Spawn or Deadpool who is the king of the 1990s for new character?

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Let's remember a few things:

Spawn 1 = greatest selling Independent comic of all time.

Spawn = 2nd longest running Independent comic of all time, with 270 issues (and counting) compared to 300 issues of Cerebus.

Spawn 1 = one of the top five most popularly-graded comics.

A toy line that still does millions of dollars worth of business every year. A motion picture release, albeit a horrible (but profitable) movie. An Emmy-award-winning HBO animated series. School backpacks. T-shirts. Cover art appearances on several major-label records. Video games...

and IMHO a character with a much better storyline than Deadpool...a much cooler aesthetic...

I think as big as Deadpool is now...it still wasn't as big as Spawn in the 90s.

and...Harbinger? Um--yuh...

it's the concept that "all of them" (out there) have a collective market value for Spawn #1 that is pretty close to the collective market value of Harbinger #1, wherever they are.

 

Sorry. That's a very dubious claim.

 

No one outside the comic collecting world cares about Harbinger. I know it's forever ago, but as I've mentioned before, Spawn was mega-huge in the 90s and invaded every aspect of culture. The character was even on the Sopranoes for heaven sake.

 

So yes, I see your theory...and high grade copies of Harbinger may be more valuable per capita, but they aren't going to move in sheer numbers like Spawn 1. I understand your formula, but I think it's flawed.

What I'm saying is that Spawn #1 at $5 is equal to Harbinger #1 at $150, in total value.

Raise the price of Spawn #1 to just $10, and it's double the total market value of Harbinger #1, even though Harbinger #1 would still be $150.

We can't say that Harbinger #1 at $150 is "thirty times more in demand" than Spawn #1 at $5... even though that's technically true. $150 is thirty times $5.

We can't say that Malibu Sun #13 at any price above Spawn #1 is "more in demand than Spawn #1", even though one price beats the other.

Using both supply and demand, Harbinger #1 at $150 and Spawn #1 at $10 makes Spawn #1 in "twice the demand" of Harbinger #1.

That seems like it makes no sense because $150 is fifteen times higher than $10... but when you consider supply, Spawn #1 is double the collective value of Harbinger #1.

No, Harbinger is not in the debate between the popularity of Deadpool and Spawn.

I'm using Harbinger #1 values to demonstrate that Spawn #1 being cheap isn't a reflection of his lack of popularity. It's just a function of the Spawn #1 supply.

Everyone focuses on the sale price of comics (people say Malibu Sun #13 destroys Spawn #1), but that is only half the equation. Supply is the other half, and Malibu Sun #13 doesn't come close to Spawn #1 when you consider supply and demand.

"a very dubious claim" is anyone directly comparing Malibu Sun #13 prices and Spawn #1 prices, without mentioning supply.

Put supply back in the equation and it may not be perfect, but it's at least both supply and demand.

I think as big as Deadpool is now...it still wasn't as big as Spawn in the 90s.

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This, I'm not so sure about. In terms of comics, yeah, because the comic world was 10X bigger, but the Deadpool movie was way bigger...and I saw like 40 kids dressed as Deadpool for halloween.

I can't even get 5 bucks for my vf spawn 1. Spawn comics except for rare variants have been in serious decline. 1 dollar tops most issues.

 

That's funny. I've seen the opposite. And I don't know what kind of profit you would seek from a VF comic with a print run of over one and a half million copies.

 

9.8s routinely sell for $100 and 9.9s are topping out at ten times that amount.

 

I should also mention that I will pay up to $300 for some of those issues (not rare variants) in 9.8 condition.

 

Got issues 26, 64, 135, 152, 156, 182, 203, or 212?

 

Contact me to cash in. Those of you with these "worthless" issues need to call me.

Just looked up some of those. 26 and 64 are around 2 to 4 bucks. 135 maybe 10 dollars. 152 and 156 i can get for 2 or 3 dollars plus shipping. 9.8 versions of course are more just like every comic but raw nm copies of most spawn comics seem to be pretty cheap.

Is there a single spawn comic that's not a rare variant worth 50 dollars raw?

the way the question is initially phrased, I think the answer is.

Whoever made their company more money in the 90's is the king.

I can't even get 5 bucks for my vf spawn 1. Spawn comics except for rare variants have been in serious decline. 1 dollar tops most issues.

 

That's funny. I've seen the opposite. And I don't know what kind of profit you would seek from a VF comic with a print run of over one and a half million copies.

 

9.8s routinely sell for $100 and 9.9s are topping out at ten times that amount.

 

I should also mention that I will pay up to $300 for some of those issues (not rare variants) in 9.8 condition.

 

Got issues 26, 64, 135, 152, 156, 182, 203, or 212?

 

Contact me to cash in. Those of you with these "worthless" issues need to call me.

 

Just looked up some of those. 26 and 64 are around 2 to 4 bucks. 135 maybe 10 dollars. 152 and 156 i can get for 2 or 3 dollars plus shipping. 9.8 versions of course are more just like every comic but raw nm copies of most spawn comics seem to be pretty cheap.

 

Is there a single spawn comic that's not a rare variant worth 50 dollars raw?

Like I said before, if they are that easy to find...then you have a quick way to make a few thousands dollars.

I've got a ton of references to back me up. I just paid a very highly-respected boardie $225 for issue 211, for example. It only took him 4 years to find in 9.8 condition. Finding these issues are TOUGH, believe me. Spawn is by far one of the more difficult modern runs to complete.

Also, the "gunslinger" issues can draw $50 in raw form...and there are several other issues that come close. No offense, but you need to do more research.

Of course, if the books you are finding aren't in NM+ condition, then it's no surprise at all that you can get them for a few dollars.

