When, in many decades time, Todd McFarlane leaves this world and the tributes from the comic book world come in, he’ll be considered a great pioneer of the medium thanks to the creation of Image Comics and Spawn. He’ll also be remembered for his memorable work on Spiderman, and perhaps on stories like Batman: Year Two. However, there is one thing that McFarlane will certainly not be remembered for – his writing. Compared to many other writers of comic books in the 1980s and 1990s, McFarlane is an amateur. Admittedly, he had little writing experience before Spawn launched in 1992, but with unimaginative dialogue, flat attempts at humour, plotting that would bore even golden age writers to sleep, and scripting which lacks much professionalism, McFarlane will never be considered a fantastic scribe. For a period, McFarlane was smart enough to understand this. After seven issues at the helm, McFarlane believed Spawn required a creative boost – one which could easily materialise with writers who knew what they were doing. With that – and no doubt a tasty promise of good money – McFarlane managed to secure the most famous names in the comic book industry, hoping that their talent could bless his new creation…
For this second review, I’ll be looking at the famous guest-written issues of Spawn published between 1993 and 1995. Written by the likes of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim, Frank Miller, and Grant Morrison (with the aid of Todd McFarlane), I’ll be looking at Spawn 8-11, 16-18, and 37. Todd McFarlane, Greg Capullo, Dan Panosian, Art Thibert, Mark Pennington, and Kevin Conran are the artists here. For a variety of reasons, some of which I’ll get into as we go along, some of these issues were rarely printed after they were first published. However, in 2021, Image Comics released Spawn Compendium Volume One, which collected all the first fifty issues of the title.
In Heaven (Everything is Fine) --- Written by Alan Moore with art by Todd McFarlane
At first sight, Alan Moore would seem an ideal writer for Spawn. That’s not just because he has had a history of writing titles, such as Swamp Thing, where Hell and its evil creatures are commonplace, but mainly because Moore was the creator who fundamentally evolved the creativity of the medium. After seven issues of stagnant plots, Moore is the best person to add something interesting to the mix. I was rather surprised to find that Spawn 8 is actually linked to Spawn 5. Moore focuses on Billy Kincaid, that child murderer that Spawn killed off. This was a pleasant surprise, and Moore sets the story in a strange afterlife realm where Kincaid and other members of the departed are hunted by creatures above them. Think of this like the seven circles of hell – Kincaid is a king of the wildest and neanderthal realm, while godly creatures above look down on them like ants. The concept here is Moore all the way down the line. And it’s made better by an interesting cast. Including a mostly non-verbal child-killer as the protagonist works since we are aware of his crimes, and as Moore inserts a young child as a secondary character, we just know that even in these desperate situations, Kincaid cannot resist the temptation to kill. Towards the end of the issue, Kincaid nearly strangles the child to death, seconds before it transforms into a devil known as the Vindicator. This beast hunts Kincaid, but we all know that he will lose. Although originally written to be the embodiment of all evil and someone for Spawn to kill, Moore creatively takes advantage of what appeared to be a one-off character. That said, Moore does end it strangely as Kincaid – along with every other victim of Spawn – is forced to become a Hellspawn in the fiery pits. I guess it’s some kind of punishment, but the reasoning isn’t clear. Despite a strong focus and a sense of suspense, overall Moore’s writing brings mixed results. It almost feels too slow and inactive at times. Elements of it feel more like an old Future Shocks story Moore would write for 2000AD, or even an oddly placed back-up in The Omega Men. Over twenty pages is probably too long really. But all-in-all, it’s hard to fault its uniquely Alan Moore premise and sense of suspense.
