SPAWN MAKES HISTORY! With this 300th issue, SPAWN becomes the longest-running independent series in comic book history. To celebrate, legendary artists TODD McFARLANE and GREG CAPULLO return with ALL-NEW interior pencils, with additional art provided by JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER, J. SCOTT CAMPBELL, and JEROME OPEÑA, a cavalcade of celebratory covers, and additional writing by SCOTT SNYDER! And next month, RECORDS WILL BE BROKEN with SPAWN #301!
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian comic book artist, writer, toy manufacturer/designer, and media entrepreneur who is best known as the creator of the epic occult fantasy series Spawn.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was one of America's most popular heroes in the 1990's and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.
In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio.
In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by Curt Schilling.
McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.
Ok......this is kind of cheating. I was there when Spawn first came out and I collected for probably fifty issues or so. I saw quickly that the very unique idea of a countdown to Al's doom as Spawn was going to take far longer to reach than the original ideas reflected. I stopped collecting all comics after a few more issues and I only picked this up because I wanted to see where it was going to end.
It didn't end
Does that make this a bad book or series? No! It is still awesome to see Spawn in action and this is a love letter by many artists and writers to commemorate the long ruof this amazing book!
A landmark issue for this character! So I've always had a soft spot for Spawn, which has always had amazing art and fun stories even if they never were too deep. This anniversary issue has a collection of short stories similar to Action and Detective's 1000 issues but on a smaller scale. The art all around is amazing with Greg Capullo's art, in the beginning story being my favourite! Story-wise, I found this issue to be fun to read and reminded me of the Spawn comics from back in the day when the character first debuted. Don't expect anything deep like Doomsday Clock, but I think if you like Spawn or liked him back in the day, there is some stuff here that you could appreciate!
This is a small collection of short stories that are more or less have a general idea. Specifically, I liked the first story the most, which was pencilled by Greg Capullo, who became famous thanks to Spawn. The bloody and dreadful story perfectly opens the issue, although I wanted some continuation here since it is not clear why all the killings were committed. The next chapter is also quite good, where the well-known characters have been appeared for a while. The end is just stunning here, but then something went wrong. The other stories are not bad in general, but they could not have been written since do not develop the plot and look too simple for the anniversary issue. Personally, I was expecting the work of Jerome Opeña, one of the most talented modern artists (just look at his works in "Seven to Eternity" and "Uncanny X-Force", both done by Rick Remender), but he drew only three pages, which are not enough for me. The anniversary issue was a simply average book, but guess it is quite important to Spaun fans.
Hard to believe that it's been 27 years since spawn started. I haven't touched the title for years but I had to get this one to help commemorate the anniversary of the longest running creator owned comic in history
Before this I hadn't read an issue of Spawn since high school. I liked all the different artists that collaborated on this book. I got the variant cover by Greg Capullo in black and white. Four stars.
Couldn't bother to finish it all the way to the end. The art, as always, is fantastic. The "story", however, reminded me why I stopped reading this series oh-so-many years ago. There aren't really any new ideas here.
Spawn has never been a title I've had a lot of reverence for.
The Image Revolution was before my time and the art and plot felt really generic to me. I.e.,I was raised Catholic and the story felt endlessly told in better and more interesting ways (even Hellboy didn't interest me much).
To be fair, I did enjoy the "In Heaven" arc, David Hine's Armageddon and the Spawn Resurrected story.
But truth be told, after #300 issues, I'd feel like less than 25 issues were good or essential.
But this is an arc where McFarlane is giving a sincere effort with his team. Even if he's still cribbing from Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman's runs over 20 years ago.
Spawn is tired of premature Armageddons and the unceasing machinations of Heaven, Hell and everything between.
Slaying both Magelboia and Satan, he's involved into something potentially more powerful than God, and he was to expose the divine and demonic hands influencing the world.
Its a lot,of pomp and circumstance in a jam session of art and nostalgia. But Al Simmons is doing something to actually challenge the status quo of the world. Shaking governments and corporations. Its something that I wish mainstream (corporate comics would tackle...and actually did about 10 years ago until they were shackled, wing clipped and gelded as corporate IP)
I don't think I'll care about this title past #301 (even if the Multiverse angle is fun, its been done to death. Spawniverse is a bit laughable of a gimmick. But color me at least a but suprised.