Spawn

[SilverZeal]

So, yeah, a Spawn fan film was released recently. I'm assuming the Witch is supposed to be Nyx.

SUPERB....many many thnx 4 sharing dat armlessphelan.

If Todd is really REALLY serious abt mking his SPAWN film with gr8 cgi @ low cost frm fello fans....he shd SERIOUSLY contact those guys who did dat fanfilm.

[BlaqRain]

Did you hear anything when would 5th deluxe HC be released?

Yeah. I'm waiting to hear about this too. Does anyone know if Volume 5 is coming out this year?

[HellsRider]

So the preview for 247 is out:

Sara is rushed to the hospital after the unthinkable happens at her apartment. Everyone comes to her aid, but each has a separate agenda that puts not only Sara, but also Jim in danger.

Preview

Already advertising Al's return huh. Getting some callbacks to issue 50 I see.

[Forever Knight]

Here we go!

[Jack00]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2...75e8-177815917

Well I am cautiously excited about the new team. Loved pretty much everything Wood has done, loved DMZ and Northlanders, his run on Conan was great too. And as for Meyers, I think we are in for a treat.
What makes me nervous is this : "He gave Wood freedom to rewrite aspects of the character". The only rewrite Spawn needs is the punching Wanda while pregnant episode and that's it, well you know... that and everything that took place since #185.

[Kuwagaton]

#185... was David Hine's run good? And what were some of the better past arcs? It's a little early to know what I can read to get into Wood's run, but I wonder if there are any essentials regardless.

[HellsRider]

Okay so now we know who the new team is. The Massive's Brian Wood and GI Joe's (among other things) Jonboy Meyers. Interesting choices. I haven't necessarily picked up anything from either guy before though I have certainly heard of Brian Wood and Meyers art looks nice from looking around, but as I expected a drastic change from the last 10 or so years of Spawn which went in a more realistic kinda horror approach to where now we'll be going back to a more superhero approach. I'm okay with that and Todd sounding like he's giving the team free, or close to it, reign sounds good.

The only issue I take, and I've been keeping this particular thought until the new team was revealed, is the need for Al to come back. Unlike others that have posted, I see no need for Al to come back and take the Spawn mantle again. His story is over and has been over for a very long time. The idea of using Al and then rewrite aspects of the character rather makes me think they should either A) just work with Jim and make him work or B) start off fresh with someone new. The idea of Spawn lends well for new characters to take the mantle even across different time periods and introducing a brand new cast and if you want to use Al thats okay but use him in a mentoring position. Al has done it all so the idea that we are going back to him, in a superhero approach, and "he's the aggressor" isn't much of a hook for me.

Jim had potential. However 6 years later I can't help but look back at wasted potential. His introduction via the Endgame arc was terrible and we didn't find out about his origin until 4 years after he was introduced. The celebrity angle was completely mishandled and really could have modernized the news anchor portion that Spawn does into something new, meaningful, and worthwhile (think how Lemire's Animal Man used the celebrity angle as an example) and not keep it static as it has been used. Jim fitting into the Spawn mythos as the mastermind behind past Spawn villains like Freak, Tremor, and Overtkill was fine as was the handling of the Wynn arc, but after that (and a bit before with the Malebolgia arc) it really hasn't been good with things just happening and going on and on and plan after plan with no true goal in sight. Clown has plans, the symbiote has plans, Bludd has plans, Cog has plans, Haunt has plans, the Old Guard have plans, Simon Pure and the heaven vampires have plans, the CIA have plans, the Vatican have plans but will someone do something! The art by Kudranski I enjoyed and fit Spawn well and Twitch was good to see. Its unfortunate to see Jim apparently being dropped.

The major point I'll be looking for with the new team is focus on the title. I want to see a sense of direction and hopefully the new team can do that. I'm not too thrilled on Al coming back, but we'll see how it goes.

[Dark-Flux]

Okay so now we know who the new team is. The Massive's Brian Wood and GI Joe's (among other things) Jonboy Meyers. Interesting choices. I haven't necessarily picked up anything from either guy before though I have certainly heard of Brian Wood and Meyers art looks nice from looking around, but as I expected a drastic change from the last 10 or so years of Spawn which went in a more realistic kinda horror approach to where now we'll be going back to a more superhero approach. I'm okay with that and Todd sounding like he's giving the team free, or close to it, reign sounds good.

The only issue I take, and I've been keeping this particular thought until the new team was revealed, is the need for Al to come back. Unlike others that have posted, I see no need for Al to come back and take the Spawn mantle again. His story is over and has been over for a very long time. The idea of using Al and then rewrite aspects of the character rather makes me think they should either A) just work with Jim and make him work or B) start off fresh with someone new. The idea of Spawn lends well for new characters to take the mantle even across different time periods and introducing a brand new cast and if you want to use Al thats okay but use him in a mentoring position. Al has done it all so the idea that we are going back to him, in a superhero approach, and "he's the aggressor" isn't much of a hook for me.