Angela --- Written by Neil Gaiman with art by Todd McFarlane
These days, Spawn 9 is often remembered more as a legal battlefield than a story of its own. Written by Neil Gaiman of DC’s The Sandman fame, his guest issue creates a range of new characters. Surprisingly, the first half is set in the Medieval period, with another version of Spawn present. By this point, it’s established that there have been many Spawns – or Hellspawns – over the centuries, all created by the devil, but working for different purposes. This Medieval Spawn finds a crying woman in a forest. Named Angela, she requests the help of Spawn. However, this is all a ruse. With her magic and a grudge against all Hellspawns, she murders this Spawn. While this first half can be difficult to read thanks to a mixture of pretentious captions and far too much exposition, I really like the lore that Gaiman adds. Focusing on the past and including other Spawns adds something new to the title. It returns some of that mystery which McFarlane revealed too early on in the run. 800 years on from Angela’s killing of that Hellspawn, she goes after the contemporary Spawn. But this time, she runs into trouble as the modern-day devilish hero is more of a challenge. Although she retreats to lick her wounds, it’s naturally assumed that she will return to defeat her nemesis. While the lore of previous Spawns is interesting, a grudge against a hero is nothing really new. Therefore, Angela isn’t exactly a memorable foe for Spawn. But this is partly where all the legal troubles have come from. In this issue, Gaiman created three characters – Medieval Spawn, Angela, and some demon who is so forgettable that I didn’t bother mentioning him. Image Comics was launched so companies didn’t own the characters – these characters are owned by their creators, in this case writer Gaiman and artist McFarlane. But in the decade after Spawn 9, McFarlane used these characters without Gaiman’s consent. A disagreement between the two creators emerged and it went to court a number of times. When it comes to the characters in Spawn 9, Gaiman won his legal battle and was, in 2012, given full ownership of Angela. He subsequently sold Angela to Marvel. While much can be said about the legal battle between McFarlane and Gaiman, overall Spawn 9 makes for a decent issue. Gaiman’s creativity when it comes to plotting adds a new layer to Spawn’s world, something I doubt McFarlane could have achieved on his own. That said, Angela makes for a pretty boring villain. All-in-all, it’s mixed, but it’s better than bad.
Crossing Over --- Written by Dave Sim with art by Todd McFarlane
Dave Sim’s Spawn 10 must be one of the strangest and most curious comic books I have ever read. Sim became famous for creating a cartoon named Cerebus the Aardvark, published by an independent Canadian publisher. Launched in 1977, Cerebus, from what I can make of it, was a pretty varied title that began as comedic parody, but later explored more serious world issues. Sim is perhaps a strange choice to write an issue of Spawn, but ultimately it works. Spawn 10 carries on the theme of hell and its levels started by Moore. It dwells a bit on characters from the usual run such as those two cliched detectives, but suddenly, my eyes nearly jumped out of skull. Spawn is transported to a realm where superheroes and supervillains are locked behind bars. And these aren’t just generic or boring Image characters. No, we can clearly see the arms of Batman, Superman, the Hulk, Spiderman, the Joker, the Thing, and many others as they try to escape from their cell. And opposite them, tied to the walls with a shroud over their heads, are the creators of these characters.
It’s one thing to say that superheroes are a universe of fiction in Spawn’s world, but it’s another to include these DC and Marvel characters and creators in a Spawn story. Sadly, there isn’t much plot after this grand reveal. Spawn cannot release these fictional beings from their trapped world. Instead, Sim writes that the helpless heroes are the ones who have given Spawn his powers. Superman – obviously hidden slightly in the dark for legal reasons – is the conduit of this message. It’s a nice touch, but it’s not a moment that McFarlane could keep referring to in future stories. Aside from any legal heartaches that could arise, the whole idea of Spawn receiving his powers from much better and higher-quality characters would be far from ideal. Because of this shock, the inclusion of Cerebus is mooted. The strange aardvark opens up a dream world for Spawn where he has a life with Wanda and a daughter. I like how Sim ends the story on a high. Of course, we know that this world will crumble the second we turn the page for the next issue, but it makes for a sweet conclusion. Spawn 10 does have its slightly pretentious, but it does contain a memorable signet of joy which is rarely felt in comics. The only other time readers may experience anything like it would be when enjoying the last few issues of Grant Morrison’s Animal Man. The sense of surprise and breaking barriers is highly memorable. But for creators like Sim and McFarlane, who pride themselves consistently on the rights of writers and artists when it comes to their creations, I find it both amusing yet rudely ironic that they craftily and sneakily placed characters from DC and Marvel in the story. While I have no idea how they got away with this, there seems to be no breach of copyright policy or an infringement on the rights of the two big beasts. Nonetheless, it’s definitely the most interesting of the guest issues…
Home Story --- Written by Frank Miller with art by Todd McFarlane
Here’s the one I really haven’t been looking forward to. Frank Miller is considered one of the giants of the medium, and it should remain that way, but pretty much all of his work from the 1990s onwards really does stink. To kick off Spawn 11, the hero wakes up in a back alley after his dreams in the previous issue. Surrounded by his homeless friends, Spawn gets involved in a gang war. One of the main villains is a typical meat-shield who swears and wears a hat with the word ‘boomer’ one it. There’s also another called Byron, but honestly all of these guys are just the same. Throughout is laced dialogue which could have been written by a six-year-old. Much of it is pointless and highly unrealistic. I don’t know if Miller is trying to be funny, but overall, this story lacks any of the grim realism or interesting internal dialogue of The Dark Knight Returns. This is far closer to The Dark Knight Strikes Again. It also features a weird ending – Spawn just kills all the gangsters. This moment feels like it’s done just for effect. It’s an edgy attempt to emulate the wrath of the Spectre, but actually there is no weight to Spawn’s actions since the villains are so terrible. Overall, it’s both forgettable and appalling to read.
