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Down But Not Out

by Drew Clements westofmiskatonic@gmail.com

There’s a common misconception that I dislike the early 90’s Image Comics as a whole and that’s not entirely true. For the most part, in my opinion of course, Image of the 1990’s was a place of hollow excess; the comics had fantastic art, but were pretty bare in the storytelling department. There were exceptions of course, which I believe the standout books to be Larsen’s Savage Dragon, Valentino’s Shadowhawk, Sam Keith’s The Maxx, and the book I’ll be talking about this week: Spawn. Now, regardless of what you think of Todd McFarlane’s business decisions (the Miracle Man thing with Gaiman, etc), it’s pretty hard to argue that the guy isn’t a groundbreaking figure in the world of comic books. He’s one of the most successful people in the business for a reason and you can throw out your opinions as to why all day long, controversial or not. A factual reason as to why he has been so successful is the creation of Spawn, a character that for a while was almost as popular in America as Marvel’s Spider-Man. Spawn #1 - “Questions” Original Release Date: May 1992 Written/Penciled/Inked: Todd McFarlane Letterer: Tom Orzechowski Colorist: Steve Oliff Editor: Wanda Kolomyjec Now (1992): A voice in the darkness ponders a treacherous bargain and the idea of dying… again. He made the decision to come back to the world, that’s all there is to it. Why, though? Then (1987): It’s all over the news: the death of Lieutenant Colonel Al Simmons. A military hero best known for saving the United States President from an attempt on his life, Simmons disappeared shortly thereafter and reports of his involvement with covert government tasks forces were all to be heard. He is survived by his wife, Wanda Simmons. Now (1992): Memories, or shards of them, are all Simmons can think of. It’s hard to put the puzzle together with so many pieces barely visible; there’s a woman, who he remembers loving very much-the very reason for his wanting to live again; there are others though, the ones which evoke nothing but hate, who are linked to the betrayal-a framing--and his death, but who are they? Then there is one last piece: someone-something-else; the one that he struck the deal with; the one that brought him back from the dead to see this woman once again. There were lies though, throughout this “deal.” Unfortunately for Spawn, the deal was made and the chance to turn back has gone. Now he sits in an dark, smelly, dirty alleyway, dressed in a strange costume, endowed with extraordinary and mysterious powers, and lacking the memories needed to remember the woman or to hunt those who hurt him the most-the ones that killed him. Nonetheless, he decides it’s time for him to find this woman. She’ll remember him, right? If so, then she’ll have plenty of valuable answers-answers that’ll lead him right to the ones responsible for his death. Elsewhere, two of New York’s finest detectives, Sam and Twitch, go over a crime scene. It’s a rather gruesome scene as Sam runs through the details, with Twitch correcting him along the way: a man, Carlo Giamotti, is thrown through a window on the forty-fourth floor, but wasn’t killed by the fall. What killed him was the forceful removal of his heart, which was then stuffed into his mouth just before taking the dive. It’s strange, in the last forty-eight hours three hit men have been killed. Same comes to the conclusion that either they have a big time psycho or the “best damn volunteer cop in New York City.” Or both! Spawn, on his way to find the mysterious woman, stumbles upon four men in a warehouse preparing to rape a woman. Before the baddies can take things too far, Spawn confronts them, warning them to leave immediately, “Or you’re all dead.” It’s a stern warning, that’s much more a promise than a threat. But, as most bad guys do, they refuse to listen to reason and instead insist on getting their asses handed to them. The leader of the crew pulls a knife on our crazy, costumed anti-hero. With little effort, Spawn grabs the goon by the throat and tosses him through a window. The rest of the gang seem to get the idea, because they all high-tail it outta there. Left alone with the woman, Spawn attempts to calm her down, but is suddenly left breathless himself as a powerful vision hits him; it’s her again! In his mind he can see the woman that had meant so much to him those five years ago. Then he sees something else; something horribly morbid: his funeral. Ah, but there she is again, dressed in black and mourning. It takes a moment, but when Spawn comes back to, he is in the arms of the woman he just saved. She is now the consoling and comforting one. A short while later, Spawn finds himself wandering through the alleys, still thinking about this mysterious woman. Who is she? Then it hits him, she is his wife. That’s all though-he can’t remember anything else about his life. He does know that she is the one that made him come back; the one he decided to make the deal for-the deal to come back from the dead. The world around him has changed so much in five years; everything feels different. He knows that he is alive, but he just can’t feel it. It’s time to take off the costume-to see that he is alive again. But, upon removing the black and white mask, Spawn finds that something is not quite right; his face feels… weird. What is it? He takes off the left glove and is shocked! His body… it’s burned to a crisp; he’s horribly disfigured! Somewhere else-somewhere in time-a disgusting creature is laughing. Spawn’s problems, he growls between wet cackles, are only going to get worse. That’s it-that’s the entire issue. It seems a little short, but it really isn’t. What you have to realize is that this is an Image comic, which means that there are multiple pages with very little dialogue or narration, but full-blown spectacular art. That’s just how Image was. By the way, when I say “was” I mean “was.” Image is completely different now; it’s putting out books that are arguably the best written (and drawn) in the business, so don’t let my remarks about how it used to be sway you from picking up anything from the company. Hell, pick up some of their older stuff from the early 90’s anyway. Who knows, you might like it! Different strokes and all… This issue gives you just enough, in terms of story, to pique your interest and loads of eye candy. Todd paces the story over the first twenty issues or so with such dramatic precision that it had me running to the comic store each month, ready for more. At the time this book was printed, I had never really read a gritty, blatantly violent or gory comic book story. I hadn’t yet read Alan Moore’s Watchmen or really any other comic that was geared toward an older crowd. Needless to say, it blew me away to see expletives and lots of blood in a comic. I walked away from it with a new outlook on comics in general and an interest in reading something other than just the ordinary Marvel and DC books. In my opinion, Spawn still deserves all the accolades it received back in ’92. Unfortunately, as with most things, eventually greatness suffered; when Todd left the book in hands other than his own, it suffered; when the toy company really took off, it suffered. The book became much more a catalogue for McFarlane Toys than a book about a troubled anti-hero. I’ve gotta give the book a hand though: it has lasted thirteen years. Most of Image’s other books have been re-launched and re-invented a dozen times over. Not Spawn though-nope, it keeps on truckin’. As a matter of fact, as of this writing, we’re coming up on issue #150. Todd’s coming back on for the art and David Hine, from Marvel’s spectacular District X series, will be writing it. It’ll be the first issue of the book I’ve picked up in nearly nine years. I doubt this is your first introduction to the character of Spawn and his world, due to his movie (ugh! I like it for nostalgic reasons!) and HBO cartoon series (awesome ‘toon!), but hopefully it’ll give you incentive to check out some older issues of the book or maybe pick it up when I do, with #150. This particular issue of Spawn tends to fluctuate in price; you can find it anywhere from five to forty dollars, depending on your source (eBay, private seller, or comic shop) and its condition. You can also check it out in the first Spawn trade paperback, which I do believe is still in print. Either way, you can’t go wrong. Next week? I dunno, but it definitely won’t be an issue of Tribe…