VIOLATOR VS. BADROCK #1-#4, May-August 1995

Rocks and Hard Places

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Bill Oakley (letters), Oclair & Extreme Colors (colors)

There is an odd significance to this miniseries, which was revealed during an online spat between Erik Larsen and Brian Denham. According to Larsen, retailers assumed this series would be produced out of Todd McFarlane’s offices at Image, and weren’t thrilled to discover it was an Extreme Studios job when the first issue arrived. Following this miniseries, Image solicitations specified which studio created each individual title. Using a novice artist on a high-profile miniseries, written by Alan Moore no less, seems to be the major criticism leveled against the title. The first issue mainly consists of Badrock and Violator fighting each other, then striking poses while Badrock taunts the incarcerated Violator. Badrock and Violator have such inhuman designs, it’s hard to say anyone could actually draw them wrong, so Denham’s artistic shortcomings aren’t obvious for most of this issue. Violator specifically looks consistent with McFarlane’s design, down to the inking of the texture of his disgusting skin.

The story opens with Badrock ambushing Violator in Washington, DC (Spawn Blood Feud has him leaving New York when Sankster causes too much trouble for supernatural beings). He’s taken in for study by a research institute named after real life “rocket scientist and occultist” John Whiteside-Parsons. Badrock, who’s leading the institute’s security, has a crush on Dr. Sally McAllister, but she’s only interested in demons. After news of Violator’s capture is made public, an angel named Celestine invades the institute and marches towards Violator. The story isn’t as over-the-top as the Violator miniseries, but Moore’s still keeping the tone light. The jokes are pretty funny, and Moore’s attempts at writing American teenager Badrock are unintentionally amusing.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Kurt Hathaway (letters), Donald Skinner & Extreme Colors (colors)

That pair of beach balls attached to a crude rendering of the female anatomy on the cover is supposed to be Celestine. According to the indicia, Alan Moore owns her copyright, so I’m sure he can expect a call from Neil Gaiman’s lawyers any day now. Denham’s rendition of Celestine is slightly less inhuman than the Liefeld version on the cover, which means it’s still pretty bad.

As Celestine draws closer to Violator, he convinces Badrock to free him from his shackles so that he can stop Celestine’s killing spree. Violator promptly changes into his human form and tells Celestine that Badrock is the demon; a Bugs Bunny trick that actually works. While Celestine’s distracted fighting the wrong monster, Violator comes from behind and rips her heart out. If you thought the imagery on the cover was gross, wait until you see the same character mutilated and covered in blood for several pages. With her last breath, Celestine opens the institute’s dimensional portal, hoping to send Violator back to Hell. A few hours later, Violator’s missing and Badrock and Dr. McAllister discover that the institute is in Hell. I like the cliffhanger, and Moore’s script still has a few laughs…but what an ugly, dumb comic this is.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal & Danny Miki (inkers), Bill Oakley (letters), Byron Talman & Extreme Colors (colors)

Now in Hell, Badrock encounters some of the demons Alan Moore created for Spawn #8 before catching up with Violator. The remaining Phlebiac Brothers also find Violator and try to kill him again. Badrock screws everything up by insulting Violator, which causes the paternal Phlebiac Brothers to attack instead the man who just slighted their brother. This issue is actually really funny, rivaling the first Violator miniseries in clever one-liners. Dr. McAllister’s clear disinterest in Badrock’s safety as she investigates Hell is also well played. The art’s not good enough to compliment the humor, though, and it’s a shame Denham can’t render the Phlebiac Brothers with the care Bart Sears put into their initial appearances.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal & Danny Miki (inkers), Bill Oakley (letters), Extreme Colors (colors)

Celestine’s body is withering away, and once it’s gone the institute will return to Earth. Badrock has to find Dr. McAllister before time is up, which leads to more confrontations with the demons that apparently appeared exclusively in Moore’s comics. This issue introduces the “snotty Second Level hyper-shrimp” -- demon intellectuals who wonder why they’re so attracted to blonde, white female victims. Violator returns for a few more fight scenes, eliciting Badrock to comment on how “monotonous” this is getting. After getting the shrewish Dr. McAllister back to safety, the energy drained from Celestine dissipates and the institute returns to Earth. Surprisingly, Violator is left in Hell; although he can’t stay there for long since he’s appearing in the concurrent issues of Spawn. A dialogue exchange establishes that the Admonisher snuck his way back to Earth, but I don’t know if Moore ever used him again. This is essentially the same comic as the previous three issues, only now Denham’s art is really starting to deteriorate. I remarked earlier that it would be hard to truly get the title characters off-model, but Badrock and Violator do look terrible during a few of the scenes. And the human characters have always looked odd during this series, so it’s not a surprise this issue is no exception.

VIOLATOR #3 - May 1994

The World- Part Three

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Mark Penington (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: Violator tricks Spawn into restoring his demon form. After Spawn transfers his magic into Violator, he reneges on the deal and kicks Spawn off the roof. The Admonisher continues his attack on the Phlebiac Brothers, as the revived Violator returns. The brothers run in terror, opening a portal to Hell. Meanwhile, Violator discovers Tony Twist and his assistant Alberto are within the forcefield. Twist tricks Violator into believing Alberto is really him; then Violator tricks the Phlebiac Brothers into believing Alberto is Violator in his clown form. Admonisher chases all of them into Hell. When the brothers disappear, the forcefield dissipates.

