SPAWN! A look back at an award-winning collection of graded slabs. 10 10

[newshane]

SPAWN 229 SKETCH - CGC 9.8 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 230 - CGC 9.8 

It's actually a Batman 423 homage. Yet another CGC  up. 

Batman 423 is one of my very favorite McFarlane covers. This one is even better, really. 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 230 Sketch - CGC 9.8 

I love this one in black and white as well. 

Another erroneous label. This book was submitted the same month it hit the market, so it was one of the first to be graded and labeled. The CGC seems to have long fixed the labeling error. 

 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 231 0 CGC 9.8 

Another banger! Love it! 

No notation on this label. Again, CGC has been very inconsistent with notating this entire series. Obviously, a Spider-Man 1 homage. 

 

 

[D2]

On 11/18/2023 at 3:13 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 231 0 CGC 9.8 

Another banger! Love it! 

No notation on this label. Again, CGC has been very inconsistent with notating this entire series. Obviously, a Spider-Man 1 homage. 

 

 

Technically would this be a Spawn 8 recreation?

[newshane]

On 11/19/2023 at 8:03 AM, D2 said:

Technically would this be a Spawn 8 recreation?

I consider Spawn 8 and Spawn 231 to be recreations of Spider-man 1, which pre-dates both. 

If you look at the layout design of the front cover, 231 is closer to Spider-man 1 than Spawn 8, so I give it the nod. 

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by newshane

[pmpknface]

On 11/19/2023 at 12:41 PM, newshane said:

I consider Spawn 8 and Spawn 231 to be recreations of Spider-man 1, which pre-dates both. 

If you look at the layout design of the front cover, 231 is closer to Spider-man 1 than Spawn 8, so I give it the nod. 

 

Totally Spidey.  It'd be funnier if it was signed "McFarlane after McFarlane."  

[newshane]

SPAWN 231 SKETCH - CGC 9.8 

Man, it's so hard to pick a favorite homage cover from this run! 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 232 - CGC 9.8 

Homage covers are over. 

Back to regular content. Unfortunately, the trend of having a sketch or black and white cover for each issue will continue for a long time. This is where the fatigue started to get me. 

Yes, at this time in the series (issues 185-250), the Hellspawn is a white man named Jim Downing. 

Interesting how the banner at the top of the front cover is advertising the longevity of the art team. Obviously, that was a concern at one point. 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by newshane

[LadyDeath]

On 11/22/2023 at 4:40 PM, newshane said:

Interesting how the banner at the top of the front cover is advertising the longevity of the art team. Obviously, that was a concern at one point. 

I've never seen that before on a comic cover. Were readers getting fed up with no Todd involvement (I'm guessing) & a rotating roster of artists?

[newshane]

On 11/22/2023 at 4:51 PM, LadyDeath said:

I've never seen that before on a comic cover. Were readers getting fed up with no Todd involvement (I'm guessing) & a rotating roster of artists?

Yes. Stability and continuity was a huge problem throughout the title's history. 

[newshane]

SPAWN 232 SKETCH - CGC 9.8 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 232 E.W.U. GRAD EDITION - MISSING

Well shucks! I thought I had 'em all in 9.8, but I forgot that I never had this one slabbed. 

This was one of those pop-up SURPRISE variants that left a very bitter taste in my mouth. 

Todd was a guest speaker at an event at his alma mater - Eastern Washington University. They decided to honor him as one of their most successful graduates. Todd played baseball for them, but his short-lived career was plagued with injuries and he failed to make a professional roster. 

Todd gave his speech at E.W.U. on June 14, 2013. The rumored print run was 400. The ONLY way you could grab a copy was to attend the event. I was under the impression that each copy was signed, but the census says otherwise. I will say that I have NEVER seen an unsigned copy of this book, which is quite honestly as rare as hen's teeth. If you find an unsigned copy, you better scoop it up! In my opinion, that would be an exceedingly rare book. This one is TOUGH. One of the hardest variants for sure. 

There is one signature series copy on the census. I'm guessing that someone acquired an unsigned copy and had Todd sign it at a later date. As far as I know, there were no CGC witnesses at the event. Most of these are qualified, but it's pretty darn apparent that Todd's signature is legit. 

I tried my best to get someone there in time, but I was unable to acquire a copy. I only had about a week's worth of notice on this one. It was very hush-hush. There were some lower grade copies I could have acquired, but I was strictly chasing 9.8s. I was in the process of hunting this one down when I folded on the series altogether. This is the ONLY variant that I ever missed. 

 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 233 - CGC 9.8 

Super cool cover featuring The Curse! 

 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 233 - CGC 9.8 BW

I really love the powder blue (baby blue?) logo here. Looks great on that black and white..

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by newshane

[pmpknface]

On 11/29/2023 at 10:12 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 233 - CGC 9.8 BW

I really love the powder blue (baby blue?) logo here. Looks great on that black and white..

 

Carolina blue!    

And it pops on both covers!  

[newshane]

On 11/30/2023 at 4:26 PM, pmpknface said:

Carolina blue!    

And it pops on both covers!  

Yep. Definitely looks like Tar heel blue. 

Edited November 30, 2023 by newshane

[newshane]

SPAWN 234 - CGC 9.8 

Crossover cover featuring Haunt! 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 234 SKETCH COVER - CGC 9.8 

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by newshane

[oldmilwaukee6er]

90s Spawn covers ranked