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

[newshane]

SPAWN 58 - CCG 9.8 

If I had a dollar for every bat drawn by McFarlane...

 

[pmpknface]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:48 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 58 - CCG 9.8 

If I had a dollar for every bat drawn by McFarlane...

 

$10 says he free-form inked those bats in, no pencil needed.  Just a guess.....   but still, that'd buy a lotta cheeseburgers....  

[newshane]

On 2/23/2023 at 7:08 AM, pmpknface said:

$10 says he free-form inked those bats in, no pencil needed.  Just a guess.....   but still, that'd buy a lotta cheeseburgers....  

I also am a huge fan of that transparent logo. 

I think the color work on these is just as awesome as the pencils and inks. That moon straight up GLOWS. I love it! 

[pmpknface]

On 2/23/2023 at 1:38 PM, newshane said:

I also am a huge fan of that transparent logo. 

I think the color work on these is just as awesome as the pencils and inks. That moon straight up GLOWS. I love it! 

Good call.  Digital coloring really started to come into it's own back then.  It was certainly one of the things that helped Image's books stand out on the racks.  

I think around this time Marvel bought Malibu, not for the characters that they used for 5 minutes and then totally forgot about, but for their coloring department just to try and keep up.  I'm pretty sure on that one unless anyone else wants to correct / call me out on that.  

[Mewie]

On 2/23/2023 at 11:23 AM, pmpknface said:

Good call.  Digital coloring really started to come into it's own back then.  It was certainly one of the things that helped Image's books stand out on the racks.  

I think around this time Marvel bought Malibu, not for the characters that they used for 5 minutes and then totally forgot about, but for their coloring department just to try and keep up.  I'm pretty sure on that one unless anyone else wants to correct / call me out on that.  

I never knew that (I was only a young teenager when that acquisition happened - had no business sense/interest back in the day lol) ! Totally makes sense. And yes, the coloring department is amazing. Too bad all those Ultraverse titles I purchased in the 90's are junk storage now wah wah

[pmpknface]

On 2/23/2023 at 2:26 PM, Mewie said:

I never knew that (I was only a young teenager when that acquisition happened - had no business sense/interest back in the day lol) ! Totally makes sense. And yes, the coloring department is amazing. Too bad all those Ultraverse titles I purchased in the 90's are junk storage now wah wah

I was entering my 20's around then and in college, but I had friends that worked at both Marvel and DC and I got to not only visit both offices in NYC but also got into and behind the scenes of a bunch of cons and other stuff.  I got to know a lot of industry things, and it's a really small community after all.  Eventually I wrote articles and reviews for a few years on-line for a few sites too.  But man, I heard a bunch of stuff back then.  

However, that's all another story...  feel free to PM me if you want to know anything else. 

ADD ON:  Thank you wiki...

Quote

Because Malibu had sufficient market share that an acquisition from DC would make the latter surpass Marvel's market share, Marvel decided to purchase Malibu themselves to prevent this from happening. To slow down rumors that Ultraverse titles would be cancelled as soon as the deal closed, Malibu claimed that Marvel wanted them because of their digital coloring system.

[/retro-rant]

Back to our regular Spawn-fest!  

Edited February 23, 2023 by pmpknface

[newshane]

SPAWN 59 CGC - 9.9 MINT 

Been a while since we've seen a 9.9! As you know, this certainly won't be the last. 

Beautiful book. Ugly scan. The horrendous light artifacts were caused by the inner well, which was wrinkling up against the outer well. I could manipulate the slab by pressing it hard against the scanner glass. While that helped reduce the artifacts, I decided it wasn't worth the potential damage to the slab or scanner, so it is what it is, for better or worse. You'll have to pretend like the artifacts aren't there. 

I would have had it reholdered, but I was scared to death that something would happen and they'd knock down the grade. TECHNICALLY, it's possible, although unlikely. This book was crisp as an apple slice, so there was no shaken comic syndrome in the way...just my paranoia. 

Here we see Al's little girl...with eyes the size of dinner plates. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by newshane

[DocGo]

I have a similar problem with a 9.9 of mine but, fortunately. it's on the back cover. I think you were smart for not taking the risk.

[newshane]

SPAWN 60 - CGC 9.8 

The only good clown is a dead clown? 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 61 - CGC 9.8 

Overcompensation? 

