Blog

Spawn #209
Publisher: Image
Writer: Will Carlton
Artist: Szymon Kudranski
Cover: Szymon Kudranski

In this issue the new Spawn finally gets a crash course about the life of his predecessor Al Simmons from Twitch. Aside from their brief meeting in Spawn #200, Jim is still ignorant to much of what’s going on. In exchange for this info Jim has agreed to help Twitch out in regards to his ailing partner who has been hospitalized for a while. Unknown to Twitch is that a demon in the guise of a nurse has been making Sam even more sick. This has all been set up by Clown, who needs to keep Sam out of the picture for a while. Spawn and Twitch now have a very uneasy alliance since neither trusts the other, but they need what the other can provide.

If you’re one of the newer Spawn readers who came onto the title after Al Simmons had died, then this is a great issue for you. Carlton’s recap of Al’s past was welcome even for someone like me who knew the history. The pacing of the story has also been better, but I also think that’s because the issues are coming out more frequently now. All of this combined with Kudranski’s artwork is helping put this title back on my radar. During the flash back, Kudranski recreates McFarlane’s scene of the dead ice cream man left in Twitch’s office from Spawn #5. I compared the two and Kudranski’s was better for the mere fact it had that horror vibe instead of the regular superhero comic look.

This story is more character driven than the slugfests of old that were prevalent in Spawn. Carlton is using the characters we were first introduced to back in the 90s and making them great again. Basically, Kudranski and Carlton have brought a much needed horror edge back to Spawn and are delivering a quality story in the process.

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net