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

[newshane]

On 12/2/2023 at 8:10 AM, oldmilwaukee6er said:

90s Spawn covers ranked

I am going to do my own ranking after I finish posting the regular series here. 

[newshane]

SPAWN 235 - CGC 9.8 

McFarlane cover. Kudranski interiors. Perfect team. 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 235 SKETCH - CGC 9.8 

Looks almost like something Jae Lee would try. 

Speaking of Jae Lee, why oh why did he never guest on Spawn? Everyone else and their mother did...

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by newshane

[Cat]

Jae Lee did draw Al before he was Spawn though, in a couple of issues of Youngblood Strikefile (#1-3) which looked amazing even back then. I'm shocked he never drew him as Spawn though. 

[newshane]

SPAWN 236 - CGC 9.8 

After SEVENTEEN issues in a row with varying numbers of variants, we very briefly return to a sense of normalcy. 

No black and white for this one...

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by newshane

[Cat]

How's the story in these issues? 

[pmpknface]

On 12/3/2023 at 1:48 PM, newshane said:

Looks almost like something Jae Lee would try. 

Speaking of Jae Lee, why oh why did he never guest on Spawn? Everyone else and their mother did...

I can't say for sure, but I know he's very critical of his own work.  It takes him a long time to produce a piece because he'll re-do it over after not being satisfied.  It's one of the reasons he isn't that prolific.  

[captainzombie]

On 12/4/2023 at 9:17 AM, newshane said:

SPAWN 236 - CGC 9.8 

After SEVENTEEN issues in a row with varying numbers of variants, we very briefly return to a sense of normalcy. 

No black and white for this one...

 

Some of those black and white variants look nice, but it seemed to be overkill. I know in the mid to later half of the #200's they start up again and it gets a bit out of control until they get to around #315-320. Then they tone down the amount of these black and white variants, let alone the second variant issue. I'm just hoping with the upcoming #350 that they do not start up this crazy stuff again with the variants.

[newshane]

On 12/4/2023 at 9:57 AM, Cat said:

How's the story in these issues? 

It's not too bad, but it's not too great. I'm not compelled to go revisit them, but there is some cool stuff in there here and there. Some of the "other dimension" stuff feels kind of like 70s Morbius stories from Fear (Marvel)...

just not as cool, somehow. 

[captainzombie]

Do you guys think that Spawn as a franchise/IP will take off in 10-20 years where it does crossover to TV, animation, etc? I know its hard to predict, but it makes you wonder considering that this has been a long running franchise and besides a movie and one HBO animation many years ago, it hasn't taken off in other forms of media. I know the Blumhouse and Jamie Fox talk, but who knows if that will happen.

[LadyDeath]

Todd is tightly controlling and protective of the brand which severely limits it.

I would prefer animation over a film. There's no good way to tell a cohesive Spawn story in 90 minutes.

[lostboys]

On 12/4/2023 at 11:42 PM, captainzombie said:

Do you guys think that Spawn as a franchise/IP will take off in 10-20 years where it does crossover to TV, animation, etc? I know its hard to predict, but it makes you wonder considering that this has been a long running franchise and besides a movie and one HBO animation many years ago, it hasn't taken off in other forms of media. I know the Blumhouse and Jamie Fox talk, but who knows if that will happen.

I recently watched The Spawn animated series with my 15 year old daughter. It was pretty good, Id never seen it.

 

Twitch is a badass!

 

 

[captainzombie]

On 12/5/2023 at 6:16 AM, LadyDeath said:

Todd is tightly controlling and protective of the brand which severely limits it.

I would prefer animation over a film. There's no good way to tell a cohesive Spawn story in 90 minutes.

 

On 12/5/2023 at 11:58 AM, lostboys said:

I recently watched The Spawn animated series with my 15 year old daughter. It was pretty good, Id never seen it.

 

Twitch is a badass!

 

 

Agreed that Spawn would probably lend itself better to be more of an animation than a movie unless there is budget to do a TV show which that would probably be super expensive.

Edited December 5, 2023 by captainzombie

[J Bill]

It's fascinating to see Spawn persist after all these years. I recall really having to grind it out to make it to the hundredth issue. The stories were... consistent. Capullo's art was always fun though. Remember Image Zero (the mail-in?), it was very disappointing to see everyone submit a story, but Todd just sent in some pin-ups (and let's not get into Image United!). All I think of when I see clips of the movie is how Todd was all enthusiastic in interviews at the time about how amazing it was going to look because Spawn's cape was going to be all CGI, but the money dried up so he only had it for a very limited number of scenes. I do miss Todd's sequential art (I loved his Hulk and ASM runs), but it doesn't feel like we've seen much of it in many decades (!) which is a shame.

All that said, @newshane - I'm very impressed with your dedication to getting these 9.8s so deep into the run! Can't be easy!

[newshane]

On 12/5/2023 at 11:58 AM, lostboys said:

I recently watched The Spawn animated series with my 15 year old daughter. It was pretty good, Id never seen it.

 

Twitch is a badass!

 

 

Yes. It was actually well done. Much better than the movie, for sure. 

[newshane]

On 12/4/2023 at 10:42 PM, captainzombie said:

Do you guys think that Spawn as a franchise/IP will take off in 10-20 years where it does crossover to TV, animation, etc? I know its hard to predict, but it makes you wonder considering that this has been a long running franchise and besides a movie and one HBO animation many years ago, it hasn't taken off in other forms of media. I know the Blumhouse and Jamie Fox talk, but who knows if that will happen.

No. 

Todd won't put the character in competent hands. 

There has been talk of a movie for too long. I don't think it will ever happen. 

[newshane]

On 12/5/2023 at 7:09 PM, J Bill said:

 

All that said, @newshane - I'm very impressed with your dedication to getting these 9.8s so deep into the run! Can't be easy!

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the thread. 

It was extremely difficult and extremely expensive, even ten years ago. 

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by newshane

[newshane]

SPAWN 237 - CGC 9.8 

 

[lostboys]

On 12/5/2023 at 9:21 PM, newshane said:

Yes. It was actually well done. Much better than the movie, for sure. 

Yep, we watched the movie too.

 

No bueno...

 

Leguizamo was good though.

[newshane]

SPAWN 237 TRADESMART VARIANT COVER - CGC 9.8 

These were meant to be released exclusively by brick and mortar retailers, although I can't confirm that's what actually ended up happening. In fact, I /think/ I got this from a mail-order retailer, but I honestly do not remember 

What I DO remember is seeing one on the shelf at Hastings shortly after the release date. 

Not really a remarkable cover, IMHO. Not sure what warranted the variant, but at this point I was asking myself if ANY of them were warranted. 

EDIT: I found the following info on Spawnworld.com: "This limited edition cover was produced for a signing event at Tradesmart in Littleton, CO. Issues were also later available online for a short time."

Thanks to @Lobstrosity for maintaining this incredible resource! 

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by newshane