And for those who say McFarlene was
for introducing the new spawn as white, remember, prominant white characters died all the time and was replaced (temporarily) with another version, most of the time that version is black.
Superman died and Steel replaced him
Batman hurt and was replaced by Azrael
Spider-Man = Doc Oct/Miles Morales
Invincible (Mark Greyson) replaced by the black guy (Bullet I think) when Mark had the virus
ShadowHawk replaced by a whiteboy (he did die of AIDS and was never brought back)
TChalla, when he had the brain anyorism, replaced by White Tiger
Captain America and Thor were replaced by Falcon and the female Thor respectively
This is a common trope that happens in comics. You really expected the white Spawn be the main character of the series? Al Simmons is the true spawn and any fan would tell you that. All those prominant characters were replaced by someone of another race/sex/different background. So was Spawn and he returned as expected.