Review: I remember Bart Sears telling Wizard that he didn’t draw the final issue of the series because Todd McFarlane decided he wasn’t working fast enough. Greg Capullo isn’t as detail-oriented as Sears, but he can draw demons and gore quite well. This doesn’t look as labored as the previous issues, but it’s more energetic and it’s a nice example of Capullo’s “in-between” style, before his work grew more exaggerated. Like the previous issues, it’s an over-the-top comedy story with a few twists thrown in. The running joke that demons think all humans look the same is one of the best of the series, along with Vaporizer’s cry when running from Admonisher (“Let’s get the heaven outta here!”). McFarlane always envisioned Violator as a comedic character, even though he didn’t seem able to actually make him funny. Moore solves that problem very quickly, and gives the teenage audience all of the violence and gore of their dreams.

VIOLATOR #2 - June 1994

The World- Part Two

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Bart Sears (pencils), Mark Penington (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: The Phlebiac Brothers create a forcefield around the area surrounding the mall. Their plan to kill Violator is interrupted when the Admonisher resurfaces and attacks. Violator hides from the violence and tells his life story to his new friend, the decapitated head stuck to his arm. Vaporizer swallows Admonisher, but he rips through the demon’s body. Violator gets an idea and leaves the mall. In the alleys nearby, he finds Spawn and asks for help.

Spawntinuity: Violator explains to his “friend” that he was born in 1589, after Dr. John Dee conjured his father, a Cthulu-style monster. Violator’s human mother died during childbirth, as did the mothers of all of his brothers. After Violator killed his father, he began working for Malebolgia. If Medieval Spawn lived 800 years ago, as we learned in Spawn #9, this origin makes Violator too young to have interacted with him. (However, I guess time and space are meaningless to Hell.) Another questionable plot element has Spawn’s alleys just a few blocks away from a clean, heavily populated shopping mall.

Review: More gross out humor and insane violence. I’ve always thought this mini was funny, but I really found it hilarious when I was fourteen, which is probably the audience Moore is going for. Violator is cast as the abusive older brother of the Phlebiac clan, allowing Moore to use Leave It to Beaver humor as the basis for jokes about Violator eating the human heads his brothers were using to play baseball. My favorite moment is Violator suddenly declaring that the disembodied head is his new best friend. He then has a back-and-forth conversation with the head, before the head reminds him that he’s a “terrible, rotten person who deserves everything he gets!” Violator responds by bashing it repeatedly against the ground, breaking his hand and turning the head into partial, bloody mush. This is also the first issue that allows Bart Sears to draw the Phlebiac Brothers for the entire story. McFarlane was wise to hire him, since Sears is probably the only artist outside of McFarlane who seems to get so much out of drawing the twisted anatomy, horns, teeth, scales, and tentacles of demons.

VIOLATOR #1 - May 1994

The World

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Bart Sears (pencils), Mark Penington (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: From Hell, the Phelbiac Brothers spy on Violator. Tony Twist’s men are attempting to kill Violator, but he escapes after a bloody fight. During the fight, a mobster’s head becomes attached to Violator’s arm. Violator heads to a local mall to find a saw to remove the decapitated head. There, he’s confronted by the Admonisher, a hitman contracted by Tony Twist. Fearing a human could kill their brother and embarrass the family, the Phelbiac Brothers arrive on Earth to kill Violator personally.

Spawntinuity: The rest of Violator’s brothers are introduced. The Phelbiac Brothers include Vaporizer, Vacillator, Vindicator, and Vandalizer.

Review: According to the ads McFarlane later ran that year, this was the highest-selling comic of 1994. I’m glad an Alan Moore comic could be number one, but it amuses me that a book filled with guts, gore, and decapitations was the most mainstream product released in 1994. At this point, I’m not sure how seriously McFarlane expected people to take the gory elements of Spawn. He obviously wasn’t shy about blood-stained walls, dangling organs, or dismembered corpses, but was this supposed to be dark and scary or absurdly amusing? McFarlane later decides he’s doing serious gothic horror, but Moore knows how ridiculous all of this is. The Phelbiac Brothers spy on Earth by using human blood as an oracle, Violator punches through a man’s mouth and gets the head stuck on his wrist, Admonisher casually blows the heads off of Twist’s men, and a few of the bystanders to the carnage puke all over themselves. On the bottom of most pages, Violator is contorting his body “YMCA” style to match the page number. The Admonisher, clearly inspired by a certain Marvel vigilante and his legion of clones, wants to give his targets a “good talking to.” There’s a demon named “the Vacillator” who can never make up his mind. This isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. Moore’s later Image work is also pretty comedic, but I don’t think he ever matched the ridiculousness of this miniseries. Bart Sears’ extremely detailed art is appropriate for the blood bath, as he seems to enjoy drawing every tiny speck of gore. Moore also seems to have kept Tom Orzechowski in mind, since all of the Phelbiac Brothers have their own distinctive word balloons, and he’s going for the big, dramatic sound effects this time. It’s gross-out humor with great production values and Alan Moore jokes, which is really the best you could hope for in a Violator miniseries.