Vanished Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Todd McFarlane w/Chance Wolf & Danny Miki (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Brian Haberlin & Dan Kemp (colors)
Summary: Spawn visits Terry’s home late at night, complaining that he hasn’t moved against Jason Wynn fast enough. He returns to the alleys, where the worms are feeding on Cy-Gor. The next morning, Violator disguises himself as Spawn and kidnaps Cyan. After she contacts the police, Terry reveals he’s been secretly meeting with Spawn. As the police invade Rat City, Spawn arms himself. Meanwhile, Violator holds Cyan’s pacifier and shoestring hostage, as Jason Wynn learns Terry has been stealing classified information.
Spawn Stuff: McFarlane Toys announces its Legendary Monsters series, featuring new versions of Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the Wolfman.
Review: It’s surprising that this series is almost sixty issues old and no one’s kidnapped Cyan yet. In the HBO series’ first season, Jason Wynn arranges for Billy Kincaid to kidnap Cyan when Wanda comes too close to one of his cover-ups, which might’ve been an inspiration for this story arc. The Spawn movie also had Violator interacting with Cyan in a few scenes, so it’s almost as if this is an amalgam of the various media adaptations of 1997. The movie and the first season of the cartoon weren’t nearly as open-ended as the comic, requiring writer Alan McElroy to actually do something with the characters before his time was up. That’s a concept that’s usually eluded McFarlane, so I don’t mind if he turns to the adaptations for story ideas. (Exactly how long have Violator and Jason Wynn been plotting against Spawn, and what exactly has come of it?) The villain is actually doing something villainous, rather than just planning on future villainy, and Spawn’s forced to defend himself. It’s not a brilliant idea, but it sets events into motion, and actually advances the “secret partnership” plot between Terry and Spawn that’s already started to drag.
That is one UGLY cover.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go that far necessarily, but it's a good example of how far the style's gotten in this book. EVERYTHING has to be distorted, even a drawing of a little girl.
ReplyDeleteVery distorted. And ugly. The not-very-good Spawn movie,the Chapel retcons, and whatever came after the Houdini storyline all lead to me losing interest in this title. I'd pick it up again from time to time but never found the giant robotic gorilla or another Violator story or Spawn going back to Hell very interesting. And everything was so heavy-handed. It is amazing to me that the series is, what, like 300 issues old now? And still isn't very good. Nor, as far as I know, has it had any good runs. It's always just there: grim and gory and dull.
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