CGC Signature Series Creator Spotlight: Clayton Crain

Artist: Clayton Crain

Next CGC Signature Series deadline: August 15, 2025, is the deadline to submit your books for the next Clayton Crain Private Signing. Go here to learn more about the upcoming signing.

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Creator origins: Crain has been illustrating since 1998, was a penciler until 2002, and has worked in digital art, acrylic and oil painting in the years that followed. He is best known for his exquisite work on Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears, Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation, X-Force and Carnage for Marvel. He worked with Todd McFarlane on Curse of the Spawn for Image Comics and has done work for Valiant Comics on the popular Shadowman series. Fans can find Crain’s stunning cover work on recent series like Ultimate Black Panther, Gargoyles: Quest and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Top picks: Some of Crain’s most popular work includes:

• Shadowman #16 (1998) – first cover by Clayton Crain
• Venom #14 (2004) – cover art by Clayton Crain
• Sensational Spider-Man #40 (2007) – cover art by Clayton Crain
• Deadpool #1 (2008) – premiere issue
• Carnage #1 (2010) – cover art by Clayton Crain
• Ultimate Fallout #4 (2011) – first appearance of Miles Morales
• Spawn 25th Anniversary #1 (2017) – variant cover by Clayton Crain
• Punisher #219 (2018) – first full appearance of Punisher in War Machine Armor
• Spider-Geddon #0 (2018) – first comic appearance of Gamerverse Spider-Man

CGC Comics Registry highlight: CGC Registry Member ComicGuy403 has some excellent CGC 9.8 examples in their sets, Clayton Crain Universal and Clayton Crain Signature.

Auction highlight: An Ultimate Fallout #4 variant edition graded CGC Signature Series 9.8 with a signature by Clayton Crain sold for $9,900 in a Heritage Auctions sale in January 2024.

Did you know? Before he became a Marvel mainstay, Crain got his start in comics with Acclaim’s Shadowman, illustrating issues #16–20 under the name “Klayton Krain”.

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