Spawn

Al Simmons, a murdered CIA assassin, made a deal with the devil to return to the living world — only to come back as a hellspawn: a tormented warrior armed with a symbiotic necroplasmic suit and granted dark supernatural powers.

Few characters announced the arrival of independent superhero comics quite like Spawn, who burst onto the scene in 1992 with the very first issue of his self-titled series — one of the founding statements of Image Comics and a genuine shot across the bow of the industry's established giants. Over more than three decades of continuous publication, this dark, brooding figure has accumulated 368 catalog appearances and an impressive eleven key issues that collectors still chase, a testament to the character's enduring grip on readers who love their heroes shadowed and morally complex. His world is populated by compelling figures like Wanda Blake, Twitch Williams, and Terry Fitzgerald, and his adventures have spilled across titles including Hellspawn and Savage Dragon, cementing his place as one of the most recognizable icons of the Copper/Modern Age. If you're building a serious modern comics collection, Spawn isn't a footnote — he's a cornerstone.