Jim had potential. However 6 years later I can't help but look back at wasted potential. His introduction via the Endgame arc was terrible and we didn't find out about his origin until 4 years after he was introduced. The celebrity angle was completely mishandled and really could have modernized the news anchor portion that Spawn does into something new, meaningful, and worthwhile (think how Lemire's Animal Man used the celebrity angle as an example) and not keep it static as it has been used. Jim fitting into the Spawn mythos as the mastermind behind past Spawn villains like Freak, Tremor, and Overtkill was fine as was the handling of the Wynn arc, but after that (and a bit before with the Malebolgia arc) it really hasn't been good with things just happening and going on and on and plan after plan with no true goal in sight. Clown has plans, the symbiote has plans, Bludd has plans, Cog has plans, Haunt has plans, the Old Guard have plans, Simon Pure and the heaven vampires have plans, the CIA have plans, the Vatican have plans but will someone do something! The art by Kudranski I enjoyed and fit Spawn well and Twitch was good to see. Its unfortunate to see Jim apparently being dropped.

The major point I'll be looking for with the new team is focus on the title. I want to see a sense of direction and hopefully the new team can do that. I'm not too thrilled on Al coming back, but we'll see how it goes.

Pretty much spot on.

Al coming back and the return to a more superheroic direction just kinda smells of desperation to me in the light of falling sales. Not necessarily organic to the story that was being told. (As drawn out as it was)

Still, i like Brian Wood and am excited that him coming aboard should at least give the book a more solid direction.
...hope they dont ditch Jim altogether though.

Meyers im not so keen on. Hes talented no doubt, but his work has a very clear manga influence to it and i cant see him being a good fit for Spawn. Time will tell i guess.

And whilst theyre at it; relaunch Haunt please!

[Dark-Flux]

#185... was David Hine's run good? And what were some of the better past arcs? It's a little early to know what I can read to get into Wood's run, but I wonder if there are any essentials regardless.

Yeah Hines run was great.

If youve never read Spawn before id say read the first 20 or so issues of McFarlanes run. You can then kinda pick and choose stuff from the Capullo era. Its all decent but not particularly "required" reading. Skip ahead to just before #100 and read that arc, then skip to 150-184 for Hines run.
Endgame (185-200) was kinda crap but important, then 200-present has been a decent read but has major pacing issues. I imagine itll read better in chunks.

[Forever Knight]

#185... was David Hine's run good? And what were some of the better past arcs? It's a little early to know what I can read to get into Wood's run, but I wonder if there are any essentials regardless.

Hine's run is the BEST of Spawn.

Okay so now we know who the new team is. The Massive's Brian Wood and GI Joe's (among other things) Jonboy Meyers. Interesting choices. I haven't necessarily picked up anything from either guy before though I have certainly heard of Brian Wood and Meyers art looks nice from looking around, but as I expected a drastic change from the last 10 or so years of Spawn which went in a more realistic kinda horror approach to where now we'll be going back to a more superhero approach. I'm okay with that and Todd sounding like he's giving the team free, or close to it, reign sounds good.

I cannot fucking wait!!!!. I do enjoy the horror/realisitc approach but I also welcome the Superhero style. I am pretty damn pumped for this right now.

[kevinism]

I read a few issues after Jim became the new Spawn and wasn't invested at all. Now that Al is coming back, maybe I'll add it to my pull list again. Can someone point me to where I can get some good, detailed recaps? THANKS

[SilverZeal]

Okay so now we know who the new team is. The Massive's Brian Wood and GI Joe's (among other things) Jonboy Meyers. Interesting choices. I haven't necessarily picked up anything from either guy before though I have certainly heard of Brian Wood and Meyers art looks nice from looking around, but as I expected a drastic change from the last 10 or so years of Spawn which went in a more realistic kinda horror approach to where now we'll be going back to a more superhero approach. I'm okay with that and Todd sounding like he's giving the team free, or close to it, reign sounds good.

The only issue I take, and I've been keeping this particular thought until the new team was revealed, is the need for Al to come back. Unlike others that have posted, I see no need for Al to come back and take the Spawn mantle again. His story is over and has been over for a very long time. The idea of using Al and then rewrite aspects of the character rather makes me think they should either A) just work with Jim and make him work or B) start off fresh with someone new. The idea of Spawn lends well for new characters to take the mantle even across different time periods and introducing a brand new cast and if you want to use Al thats okay but use him in a mentoring position. Al has done it all so the idea that we are going back to him, in a superhero approach, and "he's the aggressor" isn't much of a hook for me.