Reflections --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Greg Capullo, Dan Panosian, Art Thibert, and Mark Pennington
Spawn 16-18 was released at a time when Grant Morrison was the face of comics at their most eccentric. He had initially followed closely in Alan Moore’s footsteps, but by 1993, Morrison had cultivated a unique persona and style of writing. Capturing a new sense of originality and creativity that few other writers have had, Morrison transformed underwhelming characters and books such as Doom Patrol and Animal Man to become household names. He was an obvious choice for McFarlane to write a Spawn story. And even better, McFarlane offered him three issues to write what must be considered one of the best Spawn stories out there.
Like every Grant Morrison story, Spawn 16 launches with surprise. Set in a strange town called Simmonsville, two soldiers are confronted by a monstrous devil that tears them apart. The government has been keeping a close eye on this town, and it’s because – as the name suggests – Simmonsville is a collection of the memories of Al Simmons. Before he became Spawn, Al Simmons worked for the government, but he became increasingly disenchanted with their work. The government made a deal with the devil and killed off Simmons, but they collected his memories with something called pyschoplasm. Morrison writes here that hell is personal everyone, and pyschoplasm is the physical manifestation of each person’s netherworld. Why the government needs the memories of Al Simmons is a good question that is never given a real answer. In normal cases, a writer trying to logicalize hell using suedo-science would be depressingly dull, but thankfully Morrison doesn’t go too-Gardner Fox on us. Pyschoplasm only really features in this first issue. Meanwhile, Morrison cooks up a plot which I’m surprised McFarlane didn’t look at sooner. Still wanting to know more of his past and how he is living in his current body, Spawn digs up his own grave and finds the body of Al Simmons. This is something that probably should have happened in the title’s first issue, but better late than never.
When it comes to the villains of Morrison’s story, it’s something of a mixed bag. The ‘we don’t like Spawn’ group, who Angela was a part of it, unleash a new weapon to defeat their arch-nemesis – Jason Wynn, who was Al Simmons’s boss in the military. He is taken and transformed into Anti-Spawn, a super-powered force that can match the supernatural abilities of Spawn. While I really like the name and look of Anti-Spawn – it might seem corny, but it feels like a classically silver-age comic book creation – Jason Wynn is a typical 1990s character. Muscular, cold, and evil for the sake of it, he’s a pretty tiresome character. Thankfully, Morrison doesn’t go too deep into him as there is nothing really to be gained there…
Spawn 17 is round one between Spawn and Anti-Spawn. After Malbolgia (the devil) speaks to Spawn in a rare moment about his past, Spawn fights his new foe in Simmonsville. Not only do we witness a fight where Spawn is genuinely beaten to a pulp, but he is surrounded by a mixture of happy and grim memories from his past. By using the very creative, if a bit silly, concept of Simmonsville, Morrison delivers a genuinely powerful commentary on Simmons’s backstory and personality. This has never been done before. McFarlane only made Simmons interesting because we didn’t know much about him. And perhaps that explains why we’re rooting for Spawn more than usual here. Morrison writes a pretty standard fight between a hero and a villain, but there’s an interesting commentary present throughout to ensure that we support the protagonist. This is how you make a fight scene interesting. Doug Moench did the same in the very famous Batman 497, where Bane breaks the Dark Knight’s spine. It would have been lazy for a writer to include no dialogue and let the art do all the work, but actually a talented writer can add another layer of drama.
