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Grant Morrison's Spawn Story

eric minutes

06:21 / 03.08.03

Hey has any body out there read Morrison's Spawn story in Spawn #16-18?? If so, is it any good,,,and is it worth tracking down??

Ethan Van Sciver

06:30 / 03.08.03

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good. It's Grant writing Todd McFarlane's voice, but I reread it recently, and felt like it was more for a paycheck than for any other reason.

Haus of Mystery

14:37 / 03.08.03

It has the same trashy feel as his Vampirella stuff, but the pervading ugliness of the whole Spawn enterprise taints it. McFarlane really is a nob jockey isn't he.

The Falcon

15:08 / 03.08.03

It's far and away the worst GM thing I've read; I bought it and am a bit pissed off about the whole affair.

The Dadaist

02:26 / 04.08.03

It wasn´t sooo bad. I enjoy it, but it´s true that his Spawn can´t enter in the "Grant Morrison´s Top Five Comics".

bio k9

02:58 / 04.08.03

I think Gaiman was paid $100,000 for his issue (way before all the lawsuits). I imagine Morrison, Moore and Sim got the same ammount.

bio k9

03:00 / 04.08.03

Which says nothing about the work or the worth of Spawn Inc or anything else but if it was for a paycheck, it was for a good one.

Tom Coates

07:58 / 04.08.03

That can't be true, surely!? That's an absurd amount of money!

sleazenation

08:15 / 04.08.03

remembering of course how much mcfarlane pays for baseballs it doesn't seem too outrageous...

SavageFistsOfFengshui

11:05 / 04.08.03

I remember reading somewhere that Moore claimed to have received a six-figure sum for three hours work on his first issue of Spawn. That issue allegedly sold 1.1 million non-returnable copies at the height of the speculator boom. I suspect that the number of copies bought by customers was somewhat lower, the number read was lower still, and the number enjoyed was negligible. I doubt whether Morrison's issue sold half as many, but his royalties probably still amounted to a small fortune.

Aertho

13:50 / 04.08.03

Well, can someone tell us what the whole bawdy plot involved? More "When Fiction Attacks!", or something a bit more mundane?

The Falcon

14:06 / 04.08.03

It's Spawn vs. Anti-Spawn in a town composed of ideoplasm, which mimics Al Simmons' (? - Spawn's, anyway) human memories.

I actually enjoyed colourist Tom Orzechowski's story in the GN better.

But Spawn has a way of producing career lows for most of its' guest writers.

Haus of Mystery

15:55 / 04.08.03

To my shame I actually bought and read the first dozen or so issues of Spoon, and it contains some of the most fantastically awful dialogue ever. Utter shite, especially the 'real' homeless guys that Simmons hangs with. I seem to remember a scene where Spoon sits with these guys discussing, y'know, life in full billowing cloak, chains and guns etc.. Fucking ace.

bio k9

20:04 / 04.08.03

Yeah, Gaiman was paid $100,000 for his issue according to testimony in the Miracleman/Angela trial (as reported in TCJ #250).

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

22:21 / 04.08.03

Gaiman only wrote one issue, while Grant wrote 3, so even with the dip in sales, he might have made more overall.

And those were the days when ANYTHING from Image sold insane numbers of copies.

Ethan Van Sciver

08:50 / 06.08.03

Paying Gaiman a hundred thousand for his issue of Spawn might have been a bargain, if Todd was clever enough to talk him out of the rights to the characters he created therein. ANGELA surely made McFarlane tons of money, with miniseries (that weren't written by Gaiman) and toys, etc. Unfortunately, there was the whole Creator Rights facade percolating through Image, and it came back to bite Todd in the rear end years later.
I'm going to actually recommend Grant's SPAWN issues, because I think they almost border on parody. I think he was goofing on Todd a little, more than just holding his nose.
Some guy gets shot right through the eyesocket in one of the issues, and I think Spawn exhumes and cradles his own corpse. Some nice family moments.

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