McFarlane needs to revitalize Spawn and the Universe that he dwells within. To do so he needs to allow a film to be made on the characters within his books. Not to do so will allow Spawn to fall further and further out of the public's consciousness.

Personally, I think McFarlane is keeping the comic going until he passes Cerebus. He wants the title of longest running independent comic because he knows it will never be broken.

He really needs to relinquish writing control for a long period of time. The changes are far too frequent and for too short of a period of time.

A return to Kudranski was a good step for art.

Patrick

McFarlane needs to revitalize Spawn and the Universe that he dwells within. To do so he needs to allow a film to be made on the characters within his books. Not to do so will allow Spawn to fall further and further out of the public's consciousness.

 

There's already been a live movie made based upon the Spawn character.

Didn't seem to help the comic book at all, if I remember correctly.

He really needs to relinquish writing control for a long period of time. The changes are far too frequent and for too short of a period of time.

A return to Kudranski was a good step for art.

 

Patrick

I absolutely agree with everything you've said here.

Especially Kudranski, who seems stylistically perfect for the title.

One of the problems with Spawn is that McFarlane can't seem to make up his mind how to market the character. One day it's a kid's character, ala superhero style, and the next day Spawn is dark, evil, and for adults only. That's one of the major problems with the title and the character - an identity crisis.

I can't even get 5 bucks for my vf spawn 1. Spawn comics except for rare variants have been in serious decline. 1 dollar tops most issues.

 

That's funny. I've seen the opposite. And I don't know what kind of profit you would seek from a VF comic with a print run of over one and a half million copies.

 

9.8s routinely sell for $100 and 9.9s are topping out at ten times that amount.

 

I should also mention that I will pay up to $300 for some of those issues (not rare variants) in 9.8 condition.

 

Got issues 26, 64, 135, 152, 156, 182, 203, or 212?

 

Contact me to cash in. Those of you with these "worthless" issues need to call me.

 

Just looked up some of those. 26 and 64 are around 2 to 4 bucks. 135 maybe 10 dollars. 152 and 156 i can get for 2 or 3 dollars plus shipping. 9.8 versions of course are more just like every comic but raw nm copies of most spawn comics seem to be pretty cheap.

 

Is there a single spawn comic that's not a rare variant worth 50 dollars raw?

How many $50 books are there in general, raw, in a mainstream title from the last 25 years? 227 gets close to that though, if you are looking for an issue.

As for 9.8.. plenty of books from the last 20 years are barely worth the cost of slabbing, so if these issues are $100, that means something.

It does look like those issues in the 100s, with lower print runs, are not doing as well on ebay as they were a year or two ago though, where I saw a lot of them popping for around $10. Not sure why.

There are definitely people collecting this run, they're just not spending a lot on any of the issues for the most part. So they're picking books up for $3-$8.

Spawn 175 seems to do solidly around $25+ and those were for raws listed as NM-. I suppose a seller with a serious reputation saying it's a 9.8 copy could push that over the $50 mark. Same for 221 and 227.

There are a bunch of issues in the 200s that seem to do a solid $10-$20

Barry Hubris aka The Tick...the other one.

On 2/2/2017 at 11:14 AM, the blob said:

Spawn 175 seems to do solidly around $25+ and those were for raws listed as NM-. I suppose a seller with a serious reputation saying it's a 9.8 copy could push that over the $50 mark. Same for 221 and 227.

 

There are a bunch of issues in the 200s that seem to do a solid $10-$20

I keep buying Spawn #175 for $3 - $4 apiece as soon as the LCSs restock their Spawn back issue bins. There are two stores that still seem to have healthy stacks of them someplace in the back. However, the homage covers, especially 221 and 227, are very tough to find now since most stores only ordered a shelf copy or two by that point. I lucked into a nice stack of the homage covers (with 5 - 6 each of 221 and 227) three years ago for $1 apiece from a LCS blowing out backstock during the Calgary Expo, but I believe I am totally out of them now. 

On 2/23/2017 at 1:52 AM, kimik said:

I keep buying Spawn #175 for $3 - $4 apiece as soon as the LCSs restock their Spawn back issue bins. There are two stores that still seem to have healthy stacks of them someplace in the back. However, the homage covers, especially 221 and 227, are very tough to find now since most stores only ordered a shelf copy or two by that point. I lucked into a nice stack of the homage covers (with 5 - 6 each of 221 and 227) three years ago for $1 apiece from a LCS blowing out backstock during the Calgary Expo, but I believe I am totally out of them now. 

Good golly, didn't that have like a 12-15K print-run?   Were your local shops trying to corner the market?  I've never seen one in a cheap box and you're tripping over them!

On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 6:59 PM, Lucky Baru said:

McFarlane needs to revitalize Spawn and the Universe that he dwells within. To do so he needs to allow a film to be made on the characters within his books. Not to do so will allow Spawn to fall further and further out of the public's consciousness.

 

Personally, I think McFarlane is keeping the comic going until he passes Cerebus. He wants the title of longest running independent comic because he knows it will never be broken.

Wouldn't it be funny if he ended Spawn after it passes Cerebus and then Walking Dead passed it in total number of issues!

On 2/28/2017 at 3:53 PM, maraxusofkeld said:

Wouldn't it be funny if he ended Spawn after it passes Cerebus and then Walking Dead passed it in total number of issues!

The Walking Dead is about 100 issues behind Spawn.  That's 8+ years of books behind McFarlane.  Maybe it will happen but I doubt it.

I've got 227 in CGC 9.9.

I am surprised about the choice of Deadpool and Spawn for this thread. If we were talking about characters during the 90's IMHO, Cable was much more popular that Deadpool.

Queen Harley Quinn had them both drawn and quartered.