Rare Excitement: Spawn #300 (But Stymied by Variants!)

I don’t feel like I TRULY get all that "excited" anymore for most new comics.

A lot of what I buy tends to feel rather habitual to some degree, such that a new issue is just simply "the next issue" of whatever, rather than something I truly look forward to and am eager to get to Wednesday and the comic shop to obtain and read the issue.

This week sees the arrival of Spawn #300.

Which totally BLOWS MY MIND in its way.

Spawn.

#300.

Not just 12 issues. And I especially recall #16 as something new-on-the-shelf at the time (though I don’t think I bought it at the time).

Not just 25 issues, though that’s a pretty respectable number to get to.

I definitely recall getting #25 when it came out, though, and I’m pretty sure it may very well have been my first issue of the series, despite other hype for the series in general and whatnot.

For all that, the series even made it to 50 issues (which would be QUITE the accomplishment based on modern Marvel, though Spawn is "original Image" and NOT Marvel.

Heck, the series made it to 100 issues!

It seemed like QUITE the accomplishment for an Image comic to hit #100…and especially something like Spawn that often seemed like most expected it to have been a flash in the pan that would go away after a few issues of burning brightly.

I remember jumping in around #185 or 189 or so for a few issues, skipping a few, and then getting #200 (for the sake of Spawn #200).

But still, the title has kept on going.

I jumped on with #257 in 2015 when the issue’s cover REALLY stood out to me and caught my attention. And I stuck with the title, even adding it to a pull list, largely to "support" its $2.99 standard price point (which as of #299 has still held!).

And 44 issues later…closing in on FOUR YEARS later…here we are.

#300.

And I’m very much looking forward to the issue, and seeing where things are. I have to catch up on READING from about #272 or so; but I’ve spent hours over the past couple days digging through all my stacks and piles and boxes of comics from the past few years, and pulled the "run" together, with the exception of being unable to locate #286, which I’m happy enough to "replace" for the sake of having the run together in one place.

Typically I DESPISE variant covers, especially numerous covers. I’m much more forgiving for something like this–a 300th issue; though that’s from years and years of being (figuratively speaking) beaten over the head with variants.

Though it would seem to ME better to have an "iconic" cover ESPECIALLY for anniversary issues of this magnitude.

My first issue "off the rack" of Uncanny X-Men was its oversized #300 issue…and the feeling of enormity to THAT at the time, at 300…that probably contributes to my excitement here for Spawn hitting that number.

I remember the earliest issues. I own the first 25-30 or so now, as well as a handful of others prior to 257.

But I’ve been "around" and "into comics" essentially for the entire run of Spawn.

So to see it hit this number is amazing to me, and enormous for the constant rebooting/renumbering of all the longest-running titles from other American publishers.

I’m all for the "main" cover, by McFarlane himself…assuming the above IS the "main" cover.

I also really dig this cover (in its color version WITH the cover logo and such!)

I also can’t help but appreciate the Amazing Spider-Man #300 riff, even if this isn’t THE final version. It fits nicely with the previous couple issues’ covers:

Now, whether the issue lives up to its hype…I haven’t the foggiest.

I’m just glad that there IS an issue that I’m this specifically stoked for. All the more as–unlike #200–I have the previous 43 issues to read up to current and fill in any immediate gaps.

We’ll see how things play out, even with just being able to get the "parody" cover and/or the main cover.

My primary annoyance is that I cannot find ANY page anywhere that specifically lists which cover is which to a list. Which cover is the "A" cover, which is the "B" cover, and so on. With so many covers…I would think the publisher at least ought to have something.

That I can’t just "message ahead" to the comic shop to hold the cover I specifically want is a definite PROBLEM with so many variants wantonly out there for the issue; before getting into any "ratioed" variants and such (those I choose to try to ignore entirely as best I can and hope that none of the images I’m interested in are the "ratioed.")