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This year being the 20th anniversary of "Spawn," I was planning to celebrate the occasion on my blog next month. But, despite saying May on the cover of #1, I've only been finding mentions of a June release in my research. And various June dates at that. Todd McFarlane says it hit shelves June 2, 1992 in the "Image Comics" hardcover, but that was a Tuesday. (Maybe he meant the 3rd?) The timeline in the back of the hardcover says June 4, a Thursday, and one website said Jan(!) 6. I think they may have meant June 6, but that was a Saturday.

Perhaps it's straying into anal-retentive area, but does anybody know the real date it was released on? I'd appreciate it.

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I have a signed copy from the "Official First Day of Issue" signing at Golden Apple Comics, which the COA states was June 4, 1992.

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George Khoury's history of Image Comics (Image Comics:The Road to Independence) lists Youngblood #1(the first Image book) as having a release date of April 16,1992 which was a Thursday. I know that the day of the week for new releases has moved around but I'm not sure what it was in 92. Unfortunately, I don't see an exact date listed for Spawn #1 in the book

The comichronicles website does list Spawn #1 as being the highest selling book in MAY of 92.

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1992.html

edit: Murch's post about it being June 4, 1992 makes sense if Thursday was new release day back then(since the 4th was a Thursday).

Here's a scan of the COA.

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Thanks for the information, guys. I don't remember New Comic Book Day being on Thursday back then, but I guess it was. Thanks again. I appreciate it.

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My Blog | Pull List: Gambit, Ghostbusters, John Carpenter's Asylum, The Shadow, The Spider, Star Wars, Thief of Thieves.

Haha....thanks to this thread, I am now totally fascinated/obsessed with untangling the history of "new comic day". I'm 34 and have been collecting since my pre-teens, but I have to admit I didn't become a "Wednesday" shopper until relatively recently. I never really payed attention to when new books came out when I was kid, having money to spend would dictate when I would be making it out my shop. Anyways, I did find this discussion over at the Bendis/Jinxworld boards where people clearly remember NCD as having moved around from Friday to Thursday to its current Wednesday-


http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/a ... 78662.html

I also remember Joe Casey discussing New Comic Day moving around in one of his text pieces in the back of Butcher Baker but I can't find my issues right now. And one final bit-the release date for Superman #75(death of Superman) is listed in several places as November 18, 1992 which is a WEDNESDAY. So it seems that in early 92, new comics were being released on Thursdays and by the end of the year they had moved to Wednesday. Makes sense, given the explosion in comic sales in 92, that the industry would make some sort of changes that year. Interesting stuff. To me anyway!

I remember new comic book day being Friday... I would have comics to read over the weekend

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Since my Comichron site was mentioned, I should clarify what it means. Both Diamond and Capital City, the two largest distributors in 1992, ranked Spawn #1 as their top-preordered comic book for May of 1992. They did not organize their rankings based on when comics actually shipped; in fact, there were many comics in the Top Sellers lists that did not ship at all, ever.

So it is very likely that Spawn #1 came out on that June date. The preorder charts would have still said May, even if it shipped late.

Diamond switched to reporting Actual Shipped Orders in February 2003, so in all charts thereafter, you are looking at when the book actually went on sale (with occasional exceptions, like AVX #1).

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Best,
John Jackson Miller
Comics & fiction: http://www.farawaypress.com
Comics research: http://www.comichron.com

Wow! Hi John, thanks for stopping by. Can you shed any light on what day of the week new comics were being released back then? It looks like Thursday was new comic day in early 92, but by November of that year it had switched to Wednesday. I've heard from many people that Friday was "their" new comic day. Just curious. Thanks!

Yes! I loved New Comic Fridays! Sucks they're on Wednesdays now, as I don't get paid till Thursday!

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