Originally Posted by
HellsRider
Well with issue 323 out, figured to give my thoughts on that, King Spawn 3, and Gunslinger 1.
Spawn 323 - Vampire leader guy - "Hey want to join forces and oh btw we took advantage of what you did and feasted on the humans in the town." Spawn - "How about no!" and kills the vampire leader. Rather meh issue honestly where this and the last issue easily could have been combined. Tired of yet another vampire horde and reminding how Spawn is part vampire which is a hangover from the Downing era that I just don't care for. Really feels like Todd has been on autopilot with the main book for a while now. Not sure what plot Rory McConville provides, but he is credited as that in this issue along with Todd doing the script and plot too.
King Spawn 3 - rather okay on this one and the best book of the three imo. It starts with Terry and Spawn having a fight because Terry is legit asking where Cyan is and how Al likes war only for Al to go on a monologue about his history that Terry is aware of that started the issue on the wrong foot for me. It then transitions to Terry, Al, Marc, and Jessica seeing the Psalms group terrorize worldwide, a feral Spawn is making some noise in Russia, and one particular point Al picks up on as Kincaid being the cause of it all. The Spawns split to tackle everything, but its here that Marc just vanishes and Medieval appears so do they know Marc is Medieval and if not then how come they don't wonder where Marc went given the situation. Also, Al isn'y wondering about Medieval given how it was such a pain point for him a few issues ago in the main book? Al goes to confront Kincaid and sees a kid that died in the school blast in the first issue and clearly something isn't right with him. Jessica and Medieval get overwhelmed at their respective locations by the Psalms group and Kincaid and Spawn do battle where Kincaid reveals someone transformed him to the state he is currently in. I feel the fight is a good one, but suffers from too much narration especially when a certain classic Spawn moment happens that just didn't need to be so wordy. It ends in an interesting way so for sure the issue is weak when it starts, but picks up and the art is the best of the three books imo. In the back matter, we find out that the Redeemer we have been seeing isn't Eddie, but someone entirely new and we don't know who he is yet which is interesting, but for some reason it gets a tongue and cheek response in the back matter of 323. Still find it strange they aren't acknowledging Kincaid's first return, but its whatever at this point.
Gunslinger Spawn 1 main story - not a good start here. For a character that has been in a handful of issues and still a blank slate, for the most part, this issue does nothing to make Gunslinger interesting or provide some goal or reason for the book's existence. Back-up stories from other books and his other appearances in the main book at least give something more than this issue ever does. If anything the tone of this book clashes with what we have seen previously of the character as it goes for what I hope is an intentionally goofy man-out-of-time story that is hilarious in how dumb it is. Like why Gunslinger's hat is so tall is because he has a big knife and other knives in it or how overly excited he gets to show Taylor, some kid, how to kill an angel. The book does a better job of setting up Taylor compared to its title character who for some reason isn't paying attention to the fact that Al told him in Spawn Universe 1 that he is the reason why Gunslinger got pulled out of his time and Al is trying to figure out a way to undo that though you would never know that Al is looking into that given the main book. Some angels and demons are conspiring, as always, and have Gunslinger in their sights and the issue ends with Taylor seeing his dad talking to angels when Gunslinger springs into action. Just isn't a good start.
Gunslinger Spawn 1 backups - unlike the last #1s, Spawn Universe and King Spawn, who decided to focus their backups on other characters in the universe, all of the backups here are Gunslinger focused taking place in the old west and honestly they felt unnecessary with the exception of Ales Kot's story - A Small Gift - which gets the most time and feels, tonally, like what I would expect from a book like this with a Man With No Name feel to it all. Its a typical western story, but gets the job done and I liked the art for it as well. The other two backups - The Lynching and Weapons - could have done without it as the former deals with how Gunslinger made money during the time hunting bounties which is about all it does and the latter details how Gunslinger is the weakest Spawn of them all because he uses his necroplasma blood to power his weapons which is an interesting point but one I feel like it could have been mentioned in the main book when Gunslinger goes on and on about killing angels. You know what would have made a good backup or in the main book? Maybe something that details Gunslinger's life before he became a Spawn to give some identity to the guy and how he lived life with his sister before that was stolen from him and he became a Spawn. Just a thought.