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

[newshane]

SPAWN 264 - CGC 9.8 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 264 - SKETCH COVER - CGC 9.8 

Had your fill of these sketch covers yet? See why I got so exhausted with it all? 

This part of the collection stops at 275, so we don't have long left before we finish up the regular title. Thanks for hanging around! 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 265 - CGC 9.8 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 265 - SKETCH COVER - CGC 9.8 

A sketch cover? How unique. 

 

[Poutine]

Well, technically.....they're all sketch covers.... 

[newshane]

SPAWN 266 - CGC 9.8 

I guess it was only a matter of time before the Savage Dragon showed up! 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 266 - SKETCH COVER - CGC 9.8 

Hold tight. There are TWO more variants for issue 266. 

AND it looks like I forgot the red and gold edition "blank" covers for issue 265! I will post them when I finish the 266 sequence. Trust me, you are DEFINITELY GOING TO WANT TO SEE THESE! A custom sketch commission by Philip Tan and another by Ash Gonzalez. I was a dad-blame FOOL for selling those!!!! Seriously. They are SO good (honestly better than 95% of the actual covers) that I'm literally tearing up right now.  What was I thinking? 

 

Edited January 28 by newshane

[newshane]

SPAWN 266 VARIANT COVER - CGC 9.8 

I forgot about SO many dialogue bubble covers! 

Here is the Todd McFarlane variant. 

[newshane]

SPAWN 266 VARIANT SKETCH COVER - CGC 9.8 

During the next two days I will post two of the absolute coolest books in the entire collection. 

ONE OF A KINDS. 

Stay tuned. Seriously. You're going to want to see these. 

 

 

[D2]

On 1/27/2024 at 2:27 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 266 - CGC 9.8 

I guess it was only a matter of time before the Savage Dragon showed up! 

 

Wow, I had no idea this happened in Spawn, and truly, not all that long ago.

What a low point. 

Not having read these issues, but this just seems like the lowest of the low for Spawn. Almost sad. He limped to 300... with stumps for limbs.

[zuulioso]

On 1/23/2024 at 7:19 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 264 - CGC 9.8 

 

Is that a Sarlacc pit on his chest? Who is this character? Part mummy, part mini-sarlacc.

[justadude]

Regarding Larsen. His art isn't for everyone, but the lowest sales were around #220. In reading through the entire series, Larsen was a serious UPGRADE to the writing and storytelling from about #100-#240. Even the incredibly basic story of going to Hell to save his wife was a huge improvement from the meandering and pointless writing of McFarlane. It's honestly one of the most coherent arcs in Spawn over the last 200 issues, which is a bummer to say.

[newshane]

SPAWN 265 GOLD SKETCH EDITION (BLANK COVER) - CUSTOM COMMISSION - PHILIP TAN SKETCH 

I didn't bother to block out the cert number because this is a custom, one-of-a-kind piece of art. 

I chased down Philip Tan's agent, Kirk Dilbeck, and spoke with him about a custom commission. Working with Dilbeck was a very pleasant experience, and we were able to arrange the commission for the San Diego Comic Convention back in 2017. I gave Tan about five different detailed ideas/designs for the commission and told him to pick whichever one tickled his fancy. Waiting to see which design he picked was a joy in itself! 

When I unboxed this one, it literally took my breath away! You already know that I was a huge fan of his work on the series, and I think I like this piece better than any of his "actual" Spawn covers! 

While it didn't hurt much to part with it at the time, I'm pretty devastated that I made the decision to do so. This is a really special book! If you own it, hit me up! I'd like to buy it back.  

I would also like to thank Doug Peters for acting as my witness. He handled the book perfectly! Maintaining 9.8 status was top priority for me. Y'all know by now that a "lowly" 9.6 just wasn't going to do it for me. 

To everyone who was involved with this - THANK YOU! 

I'm sure it's a very, very bright spot in someone's collection. 

...and if you think this is awesome...you might want to check back in tomorrow to see a custom GUNSLINGER design that smokes any Gunslinger cover out there. Yeah. It's THAT good. 

 

 

[newshane]

On 1/31/2024 at 3:24 PM, justadude said:

Regarding Larsen. His art isn't for everyone, but the lowest sales were around #220. In reading through the entire series, Larsen was a serious UPGRADE to the writing and storytelling from about #100-#240. Even the incredibly basic story of going to Hell to save his wife was a huge improvement from the meandering and pointless writing of McFarlane. It's honestly one of the most coherent arcs in Spawn over the last 200 issues, which is a bummer to say.

I agree with you. 

His art (on Spawn) just isn't for me, as you say, and that's putting it kindly. 

Larsen did some great work...it just wasn't on Spawn. I considered his run of cover art an abhorrent desecration, to be honest. . 

I can't decide who was worse, Larsen or Jonboy. 

I just couldn't take it anymore. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 31 by newshane

[justadude]

Yeah, I can see how they were trying radically different stuff, but Spawn needed that. It feels fresher today in a lot of ways than it was when Jonboy and Larsen were trying their hand. I honestly can't blame them. While the Krudanski art may have been better, his entire run was a muddled mess behind McFarlane's writing. I get that Spawn has pretty much only been about the art, but at some point in 30 years you'd think writing would become a priority. Sadly, I think Hellspawn is the most well-written Spawn thing to date, and that lasted about 10 issues before McFarlane took it over.

