SPAWN #22 - June 1994

The Hunt- Part Two

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story & art), Greg Capullo (art assist), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letterer), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: Spawn visits Tony Twist’s accountant and takes his personal files. Later, Twist checks on the reconstruction of Overt-Kill. Terry Fitzgerald receives a dead rat in the mail. Fearing for his family’s safety, he returns home. FBI agents spy on him outside, as Tony Twist’s men pull up. A firefight breaks out, killing the FBI agents. Twist's men lie, claiming that they have Terry's family, ordering him to show up in the alleys at midnight. Spawn reads Twist’s files and learns that Twist is sending Over-Kill after Terry. Spawn searches for his hidden weapons, as Sam and Twitch approach.

Spawntinuity: Spawn has a throne made out of garbage now. This isn’t the one he spends an entire issue building; it’s a present from his homeless friends, who view him as a king.

Review: McFarlane was occasionally wordy in the previous issues, but this is the first time he’s decided to pack almost every page with as many captions as possible. The story opens with a lengthy description of the life of Tony Twist’s accountant (including a gory recap of what’s done to his body after Spawn steals Twist’s files), then presents wordy recaps of Jason Wynn’s recent past, Terry Fitzgerald’s dilemma, and the homeless’ current attitude towards Spawn. McFarlane is more comfortable with prose at this point, and he thankfully isn’t writing like a goth teenager this issue, but most of the script is unnecessary. McFarlane makes his point, establishes what the readers need to know, and then drones on for five or six more paragraphs each time. I do like the basic story, though, as Terry is drawn deeper into a mess Spawn created, and Spawn is too late to stop what’s happening.