[D2]

On 2/23/2023 at 9:40 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 59 CGC - 9.9 MINT 

Been a while since we've seen a 9.9! As you know, this certainly won't be the last. 

Beautiful book. Ugly scan. The horrendous light artifacts were caused by the inner well, which was wrinkling up against the outer well. I could manipulate the slab by pressing it hard against the scanner glass. While that helped reduce the artifacts, I decided it wasn't worth the potential damage to the slab or scanner, so it is what it is, for better or worse. You'll have to pretend like the artifacts aren't there. 

I would have had it reholdered, but I was scared to death that something would happen and they'd knock down the grade. TECHNICALLY, it's possible, although unlikely. This book was crisp as an apple slice, so there was no shaken comic syndrome in the way...just my paranoia. 

Here we see Al's little girl...with eyes the size of dinner plates. 

You should crack it and read my letter. 
Mine is the last on in the Spawning Ground. 
 

[newshane]

SPAWN 62 - CGC 9.9 - MINT 

Another one I should have kept! Gorgeous! 

Unfortunately suffers from the same artifacts as the 9.9 I posted just the other day. 

 

[newshane]

SPAWN 63 - CGC 9.8 

Seeing all those guns makes me wonder...

is he getting ready to fight The Punisher? Cable? 

 

 

[Mewie]

On 2/27/2023 at 3:53 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 63 - CGC 9.8 

Seeing all those guns makes me wonder...

is he getting ready to fight The Punisher? Cable? 

 

 

Makes me think... who is uglier? Deadpool or Spawn? 🔥😂

[newshane]

Coming tomorrow...the ONLY 9.6 book you are going to see in this thread. 

[newshane]

SPAWN 64 - CGC 9.6 

I just checked the census. I can't believe there are a dozen universals sitting at 9.8. 

I promise you, back in my day, there were ZERO, and I just couldn't find one. Like I said earlier, it certainly wasn't for lack of trying, and try I did - for years. No dice. 

The best I could do was this 9.6, which I subbed myself. 

These were tough because:

1. They were polybagged. 

2. Newsprint interior 

3. Jet black cover art 

Don't know what else to say, other than I wish to you know where that I could have landed a 9.8. 

The only two issues standing between me and a perfect 9.8 or better FULL (and I mean ALL of the variants) run was 64 and 156 (there still aren't any). 

Oh well. Everyone has their own white whale, don't they? 

 

[newshane]

I did forget to mention WHY the issue was polybagged. 

It came with a McFarlane Toy catalog. 

[Mewie]

On 2/28/2023 at 5:36 PM, newshane said:

SPAWN 64 - CGC 9.6 

I just checked the census. I can't believe there are a dozen universals sitting at 9.8. 

I promise you, back in my day, there were ZERO, and I just couldn't find one. Like I said earlier, it certainly wasn't for lack of trying, and try I did - for years. No dice. 

The best I could do was this 9.6, which I subbed myself. 

These were tough because:

1. They were polybagged. 

2. Newsprint interior 

3. Jet black cover art 

Don't know what else to say, other than I wish to you know where that I could have landed a 9.8. 

The only two issues standing between me and a perfect 9.8 or better FULL (and I mean ALL of the variants) run was 64 and 156 (there still aren't any). 

Oh well. Everyone has their own white whale, don't they? 

 

Fascinating to hear how rare a 9.8 was in the initial years. Challenge accepted. I have this issue bagged and boarded for the past few decades. I'm going to submit this baby to CGC this month and see if I can get 9.6 or higher haha Thanks for the spark! 💥

Edited March 1, 2023 by Mewie

[newshane]

On 2/28/2023 at 8:32 PM, Mewie said:

Fascinating to hear how rare a 9.8 was in the initial years. Challenge accepted. I have this issue bagged and boarded for the past few decades. I'm going to submit this baby to CGC this month and see if I can get 9.6 or higher haha Thanks for the spark! 💥

Let me know how it turns out! 

I don't understand why I had such a hard time. A bazillion of these were printed. 

Definitely NOT the case for 156, however. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by newshane

[newshane]

SPAWN 65 - CGC 9.8 

Here is an interesting cover. Photo from the movie with some embellishment. Honestly, I forgot all about this issue. Certainly not the most desirable in the run, but I guess it has its own allure just because it strays from the par.