This week marks a major milestone in comics. “Spawn,” started in 1992, reached its 300th issue on Wednesday. While there have been collaborators that have come and gone, Todd McFarlane has been the driving force behind the series for 25+ years now. That type of stability has always been rare in comics, but is even rarer in today’s era of short runs, reboots, and more self-contained stories.
Aside from his fellow Image founder Erik Larson’s “Savage Dragon,” there doesn’t appear to be another creator owned series likely to hit 300 issues, and even “Savage Dragon” is 55 issues away from 300; four and a half years is a lifetime in the comics world.
But then again, the business, like everything, is cyclical. Maybe ten years from now, we’ll be seeing more books hitting triple digits with regularity. And so, that leads us to our Reader Poll question of the day: will another creator owned book, save for “Savage Dragon,” ever reach 300 issues? Vote in the poll, and check back on Monday for the results!