make Spawn the top-selling comic book for May 1997; in addition, the spin-off Curse of the Spawn #9 came in at fifth best-selling in that same month. However, the film was only a mild commercial success and failed to start a film franchise based on the character. A 2008 issue, Spawn #174, ranked 99th best-selling comic of the month with retail orders of 22,667. In October 2008, issue #185, which marked both a new creative direction and Todd McFarlane's return to the book, sold out at the distribution level and received a second printing. By issue #191 in May 2009, with estimated sales of 19,803 copies, Spawn had dropped below Top 100 titles sold monthly to comic shops as reported by Diamond Comic Distributors. As of September 2010, Spawn was ranked at #115 in the top 300 sales figures chart reported by Diamond Comic Distributors. On the day of its release in 2011, issue #200 sold out. This issue featured work by Greg Capullo, David Finch, Michael Golden, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Danny Miki, and Ashley Wood. A second printing was released the next month. It received a negative review from IGN. Spawn began a resurgence in popularity as the title approached its 300th issue, with the title once again becoming a fixture in Diamond's Top 100. The 300th issue made Spawn the longest-running independent comic book series of all time. Todd also stated in an interview that he wants Spawn to outlive him the same way characters from the big two like Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, and even Disney characters have. Fictional character biography Origin In life, Spawn is Albert Francis Simmons. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he is the second eldest of three children born to Bernard Simmons, a traveling salesman, and Esther Simmons, a devil worshipper. Simmons is a very intelligent, physically strong, and highly decorated officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel while serving with Force Recon. He later joins the Secret Service, and becomes a high-ranking official who is recruited into the Central Intelligence Agency. After joining the CIA, Simmons joins the U.S. Security Group, an umbrella agency encompassing the CIA, NSA, and NSC, commanded by Director Jason Wynn. He becomes a capable assassin. During a mission in Botswana, Wynn grows tired of Simmons' increasing sense of morality. As a result of this, Simmons' friend and partner Bruce Stinson (codename