Comic creator Todd MacFarlane returns home to the Calgary Expo

The hometown of popular culture returns to Calgary later this month.

Todd MacFarlane has been announced as a special guest at this year's Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

On Tuesday, the Calgary Expo announced that the co-creator of the Spider-Man villain turned anti-hero Venom and the creator of Spawn will be appearing for four days.

This year's Calgary Expo will be held at Stampede Park from Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, April 28.

Macfarlane, originally from Calgary, rose to comic book fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s as an artist and later writer of The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man titles for Marvel Comics.

He then left the character and the company to form a new business, Image Comics, along with several other creators.

At Image, MacFarlane produced his Spawn character and title, which also led to toys, a feature film, and an animated series, as well as other multimedia efforts.

Macfarlane celebrated the 300th issue of the Spawn comic series a few years ago.

Around the same time, MacFarlane's Spider-Man character Venom made the leap from the comic book page to the movie screen.

Since then, “Venom” has had one sequel and another in the works.

More information about Calgary Expo, its guests and how to purchase tickets can be found at fanexpohq.com/calgaryexpo/.