Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Spawn

Updated: Guide to Spawn by Todd McFarlane

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I’m back today to continue my Indie Comic Month run through the original titles from the 1992 launch of Image Comics. As it turns out, I already had a guide for this title, which I launched in 2019. However, a lot of things can change in just a few years, and this title’s 30th anniversary in 2022 opened up a whole new universe of comics and collections. It’s time for a major update to my Guide to Spawn by Todd McFarlane!

Guide to Spawn by Todd McFarlane

When I first created this Guide to Spawn back in October 2019, Spawn seemed like it was in “Legacy Mode” with no signs of change on the horizon. Little did I realize that had begun to change the very month I published the guide!

To me,”Legacy Mode” is when a longstanding comic is only publishing more issues because it has a core of fans that will keep buying them. There’s no extra effort being put into marketing it beyond that existing core of fans. The stories start to feel repetitive and insular. And, there’s no efforts being made to collect or re-collect older issues of the title – since the assumption is that all of the fans already own all of the collections!

That described Spawn as it existed prior to October 2019, but not after. [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to Spawn by Todd McFarlane

New for Patrons: Guide to Marvel’s Angela

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Surprise! I’m back with a second new guide in a row for Patrons of Crushing Krisis, for yet another Asgardian leading lady… although, she started out somewhere very different (both within Marvel continuity and before she arrived at Marvel)…

Guide to Marvel’s Angela

 

One thing that DC Comics is very well known for that Marvel Comics is absolutely not known for is incorporating the characters from other publishers into their line.

Even before Crisis on Infinite Earths gave DC the infinite flexibility to subsume entire lines of characters like Wildstorm and Alan Moore’s America’s Best Comics, the DC juggernaut had absorbed entire universes of characters. They incorporated many Charlton Comics characters like Blue Beetle and Captain Atom (who also doubled as inspiration for Watchmen), and before them Fawcett Comics’ Shazam! Not to mention their self-incorporation of the many properties that branched out into the Vertigo line back to DC continuity.

Plus, DC never hesitates to engage in cross-company crossovers, as long as it’s not with Marvel. Even relatively recently we’ve seen Batman cross paths with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Gotham Academy with Lumberjanes!

The only time Marvel really came close to a wholesale import of characters was through their acquisition of Malibu Comics’ Ultraverse, which they hastily shuttered.

We could speculate endlessly about why this is the case. Is it Marvel’s self-reliance that borders on stinginess? The sacrosanct nature of their 616-Universe? That DC’s characters are more iconic and stand up better to other media properties? That Marvel has less adventurous fans?

Regardless of the why, it is a very big deal when any kind of outside character makes their way into Marvel’s Universe. It’s an even bigger deal when that character was created by Neil Gaiman, was one of the original big draws during the launch of Image Comics, and has been involved in a somewhat nasty set of legal battles with her now-no-longer-officially-recognized co-creator Todd McFarlane.

I am, of course, talking about Neil Gaiman’s Angela. [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Guide to Marvel’s Angela

New For Patrons: Guide to Todd McFarlane’s Spawn

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Today’s new guide for Patrons of Crushing Krisis is my first guide for a creator-owned comic – created as a celebration of breaking the 100-Patrons mark!

Todd McFarlane’s Spawn – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide
[Note: This guide is now available to all readers of Crushing Krisis thanks to the ongoing support of Patrons!]

With Spawn now crowned as the ruling Guiness World Record holder as the longest-running creator-owned superhero of all-time (and with him coming in at 3rd place out of 10 options in the April poll), he seemed like the natural place to begin my guide coverage of creator-owned comics.

As with many of my guides, researching Spawn’s publishing history held many surprises for me. [Read more…] about New For Patrons: Guide to Todd McFarlane’s Spawn

Spawn by Todd McFarlane – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Updated Apr 18, 2025! The definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for Spawn by Todd McFarlane in comic books and omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics Guide to Collecting Indie & Licensed Comics. Last updated April 2025 with titles scheduled for release through December 2025.

In 1992, Image Comics broke onto the American comic book market with a series of smash hit launches from six formerly famous Marvel artists.

Of those Image launch books (and with almost 30 years of hindsight), Todd McFarlane’s Spawn would go on to be the most commercially successful, enduring, and influential – as well as one of the highest profile black characters in the history of comics.

Part of Spawn’s longevity is the fact that the character comes with a unique mythology that doesn’t feel like a retread of any other existing comics character.

Al Simmons is a CIA operative who dies in the field and makes a deal with the devil so he can see his wife again. The deal leaves him with gaps in his memory and transforms him the newest unwitting pawn in the centuries-long battle between Heaven and Hell – and both sides have long since stopped playing by their own rules.

In addition to the tragic romance and epic religious plot threads, Spawn also squared off against street-level dirtbags and gang members, allowing McFarlane to draw more of the gritty version of New York’s streets and alleys from his run on Spider-Man. The early part of this run also included a timer counting down Spawn’s remaining “necroplasmic energy,” offering fans the tantalizing idea that the comic’s run was limited by how much power he used.

Over time, McFarlane considerably widened the scope of the series as it helped him launch a multimedia empire, including the founding of his still-successful high-end toy line.

Spawn is an impressively self-contained comic series. Though it has had many spinoffs, they are inessential to the core reading order that starts with issue #1 and continues past the record-breaking issue #301 – making it the longest-running creator-owned superhero comic. In that period, there is only a single one-shot – “Resurrection” – which must be integrated into the reading order to get the full story.

The popularity of McFarlane’s flagship title re-ignited with the press around his 300th issue in 2019. That set the Toddfather to plotting how he could expand the universe of his now record-setting, longest-running indie title. Those plans came to fruition in 2021 with the addition of three new ongoing titles to the line – King Spawn, Gunslinger Spawn, and a team-up book called The Scorched. Then, in 2022, McFarlane extended all of the major reprint lines past issue #125 for the first time – and they’ve continued to sprint forward, even as the line has expanded even further to include more ongoing books and mini-series.

[Read more…] about Spawn by Todd McFarlane – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order