[newshane]

On 1/31/2024 at 5:26 PM, justadude said:

Yeah, I can see how they were trying radically different stuff, but Spawn needed that. It feels fresher today in a lot of ways than it was when Jonboy and Larsen were trying their hand. I honestly can't blame them. While the Krudanski art may have been better, his entire run was a muddled mess behind McFarlane's writing. I get that Spawn has pretty much only been about the art, but at some point in 30 years you'd think writing would become a priority. Sadly, I think Hellspawn is the most well-written Spawn thing to date, and that lasted about 10 issues before McFarlane took it over.

You speak the truth, kind sir. 

I salute you! Thanks for participating! I love hearing from folks. 

[Poutine]

On 1/31/2024 at 3:43 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 265 GOLD SKETCH EDITION (BLANK COVER) - CUSTOM COMMISSION - PHILIP TAN SKETCH 

I didn't bother to block out the cert number because this is a custom, one-of-a-kind piece of art. 

I chased down Philip Tan's agent, Kirk Dilbeck, and spoke with him about a custom commission. Working with Dilbeck was a very pleasant experience, and we were able to arrange the commission for the San Diego Comic Convention back in 2017. I gave Tan about five different detailed ideas/designs for the commission and told him to pick whichever one tickled his fancy. Waiting to see which design he picked was a joy in itself! 

When I unboxed this one, it literally took my breath away! You already know that I was a huge fan of his work on the series, and I think I like this piece better than any of his "actual" Spawn covers! 

While it didn't hurt much to part with it at the time, I'm pretty devastated that I made the decision to do so. This is a really special book! If you own it, hit me up! I'd like to buy it back.  

I would also like to thank Doug Peters for acting as my witness. He handled the book perfectly! Maintaining 9.8 status was top priority for me. Y'all know by now that a "lowly" 9.6 just wasn't going to do it for me. 

To everyone who was involved with this - THANK YOU! 

I'm sure it's a very, very bright spot in someone's collection. 

...and if you think this is awesome...you might want to check back in tomorrow to see a custom GUNSLINGER design that smokes any Gunslinger cover out there. Yeah. It's THAT good. 

 

 

Breathtaking 

[pmpknface]

On 1/31/2024 at 5:43 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 265 GOLD SKETCH EDITION (BLANK COVER) - CUSTOM COMMISSION - PHILIP TAN SKETCH 

I didn't bother to block out the cert number because this is a custom, one-of-a-kind piece of art. 

I chased down Philip Tan's agent, Kirk Dilbeck, and spoke with him about a custom commission. Working with Dilbeck was a very pleasant experience, and we were able to arrange the commission for the San Diego Comic Convention back in 2017. I gave Tan about five different detailed ideas/designs for the commission and told him to pick whichever one tickled his fancy. Waiting to see which design he picked was a joy in itself! 

When I unboxed this one, it literally took my breath away! You already know that I was a huge fan of his work on the series, and I think I like this piece better than any of his "actual" Spawn covers! 

While it didn't hurt much to part with it at the time, I'm pretty devastated that I made the decision to do so. This is a really special book! If you own it, hit me up! I'd like to buy it back.  

I would also like to thank Doug Peters for acting as my witness. He handled the book perfectly! Maintaining 9.8 status was top priority for me. Y'all know by now that a "lowly" 9.6 just wasn't going to do it for me. 

To everyone who was involved with this - THANK YOU! 

I'm sure it's a very, very bright spot in someone's collection. 

...and if you think this is awesome...you might want to check back in tomorrow to see a custom GUNSLINGER design that smokes any Gunslinger cover out there. Yeah. It's THAT good. 

 

 

WoW!  That is awesome!  Hoe he pulled off that wrap cover and kept it a 9.8 I'll never know.  Well use of the wrap too.  Yeah, I can see why you want it back.

[LadyDeath]

The gold hue in the Spawn logo matching the label is perfection.

[newshane]

SPAWN 265 RED SKETCH EDITION (BLANK COVER) - CUSTOM COMMISSION - ASH GONZALEZ 

I don't have the latest on this guy, but he was putting out straight fire back in the day! Honestly, Ash Gonzalez, out of Houston, is one of the best comic artists I've ever seen. If I remember correctly, he was not employed by any comic company. Last I heard, he was working in Hollywood. 

His agent is (was?) a regular here on the boards. You can find all sorts of examples of his work posted over in the signature series section of the boards. He has done many blank commissions, and I've NEVER seen one I didn't drool over. Unfortunately, I don't think he is doing commissions anymore. 

Man. I ed up bad when I sold this! BAD! 

I'd absolutely love to buy this one back again! Hopefully someone will see this and help hook it up for me. 

As with Tan, I gave Gonzalez a choice of characters from the Spawn universe. After some back and forth, I gave the green light for Gunslinger on the front and Angel Spawn on the back. 

SICK SICK SICK SICK! 

This may very well be my favorite book of the collection. One of a kind! 

Books like this are the reason why I firmly believe there will NEVER be another Spawn collection that will touch it. 

 

Edited February 1 by newshane