SPAWN #300
IMAGE COMICS
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Todd McFarlane with Scott Snyder (Chapter 2)
PENCILS: Greg Capullo (Chapter 1); Todd McFarlane (2); Jason Shawn Alexander (3) J. Scott Campbell (4); Jerome Opeña (5)
INKS: Todd McFarlane with Jonathan Glapion and J. Scott Campbell
COLORS: FCO Plascencia; Brian Haberlin; Peter Steigerwald; Matt Hollingsworth
LETTERS: Tom Orzechowski
EiC: Jon Goff
COVER: Todd McFarlane
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Todd McFarlane; Greg Capullo; Greg Capullo and Todd McFarlane; J. Scott Campbell; Jerome Opeña; Jason Shawn Alexander;
72pp, Color, $7.99 U.S. (September 2019)
Spawn created by Todd McFarlane
Spawn is a superhero/antihero character that stars in the long-running comic book series, Spawn. Published by Image Comics since its first issue, Spawn is Image's longest running title and, in terms of number of issues, is one of the longest-running independently-published comic book series in American comics history. [When I use the term, “independently-published,” I mean that it is not published by a comic book publisher like Marvel or DC Comics that is owned by a media conglomerate.]
Created by writer-artist and Image co-founder, Todd McFarlane, Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1 (cover dated: May 1992). Spawn is Albert Francis Simmons. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps, and he went on to work for the United States Secret Service and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Simmons joined the U.S. Security Group as a highly capable assassin, but is murdered during a mission.
Because of his life as an assassin, Simmons is sent to Hell where he made a deal with Malebolgia, one of the major Lords of Hell. Simmons agreed to become a “Hellspawn” (an officer in Hell's army) and to serve Malebolgia if he is allowed to see his wife, Wanda, one last time. While Malebolgia does return Simmons to Earth as a creature named “Spawn,” he stripped Simmons of his memories. Eventually, Spawn decided to break his agreement Hell, and then, began a long campaign to stop the forces of evil.
Spawn has reached its three-hundredth issue, and like he did for Spawn #100 and Spawn #200, McFarlane adds big names to this special issue's creative team. That includes DC Comics' superstar, Scott Snyder, as co-writer; superstar comic book artist Greg Capullo; rising star, Jerome Opeña; artist Jason Shawn Alexander; and variant cover hustler, J. Scott Campbell. Colorists FCO Plascencia, Brian Haberlin, Peter Steigerwald, and Matt Hollingsworth join longtime Spawn letterer Tom Orzechowski to complete the creative team.
Spawn #300 opens in Kearney, Nebraska, where the Johnston family is having its annual family reunion during the first weekend of August, as it has for the last twenty-six years. What is different this year is that there is a killer among them.
Meanwhile, Spawn continues his mission to free humanity from the clutches of both Heaven and Hell. Having already freed his own ass, Spawn is without his allies from Hell, and Heaven sure hasn't stopped being his enemy. Now, Spawn must face two of his oldest adversaries, the Clown and Violator. While Spawn fights to survive to the next stage of his struggle, new allies, however, are emerging...
I was a Spawn reader from the first issue back in 1992. I even read spin-off miniseries and ongoing series like Angela (Image Comics, 1994-1995), Curse of the Spawn (Image Comics, 1996-1999), and Spawn/WildC.A.T.S. (Image Comics, 1996). I stuck with Spawn for almost six years. Why did I quit? The story never really seemed to be going anywhere, and the story was stuck in a rut. It was always about Spawn either pining for his life as Al Simmons or struggling against his destiny as a “Hellspawn,” a member of the officer corps that would lead the forces of Hell.
Twenty-seven years later, Spawn has not changed much. Spawn is still struggling against Hell, but now he sees Hell and Heaven as interchangeable adversaries. Spawn wants to lead humanity in a war against both sides in order to free itself, as he did.
Todd McFarlane, like many of his Image Comics cohorts, launched Image with comic books that looked like superhero comics. However, these superheroes were military types – special operatives, secret agents, mercenaries, etc., and the stories featured the kind of action and violence of military science fiction and fantasy. Quite frankly, the initial Image Comics titles were closer to movies like James Carmeron's Aliens (1986) and select titles from actor-screenwriter Sylvester Stallone's filmography (especially the Rambo film series) than they were like classic comic books. Sure, some Image titles had a passing resemblance to Marvel and DC Comics titles. Cyberforce and WildC.A.T.s shared elements with Marvel's X-Men, and Spawn had more than a passing resemblance to Batman, especially to the Batman of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Still, Image Comics was introducing new kinds of superheroes to the American comic book artists.
The problem was that Todd McFarlane and his Image colleagues were never really good at the techniques of writing comic books. They were all about big action-oriented illustrations that depicted violence and characters in action-figure poses. Comics uses graphics, including illustrations, to tell stories. Pretty art, overwrought, “detailed” art, and striking visuals does not really tell a story.
However, it is good to see the art team of Greg Capullo (pencils) and McFarlane (inks) back together. The Capullo-McFarlane team drew most of the issues of Spawn that I read, so their reunion in Spawn #300 gives me a nice feeling of nostalgia. Nothing else in this issue registers with me, although I must say J. Scott Campbell is perfectly utilized here. The chapter that Campbell draws, which introduces “She-Spawn,” epitomizes the low-brow, exploitation, speculator-market crap heap from which Campbell emerged on his way to being a “superstar creator” and comic book “legend.”
The coloring and lettering in Spawn #300 are of professional quality but don't make the issue feel like the landmark it should be. In the end, I did find some things in Spawn #300 that I liked, enough to make me be generous with me grading.
★★★ out of 4 stars
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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