Jim had potential. However 6 years later I can't help but look back at wasted potential. His introduction via the Endgame arc was terrible and we didn't find out about his origin until 4 years after he was introduced. The celebrity angle was completely mishandled and really could have modernized the news anchor portion that Spawn does into something new, meaningful, and worthwhile (think how Lemire's Animal Man used the celebrity angle as an example) and not keep it static as it has been used. Jim fitting into the Spawn mythos as the mastermind behind past Spawn villains like Freak, Tremor, and Overtkill was fine as was the handling of the Wynn arc, but after that (and a bit before with the Malebolgia arc) it really hasn't been good with things just happening and going on and on and plan after plan with no true goal in sight. Clown has plans, the symbiote has plans, Bludd has plans, Cog has plans, Haunt has plans, the Old Guard have plans, Simon Pure and the heaven vampires have plans, the CIA have plans, the Vatican have plans but will someone do something! The art by Kudranski I enjoyed and fit Spawn well and Twitch was good to see. Its unfortunate to see Jim apparently being dropped.

The major point I'll be looking for with the new team is focus on the title. I want to see a sense of direction and hopefully the new team can do that. I'm not too thrilled on Al coming back, but we'll see how it goes.

Al Simmons IS Spawn...PERIOD.

Jim can b frm a diffrnt reality or watevr but present. current & mainstream SPAWN is & shd b Simmons....afterall being Simmons being Spawn is immortal meaning he can possibly live-on indefin8ly 4 4 several centuries if nt millenia unlyk Bruce Wayne/Batman & yet Bruce Wayne IS d core, 1st, true & always "real" Batman so y nt Simmons as Spawn?

[HellsRider]

Al Simmons IS Spawn...PERIOD.

Jim can b frm a diffrnt reality or watevr but present. current & mainstream SPAWN is & shd b Simmons....afterall being Simmons being Spawn is immortal meaning he can possibly live-on indefin8ly 4 4 several centuries if nt millenia unlyk Bruce Wayne/Batman & yet Bruce Wayne IS d core, 1st, true & always "real" Batman so y nt Simmons as Spawn?

I think I understand what your saying and I get your point. I'm coming from it in two ways - 1) I liked Al and his story, but their is nothing new for him to do at this point. He beat a devil (Malebolgia), he beat THE devil and God, he beat what God & Satan couldn't (Urizen) and stopped Armageddon. He's been through mob wars, bum wars, actual wars, and all in a bid to get to his one goal to be with Wanda which he never can be. His story to me ended in issue 164 - "the man who saved the world, but couldn't save himself." 2) I never looked at the very core idea of Spawn (ie someone that has died and picked by a devil to become an agent on Earth) and compare it to Batman, something which I know even Todd compares Spawn to, but I compare it to a character like Swamp Thing. A mantle passed along over centuries, its someone new and to some extent their is a parliament (just one really evil in Spawn's case) and you have an internal conflict within this group just between using humans versus using demons. Will the character as Spawn be influenced by Hell and do their bidding? Will he/she try to retain their past, or use the time as Spawn to leave their mark for better or worst for either Hell, Heaven, or humanity?

I really understand what Al brought and his importance in the comic world, but looking at what Spawn can be in a larger sense I don't want the series to be beholden to Al forever (to use your Batman point, Dick Grayson wore the suit at one point). I'm up for an actual shake up of everything for someone new to be Spawn (I had no problem with Jim taking the mantle, but the execution was very lacking) and actually have new villains and not use the legacy characters because then your just riding on Al and not fully committing to the new character (I mean the current stuff is bringing in some aspects of Case Files Sam & Twitch and the Hellspawn series). You want to keep Al? Like I said, a mentoring role like Cog is perfect and he can be around forever and I felt that was the direction he may be going in (from his appearance in 200) but now we know that isn't the case.

The direction of Al coming back and going in a superhero approach is old hat. We've seen it before and Todd himself pointed that out. We have the first 185 issues of that, but the new team sounds exciting and we'll see what they can do, but when you start talking about rewriting aspects of the character it lights a bulb in me and makes me think they should use a new character or work with Jim and do a soft reboot like they did in 201 instead of messing with Al.

