There are two editions of this figure. The first edition, Zombie Spawn 1 has five versions while Zombie Spawn 2 has two versions.
ZOMBIE SPAWN 1
Series 7 appeared in February 1997 together with Spawn 3. And there are to date five official versions of Zombie Spawn 1.
Which come first? Zombie or Spawn
A.k.a the Oxymoronic Spawn; the conundrum - which comes first? Undead as Spawn or Undead as Zombie? Or is he some sort of Undead x 2? Did He die, became a Zombie, then died again and became a Zombie Spawn or is it the other way?!
How Zombie Spawn comes about?
Weird or otherise, oxymoronic or not, now you can add contradiction to the origin of Zombie Spawn. There are three stories to choose from:
Story One
The 1997 version that appeared together with the collectible.
"A Spawn can survive for hundreds of years if he carefully monitors his power supply. Before becoming Zombie Spawn, this warrior died at the hands of another at a very young age. He wanted to live forever, and sought revenge on the killer, so he made a pact with Malebolgia, the leader of the Darklands. Now, Zombie Spawn, armed with a high-tech gun and chain saw, nears the end of his existence on Earth. His body and armour have been repaired hundreds of times, but he refuses to give up."
Story Two
According to Curse of the Spawn #22: Darkland published in July 1998 written by Alan McElroy:
In this second version, the story centred not on Zombie Spawn but on a nerdy guy named Ryan Hatchett. This particular story is incidentally a microcosm of why comics appeal to a certain group of people. The girl on the right, ladies and gentlemen is Suzette and in the wonderful make-believe world of comics, she is the girlfriend of Mr Hatchett! Now you know why comics appeal to a particular genre.
Ryan Hatchett committed suicide and discovered he is in a zombie world ruled by Zombie Spawn and his girlfriend happens to be there too. Look at that image, I am serious, Suzette is the girlfriend of Hatchett.
The thing is, Zombie Spawn wanted very much to eat Suzette, duh, who don't?
So Ryan bravely rescue her from Zombie Spawn. Thus, in this one-off issue about the ultra geeky Ryan Hatchett, we are now presented with two versions of Zombie Spawn - the indefatigable warrior as presented on the Series 7 card and the girlfriend snatching Zombie king.
Story Three
But that's not all. In 1999, Japan introduced to us yet another story of Zombie Spawn, this time in a manga comics (to be translated as Shadows of Spawn many years later). The latest incarnation of Zombie Spawn, which incidentally bears a close resemblance to the collectible figure of Zombie Spawn is a mentor, a good guy, a sort of good Cogliostro. He is the sidekick and shifu to the main star - Ken Kurosawa the Spawn.
Enough of fairy tales, how about the Collectibles?
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February 1997 Series 7 Original: Zombie Spawn
The first version has a dark brown body and instead of a supeheroic red cape, he decided to wear it as red vest and for leftover, turn it into a loincloth.
There are variants in the market as regards to the length of the sword but it has never affect the resale price one iota.
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May 1997 Series 7 Repaint: Zombie Spawn
You cannot forget this figure, it is one of the ugliest repaint that you would have seen. He comes across as cheap - it lacks the solid feel of the original (not that you guys who kept it inside its prison would notice it anyway). The body is grey instead of dark brown, which accounts for his horrible appearance. Variants include a somewhat whitish face rather than greyish!
On a sidenote, when you have the time, look up Manga Dead Spawn and do a comparative analysis with this Repaint.
...are those snots coming ut from his nose! The Zombie-Mentor Spawn in Shadows of Spawn look benign compared to this guy!
...rather faceless when see from the side
...but he sure got a lot of stuff on his back
Whereas the original (on left) has a red loincloth, the repaint spots a loincloth with the Spawn logo. He should go all the way and put on a Spawn mask.
These figures does have one positive note: the choice of weaponry, giving display collectors the option of weapons for him to pose with.
The original has a beautifully crafted and articulated left hand. It allows the figures to wield two of the four weapons provided - two guns, a sword and a chainsaw.
The 'al cheapo' repaint has the chainsaw permanently fixed to the left hand! With the fixed chainsaw, he can be 'Leatherface Spawn'. Can you imagine the ad - 'Thomas Hewitt likes to saw people and when he is dead, he makes a deal with Malebolgia and returns to saw more people.'
TRADING SERIES
One of the figure selected to launch the mini 3" trading figure series. It helps that the figure has been miniaturised, it is rather cute and no longer as ugly!
April 2006 Trading Series 1
The miniature original figure wears a similar red vest as the regular-sized original but instead of silver boots, the little fellow prefers a rather fashionable pairs of tan boots. The repainted 3" figure is much more agreeable when compared to the regular-sized repaint. His vest is blue and pants is tan and he don't look half as bad when reduced to 3". And it helps that the exclusive figure is washed in silver (or pewter). It makes the figure looks 'precious' and rare. Notice that only the one-washed exclusive has a loincloth?
ZOMBIE SPAWN 2
To say that we dislike Zombie Spawn is quite an understatement. Display-wise, the Zombie Spawns are at the bottom of the cupboard and at the backrow, kept diligently out of sight less I be accused of scaring the kids. They are there to make up the numbers! Good sculpt aside, we wish there is a masked option!
Zombie Spawn 2 is McFarlane Toys attempt to remake the original Series 7 figure of Spawn 1. It is definitely superior to the original. Yes, we know that the advertisement said 'Spawn Series 28 features six completely resculpted new versions of some of the greatest Spawn figures ever produced' but there is NO way that the first edition of Zombie Spawn can be considered 'great' by any stretch of the imagination!
There are two versions of Zombie Spawn 2 but they did not arrived separately as an original and repaint versions. Both were released concurrently in the market in October 2005 as Mass Market and Specialty Edition.
October 2005 Series 28 Original: Zombie Spawn
Despite the Mass Market connotation of its suitability to the general public, I really don't see how this grumpy fellow would convince a parent into buying this figure for his son as a present.
October 2005 Series 28 Variant: Zombie Spawn
And the Specialty Market Edition, over my part of the world, the market is so specialised that this is the only edition available.
HOW TO TELL THEM APART?
The face is an obvious identification tool. The original on the left of picture is grim and gives the impression of a toothless, dessicated old man. The variant on the other hand is a snarling creature with bright shining eyes.
The other method and an easier recognition tool to determine the edition (since you would be likely staring at a tiny picture in eBay) is the accessories. A word of warning about eBay sellers - ensure that the picture the seller posts is that of the figure and not copied from, eg spawn.com.
The difference in the accessories is that of 'no skull vs skulls'. variant (right of pic) has a heap of skulls clinging onto him ala Predator, including one pierced onto his hook while original (left of pic) has yet to score a single kill.
