking to do some bold, insane projects together.

We came up with the pitch for Bloodletter, which both Thomas Healy and The Toddfather himself, Todd McFarlane, loved immediately. 

Christian Rosado is an artist I wanted to write for since I hired him to do work for Heavy Metal. After I saw the work he did more recently on Vampirella, I reached out to his agent, Luis Aramburu of Butxido Agency, to confirm he was available for a new project. He was, and we were off to the races! 

Christian helped bring Bloodletter and its lead character, Tasha Thornwall, to life in a way no other artist could have. 

What excited you the most about telling Tasha Thornwall's story and developing the character throughout the series?

JI: The more we leaned into the relentless nature of Tasha’s personal mission to kill Spawn, the more complex she became as a character for the readers. Her life was destroyed ten years ago on a mission gone bad, and since then, she had to live in the shadows and learn magic to survive in Spawn’s universe of angels, demons, and every supernatural thing in between.

What excited me the most was bringing the readers along for Tasha’s awakening, and the moment she owns up to who and what she really is, and it’s not “the hero”.

Tasha Thornwall is one of the most driven and dangerous people in the world, and now that she’s fully embraced her capacity to do terrible things for her own sense of justice, all bets are off.

This series mixes espionage with the supernatural. Was it fun to bend and blend genres?

JI: I’m a big espionage junkie, and my tastes for the supernatural run more emotionally driven than super-gory, so the Spawn universe pushed both of those buttons for me.

Spawn is an ex-CIA closer. John Wick on steroids. His unimaginable legacy of immoral acts and dead bodies paved the way for him to be the perfect hellspawn. Spawn’s world is the perfect lovechild of John LeCarre and Clive Barker.

Add to that the rated R tone of the story, and “fun” doesn’t even begin to describe the creative release that working on Bloodletter with Tim and Christian provided.

Can you talk about your creative collaboration with Tim and Christian? How did the three of you working together change and improve the finished series from what was originally envisioned?

JI: Tim and I have a great creative shorthand, so we worked together seamlessly on Bloodletter in the creation of Tasha’s story, scripts, and the mood board of influences for her look and wardrobe. We had already written the first two issues when Christian came on board and visually designed Tasha and her covert ops partner, Casper. Christian was the final person to breathe life into Tasha, and seeing his vision cemented ours.

What improved with Christian being on the team is that we became fearless in terms of what went in the scripts. Tim and I were already getting really mean with the tone of the story, so when Christian finished the first issue, we knew that we could throw anything at him, and he would make it work brilliantly on the page.

All of the chapters of Bloodletter had different feels and influences, and Christian surpassed our expectations with every one.

What's next for you and Bloodletter?

JI: With the collected edition of the entire first volume of Bloodletter arriving in comic book shops and bookstores on May 5th, I’m looking forward to a new group of readers diving into Tasha Thornwall’s story of revenge against Todd McFarlane’s flagship character!

Tim, Christian, and I are ready for the sequel if The Toddfather wants it!

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In this thrilling miniseries, Tasha Thornwall, known as THE BLOODLETTER, is a powerful mystical mercenary entrenched in the world's secretive underbelly. Once a CIA operative, she has lived in the shadows since being exposed by Al Simmons a decade ago. Now, driven by vengeance upon learning that Simmons has returned as Spawn, she embarks on a relentless mission to hunt him down.

With Bloodletter, the Spawn Universe expands into one of its most clandestine corners. Blending supernatural forces with covert operations and global intrigue, the series introduces a dangerous new perspective within Todd McFarlane’s long-running world: one shaped by vengeance, mysticism, and the hidden battles that unfold in Spawn’s shadow.

Bloodletter expands the Spawn Universe while introducing a formidable antihero whose past (and motives) place her on a collision course with one of comics’ most iconic figures.

Bloodletter trade paperback (ISBN: 9781534329980 | $14.99) arrives May 6, 2026, and is now available for preorder. The collection will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Follow Todd McFarlane: Instagram | X | Facebook and stay tuned for more updates and announcements as The New U continues to redefine the boundaries of the Spawn Universe.