Spawn 18 obviously conveys Spawn’s rebound. But Morrison does it through surprise. Just as it looks like Spawn will be killed by Anti-Spawn, all of those homeless people he helped in the backstreets of the city come to his aid. With their help, Anti-Spawn is defeated. He isn’t killed – he is transported back to high command to lick his wounds. One day, he may return (unless McFarlane makes the same mistake, he did with the Gaiman characters). In the end, Spawn heads back to Simmonsville and destroys all the pyschoplasm, collecting its remains in a single spark. He gifts those remnants of Al Simmons’s world to his ex-wife Wanda. With this ending, this feels like a great place to end the story of Al Simmons. Sadly, the title goes on, but where to? I haven’t read any of the following issues by McFarlane, but I can say that Morrison writes Simmons’s story better than its creator, and with an ending that feels emotionally satisfying. Unlike other Spawn stories, Morrison doesn’t flood the pages with blood and guts. He knows he doesn’t need to. Overall, Morrison writes a story that may not seem too bizarre or out-of-place for such a writer, but for a title like Spawn, this feels so different. Morrison takes advantage of an odd concept in Simmonsville to finish of Al Simmons’s story. With its creative way of storytelling and engaging dialogue, Spawn 16-18 is easily one of the best stories in the run.
The Freak --- Written by Alan Moore and Todd McFarlane, with art by Greg Capullo, Todd McFarlane, and Kevin Conrad
Spawn 37 is home to Alan Moore’s second and final story for the Spawn title. Why McFarlane invited him back is unknown but thank god for it. The focus here is on the Freak, a maniac living on the streets. One night, he is attacked, and Spawn comes to the rescue. The eccentric Freak sees Spawn as a kindred spirit, and he reveals to the hero a long and tragic backstory. The Freak once worked secretly for the government, but then his family were killed when he went after a villain called Doctor Delirum. This evil professor, with money and resources backing him up, tortured the Freak. His mind wasn’t destroyed, but it was scrambled. The Freak wants to defeat Doctor Delirum once-and-for-all, and Spawn decides to help him. They break into Doctor Delirum’s ‘lair’, only to find its actually a hospital and the professor they kill is the Freak’s doctor. Moore hints at the Freak’s warped perception of things throughout the story as there are holes in his backstory, but Moore subtly reveals this. In the end, the Freak reveals to Spawn that his whole get-up is a fake, done only to give himself a life. But still, Moore places doubt on the Freak’s background story once more. We’re treated to a scene where the Freak’s wife learns that he has escaped from the local asylum yet again. He is angry at his wife because she refused to have children with him. Why Spawn doesn’t kill the Freak is confusing. He did just kill his doctor and lied about his backstory. However, Spawn doesn’t see killing the Freak as his job. Plus, that would rather ruin the ending. The Freak is an ideal one-off character. Moore does everything that could really ever be done with the Freak, but nothing would be achieved by killing him off. Overall, Spawn 37 is a classic example of Alan Moore plotting out an interesting tale with a good one-off character. Even with McFarlane’s name attached to the story, this doesn’t feel like your conventional Spawn issue.
A lot of the art here is by McFarlane, and if you’ve read Spawn 1-7, then there’s nothing really new to say. We can judge McFarlane more as a storyteller here, since the likes of Moore and Gaiman don’t fill their tales with endless fight scenes or bloodletting. McFarlane does a decent job, but some of his storytelling remains unclear and doesn’t do full justice to some of the plots. He does occasionally unleash a truly awesome page or panel now and again though. Standards do improve with the arrival of Greg Capullo. Now famous for pencilling much of Scott Snyder’s New 52 Batman title, Capullo is still very much developing as an artist here, but he clearly has a strong knack for storytelling. His finishes may look too similar to McFarlane for my liking, and some of his inkers don’t add too much of their own style to temper things, but overall, he shows far more promise in his work.
VERDICT
Overall, the guest issues of Spawn are naturally of a mixed quality, but it’s certainly better than bad. Moore’s two stories contain some very different plots to the type that McFarlane produces, while Gaiman happily delves into the lore of Spawn. Sim’s story is definitely one of the most enjoyable, while the same cannot be said for Miller’s. As for Morrison’s three-parter, it’s certainly a highlight of the Spawn run and it feels as if he can write, develop, and examine the star character and his story far better than his creator can. Overall, these issues are proof that McFarlane needed better scripters in. While Spawn may not be the most creative or unique concept, he does have potential. He can be the focus of great stories. But whether McFarlane learned anything from these issues, it’s difficult to say. Future issues of Spawn will no doubt answer that question. But I highly doubt that they’ll be anywhere near as good as a few of these issues are…
Next Week: Batman: The Cult (Batman: The Cult 1-4). Written by Jim Starlin with art by Bernie Wrightson.
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