Spawn

[The NZA]

 

hey, let's talk about Spawn.

 

you know, ive got the first trade still, up to when Angela was introduced, and i gotta say, you can see why it was such a great book. I mean, besides that Mcfarlane was smart enough then to get Miller and Gaiman to write for it, and act like there creations were his own. heh, that's irony. Anyway, i enjoyed the KKK issues, the ones about the two kids whose dad was beating them (and how spawn's intervention only made shit worse), his fights with the Redeemer, etc.

 

Spawn's a complete victim of the 90s formula of artist over writing, and you know this when looking at "events" like the costume change in #32 - if you forgot (easy to do), his cape got wholes in it, they took off his mask and left him the glowing, wormy face, etc. I think they added more spikes to his suit? Yeah.

 

Id long since dropped the book, but picked it up again right around issue # 50, when Spawn finally ran out of juice and had to return to hell. It was pretty fun, as i recall, seeing him trod through each floor of hell, besting its masters, on his oddesy towards Malbolgia. Trick was, after he survived & took over hell, he just returned to earth and swore himself its protector, which at the time (for me) felt like Mcfarlane was going full circle with the greats, now clearly heartset on ripping off Alan Moore's Swamp Thing angle.

 

Id tried out Curse of Spawn or whichever it was Bendis was on in the day, but everytime ive tried the regular series (yes, its still ongoing, sometimes) since, its felt like its not about much of anything, which i figure is fair for a franchise character but kind of a letdown. Nowadays, spawn images make cool backgrounds and not much else, like Ghost Rider. I dont even know if Greg Capullo is still on the book.

 

Anyway, end of this month's Invincible hyped Spawn: Endgame, which according to its official site, says:

 

This October, the Spawn comic book reaches a major turning point, starting in issue #185. This milestone issue introduces a new creative team, headed by the creator of Spawn himself, Todd McFarlane. Joining Todd is Image Comics co-founder Whilce Portacio and fan-favorite Spawn writer Brian Holguin.

 

Spawn: Endgame promises to be the biggest event in the Spawn comic book since issue #1.

 

Wow, i dont think ive seen Portacio since uh, Wetworks? That guy was big in the Image heyday of Liefeld, Silvestri and them. Anyway, i think ill check it out when it shows up, out of morbid curiosity. I mean, things with endgame in their title are traditionally awesome.

 

[Iambaytor]

Is an all-new Spawn necessary? I mean are they pulling a Dan Ketch angle? I mean that pulled Ghost Rider from mediocrity for a while before securely plunging him back in face first. I bought my first issue of Spawn when I was like 8 (Recall that at this point in time Wal-Mart was selling shit like Alien vs. Predator and Evil Ernie in the toy aisle at Wal-Mart. This was the beautifully ignorant late 90s.)

 

The comic was about a whole lot of nothing, Spawn spent the issue torn to pieces being drug through an alley by his chains whilst the two cop characters dicked around and did a whole lot of nothing, I read a couple more issues a few years ago when I started pirating comics off the internet. It didn't impress me wholly but I've been meaning to give the series a second chance.

[The NZA]

yeah, i think i read that issue. sam & twitch didnt do too much too often, fro what i saw.

 

cmon, more of you guys know you read this book. i guarantee yahven will post here eventually.

[Newtype]

If I only had the power of a ModSkeet.

 

Self-pleasure=Nirvana, Dawg.

[HypnotizinChikns]

Is he still in the ally? I haven't read any Spawn in ages...

[Jables]

Spawn's always been an Ally, haven't you seen the tales of Spawn issue where he punches Hitler in the face? Wait, that mighta been Captain America...

[HypnotizinChikns]

.

[Jables]

Not as much sense as Spawn punching Hitler in the face and calling him a Nigger-fucker.

[The NZA]

you really shouldnt say that so loud.

mcfarlane could totally see it, and make it the next arc, and you'll just spend the next 2 years in a rigorous legal battle over your precious banging hitler action figure royalties.

[Jables]

It'd be a 3-way battle with Dr G since she's the brainchild between the coup-de-grais 'Nigger Fucker'. That's what goes on the t-shirts and sippy cups you see.

[HypnotizinChikns]

,

[Yahve]

Spawn is like a series to Tivo, kinda irritating on a per comic basis because of how little the story advances per issue. Yet as a trade paperback, zipping at full tilt provides the missing story that finally complements the beautiful art. Art which has always been the prime staple in the series.

 

For those of you who will never read spawn:

 

 

Spawn rose to omnipotence, saved the world, banished God and Satan, closed heaven and hell, and finally reduced himself to his previous status to wallow in misery for the true crimes he finally remembered comiting.

 

The final arc is all about how he didn't exactly put the world back as he should have. Noob god that he was.

 

 

Grab a trade and have fun

[Iambaytor]

I don't know, I always foudn McFarlane's art style too cartoony to be taken as seriously as his writing wanted it to be. Sure he will go down in history as the artist who created Venom and made the Lizard scary but it's often hard to look past the fact that he contorted Spider-Man into positions that someone with no bones would have trouble accomplishing.

 

Spawn always had a certaing creepy edge and the big demon thing always looked badass but beyond taping it to the front of your trapper keeper in 6th grade there's not much use for Spawn as a drawing. I mean it's 1% body (you might see part of a leg or a hand or something), 5% glowing green eyes, and 94% of that fucking cape.

 

The MacFarlane way: If you have a hard time drawing your main character, obscure roughly all of his features with a giant torn red cape. (He did it with Batman in that horrible crossover he did with Frank Miller too)

[The NZA]

yaven - yeah, that's what id read of it to (the book is really gonna end after that, though?), got me interested. i just read #182, big revelation of sorts there, once i got all caught up via wiki.

 

baytor - i more or less agree, but its a bit more than that. not much more, mind you.

 

I don't know, I always foudn McFarlane's art style too cartoony to be taken as seriously as his writing wanted it to be. Sure he will go down in history as the artist who created Venom and made the Lizard scary but it's often hard to look past the fact that he contorted Spider-Man into positions that someone with no bones would have trouble accomplishing.

 

 

yes, very true. the thing was, you had jim lee and guys changing up costumes & such on the x-men, making some of them look pretty badass & carry new badass attitudes. Mcfarlane came around and like you said, boom, Venom's on scene, there's crime wars, and yeah when he's given his own series, shit goes all dark - Lizard's cannibalistic, wolverine's around, there's murders galore, the black costume's back and your boy Morbius is even cool for a second. Mcfarlane didnt just draw webbing everywhere and contorted limbs, he also drew spidey's eyes really big! the storylines got darker than spidey'd been before, and post-miller, dark was hot.

i often forget, he was making nearly $1k per page once he got his own series.

 

Spawn always had a certaing creepy edge and the big demon thing always looked badass but beyond taping it to the front of your trapper keeper in 6th grade there's not much use for Spawn as a drawing. I mean it's 1% body (you might see part of a leg or a hand or something), 5% glowing green eyes, and 94% of that fucking cape.

 

that's the thing, i think mcfarlane took a step back and realized he was more a cover artist. christ knows his disciple greg capullo took over for years and im not sure everybody noticed. i sorta laughed when he did a "variant" cover of his own book for #100, but yeah, his art works well on posters, wallpapers, trapper keepers and such, like this:

 

 

The MacFarlane way: If you have a hard time drawing your main character, obscure roughly all of his features with a giant torn red cape. (He did it with Batman in that horrible crossover he did with Frank Miller too)

 

i will not tolerate such slander.