Spawn

It's pretty great

I've read the first 32 issues of Spawn, and it's incredibly boring. Spawn doesn't do anything, he just sits in his alley and mopes until something comes along to fight him for whatever reason.

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He's not a hack, he's just... not really that great of an artist or writer. He probably knows that, he's not full of himself like Leifeld, he's very very dorky and goofy. But he knows what happens when you sell the rights of your character, so he cling to Spawn's ownership and doesn't let anyone take liberties with him.
What happens is a double edged sword, Spawn has maintained relative dignity compared to other capes, but he's also never been involved into anything really great and outstanding.

>>93733548
>so he cling to Spawn's

*so he clings to Spawn's

>>93733443
Wandaaaaaa

>>93733125
He literally can only do pin ups. I can't say that much against him because I got into comics through him, but he ended up being a wash on good or bad things he brought to the medium.

>>93733548
He's nowhere near as bad as liefeld, Liefeld straight up can't draw. Todd might have an exaggerated style, but he at least has skill to help ground it a bit.

As for stories, everything good was at the beginning and not written by him, Todd definitely isn't a good writer

>>93733125
The first 100-120 issues of spawn are Todd's arc. It's not bad, and fun in parts but the pacing is off and if you don't dig the whole extreme aesthetic then it's not for you.
Image in general and Spawn in particular are both great ideas that arn't executed very well.

>>93736996
>arn't

>>93733125
His animated work for Freak on a Leash and Do the Evolution are the few good things he did.

>>93733125
Did Todd McFarlane animate the "Do the Evolution" music video by Pearl Jam?

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>>93733125
I got a Box full of Spawn comics and I'll say that issue 1-100 (spin-offs included) is pretty fucking great. Had a nice beginning, middle and end.

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>>93733125
Todd is basically a Canadian Tite Kubo. This means a bunch of good ideas hampered by poor pacing and a bunch of plots that either don't go anywhere, or take forever to come to fruition. Like others have said, the best Spawn stories are the ones where he either has someone co-writing with him, or doesn't write at all. That being said, Todd himself is rather humble and seems very aware of his shortcomings, he's also a pretty good businessman.

If you want to get into the comics, just start with 251 and onward. Only get the older issues if you're REALLY invested.

>>93733125
I unironically like the Spawn movie. Dated cape CGI looked otherworldly at the time. Actors did well. Merlin from Excalibur was the hobo paladin mentor. I DUB THEE SPAWN, LEADER OF HELL'S ARMY was hype. Why don't people like it, for being toned down from the comics?

When Black Panther comes out, everyone's going to pretend it's the first black superhero movie. Michael Jai White should be pissed.

>>93733125
>So what's the general consensus on "Spawn" here?
-Mediocre-to-bad comic

-Toys were cutting edge but then lagged/didn't innovate further and are now at the bottom rung of the industry

-Pretty cool HBO show

-Very underrated live action movie when considering the year it was made and the state of comic movies, but the hell scenes were lol tier even then

>>93744406
>Toys were cutting edge but then lagged/didn't innovate further and are now at the bottom rung of the industry

I thought Mcfarlane toys were still well regarded? Even if they mostly focus on The Walking Dead now.

>>93744434
Not to serious (or even casual) collectors, no. In a domestic retail sense, they're about a generation behind everyone else. /toy/ has about as much love and respect for them as Funko Pops.

>>93733125
The character design is fucking amazing, but 90's edge doesn't age very well. Spawn did better than most though.

>>93744497
>90's edge doesn't age very well

Unfortunately compared to most tumblr-pandering garbage artstyles infesting western art nowadays, I'd take 90's edge aesthetic and heavy metal stylings over that uninspired tripe anyday.

>>93744347
>Michael Jai White
He's probably still salty he didn't get Luke Cage when he's wanted to portray him for a while.

I loved Spawn as a kid. I loved the comics and the movie. I even met Todd McFarlane once at a comic book shop. Now, as an adult, I just see it as a goofy, edgy 90s thing that I can't even get nostalgic for.

>>93744347
The PG-13 rating REALLY hurt it. As such the tone is all over the place, and had neither over-the-top edge of the comics, nor the subtle, action horror tendencies of the show, plus the soundtrack sucked. Most importantly, Sam & Twitch were reduced to cameo's.

Overall it's just not worth watching unless you're a REALLY big fan of Spawn.

I used to read Spawn in the supermarket all the time when I was still in gradeschool.

I really like the early issues where Spawn is trying to be all like Superman, but (I think) doesn't realise that all those heroics drain his necroplasm leading to him losing his free will and becoming just another slave soldier of hell.

I know Spawn finds a way around it, but I think the early arcs have a nice tragic gothic vibe to it.

>no one mentioning that Todd tried to undercut Gaiman by buying the rights to Miracleman from someone who didn't even own them and sued him to stop writing Miracleman so Gaiman agreed to give him Angela and Cogliostro to fuck off only to learn the original guy never sold them in the first place, but then had to do some comics for Marvel just to pay his legal fees and Miracleman ended on a cliff hanger

FUCK TODD
U
C
K

>>93744915
Thats kind like me. I used to buy Spawn back in the 90s when I was a teen and it was the best selling book. Now as an adult I have bought many things I have nostalgia for in tpbs, but I can't bring myself to buy a Spawn tpb

>>93744977
Didn't quite happen like that. Spawn was pretty conservative with his powers, and is in fact infamous for brooding about in the alleys angsting about his waifu. The animated series fixed this and made him more active, but he still didn't use his powers much (in fact, he used him less than his comic counterpart did).

>>93745042
Just buy the Resurrection tpb and torrent the rest. The classic stories are fun, but unless you're really into the gothic and metal aesthetic, it's not really worth paying money for tpb's of the original run.

>>93745161
Well, It's probably been more than 20 years ago that I read my last Spawn comic, so I guess my memories of it is rather faint.

>>93744557
>90's
Marvel era Liefield is servicable. There is a reason that the same Liefield pics get used over and over again in bad art threads. Having just read X-Force, I can tell you that contrary to they myth, he draws lots of feet- but not enough backgrounds, and there is roughly one unforgivably lazy/weird/bad page an issue. Nicieza is defintely a weaker link than Rob. And the editors could have stepped up and made both of them better.

Lee, Mcfarlane, Valintino and Whilce all did solid work at Marvel too. Someone else should have written Todd's Spider-Man, though, his dilaougue is legit impenatrable in places.
Larsen and Silvestri did GREAT work at Marvel.

>>93744920
Fair enough, but it was how I was introduced to Spawn.

I really liked Spawn back in the day. Even when it started getting dragged out it was entertaining to read. I don't know if I'd say good but entertaining. Violent and great art and character designs. When Capullo took over he was better than Todd in some ways. Curse of the Spawn was actually better than the main Spawn series at times.

>>93744557
Ow, the edge.