Inspired by Spawn, Hellspawn is darker and more atmospheric than the former, and frequently deals with disturbing subject matter.

It originally featured writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ashley Wood.

The first issue of Hellspawn was published in August 2000.

Steve Niles occasionally supplemented the writing and Ben Templesmith the same for the art.

With issue #11 Niles and Templesmith took over as the comic's regular writer/artist team.