[Dark-Flux]

I think I understand what your saying and I get your point. I'm coming from it in two ways - 1) I liked Al and his story, but their is nothing new for him to do at this point. He beat a devil (Malebolgia), he beat THE devil and God, he beat what God & Satan couldn't (Urizen) and stopped Armageddon. He's been through mob wars, bum wars, actual wars, and all in a bid to get to his one goal to be with Wanda which he never can be. His story to me ended in issue 164 - "the man who saved the world, but couldn't save himself." 2) I never looked at the very core idea of Spawn (ie someone that has died and picked by a devil to become an agent on Earth) and compare it to Batman, something which I know even Todd compares Spawn to, but I compare it to a character like Swamp Thing. A mantle passed along over centuries, its someone new and to some extent their is a parliament (just one really evil in Spawn's case) and you have an internal conflict within this group just between using humans versus using demons. Will the character as Spawn be influenced by Hell and do their bidding? Will he/she try to retain their past, or use the time as Spawn to leave their mark for better or worst for either Hell, Heaven, or humanity?

I really understand what Al brought and his importance in the comic world, but looking at what Spawn can be in a larger sense I don't want the series to be beholden to Al forever (to use your Batman point, Dick Grayson wore the suit at one point). I'm up for an actual shake up of everything for someone new to be Spawn (I had no problem with Jim taking the mantle, but the execution was very lacking) and actually have new villains and not use the legacy characters because then your just riding on Al and not fully committing to the new character (I mean the current stuff is bringing in some aspects of Case Files Sam & Twitch and the Hellspawn series). You want to keep Al? Like I said, a mentoring role like Cog is perfect and he can be around forever and I felt that was the direction he may be going in (from his appearance in 200) but now we know that isn't the case.

The direction of Al coming back and going in a superhero approach is old hat. We've seen it before and Todd himself pointed that out. We have the first 185 issues of that, but the new team sounds exciting and we'll see what they can do, but when you start talking about rewriting aspects of the character it lights a bulb in me and makes me think they should use a new character or work with Jim and do a soft reboot like they did in 201 instead of messing with Al.

Couldnt agree more.

As much as i like the character, i just cant see what theyre gonna do with the character from here on out.
As stated, 164 was pretty much the end of his story. Even Todd seems to have done his best to sweep Hines run under the rug (despite its quality) because after Armageddon, where is there left to go? They just hit the reset button and have been building to a new armageddon again. At least with having Jim we were dealing with a new point of view and had new conflicts and motivation but now we're just back to Al again.

For all Todds talk of "now Als the aggressor!" - to whom exactly? Clowns been defeated before, Wynns dead, Malbolgias been killed, resurrected and defeated again, God and Satan were defeated before...whos left?

TBH i think Spawn is unlike any other ongoing superhero book like Batman or Spiderman in the the mythos thats been set up actual has an endgame in mind - armageddon. Once thats been done its hard to find a reason to go on. Thats why Spawns always had pacing issues imo; its delaying the inevitable end point.

[HellsRider]

Couldnt agree more.

As much as i like the character, i just cant see what theyre gonna do with the character from here on out.
As stated, 164 was pretty much the end of his story. Even Todd seems to have done his best to sweep Hines run under the rug (despite its quality) because after Armageddon, where is there left to go? They just hit the reset button and have been building to a new armageddon again. At least with having Jim we were dealing with a new point of view and had new conflicts and motivation but now we're just back to Al again.

For all Todds talk of "now Als the aggressor!" - to whom exactly? Clowns been defeated before, Wynns dead, Malbolgias been killed, resurrected and defeated again, God and Satan were defeated before...whos left?

TBH i think Spawn is unlike any other ongoing superhero book like Batman or Spiderman in the the mythos thats been set up actual has an endgame in mind - armageddon. Once thats been done its hard to find a reason to go on. Thats why Spawns always had pacing issues imo; its delaying the inevitable end point.

Really agree with everything here.

If we want to get technical Al never directly dealt with the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse so it could be said they took over Hell after a time and their is still Mammon sort of, but I really don't want to see him again.

The idea of Al is an aggressor has also already been done thanks to Armageddon. The moment Al realized he was something more and Legion was introduced that was Al's moment of "You can't control me anymore. I'm something far more and I'm gonna take you all down." So we'll see what this interpretation of "an aggressor" means this time.

I like your point about the fact that a Spawn's actual goal is to stop Armageddon as a macro point and the micro point can be personal from Spawn to Spawn. The idea of Armageddon can be interpreted very differently depending on how one views it and is executed and their is even the idea of what if a Spawn exists past Armageddon actually having happened like the first arc in Curse of the Spawn played with a post-apocalyptic world. That is exactly what I mean when I said that Spawn can be so much more and have either a realistic side, or a fantastical side, a horror side, a superhero side (look at the current Future's End which predicts a tech based Armageddon or rotworld which went more into a natural order gone awry Armageddon), a mystical side and more made more evident by the side series like Godslayer, Dark Ages, and Curse of the Spawn. A series can be reinvented and still retain the core parts of it and I just think Spawn can do so too and be looked at in a new way.