Spawn 2 Evolution

Spawn (US) #2

by Todd McFarlane

As his fragmented psyche starts to mend, so vital pieces start to fall into place for murdered ex-government agent Al Simmons. Too bad, then, that the cyborg murder-machine code-named Overtkill has been hired to see that Simmons goes straight back to hell - one piece at a time.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Comic Book

Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Todd McFarlane is a Canadian comic book artist, writer, toy manufacturer/designer, and media entrepreneur who is best known as the creator of the epic occult fantasy series Spawn.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was one of America's most popular heroes in the 1990's and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.

In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio.

In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by Curt Schilling.

McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spawn Book Two: Dark Discoveries was a mixed bag for me, ultimately amounting to something that was middle-of-the-road in quality. This is a collection of Spawn comics that were written by several guest writers who have become mainstays in the industry. Because of the constant shifting of writers, story focus becomes a problem, though the trade-off is that we are treated to glimpses of some great concepts and ideas. The one consistent aspect of all this is the artwork which is still as good as it was in the first volume.

We start with issues 6 and 7, written by McFarlane. In these issues, we are introduced to Overt-Kill, a cyborg assassin hired to kill Spawn. He's not that great a villain for a Spawn comic, and he ends up getting killed in a dumb way. Can't say much more about Overt-Kill, as he was pretty lame and forgettable. Besides introducing the new villain, we got to see how both Spawn and his former wife, Wanda, have nightmarish visions about Al Simmons' death. This angle isn't explored in too much detail right now, but it opens the story up for Wanda to be involved to a greater extent in the future. From these visions, Spawn gets another clue about his murder, which furthers along the mystery of the franchise. Though not the best in this collection, these two McFarlane issues flow well from the previous Spawn volume and feel like part of the same narrative.

Next, we take a detour from the main story of Spawn, courtesy of the legendary Alan Moore. In his issue 8, we follow child murderer Billy Kincaid (one of Spawn's earliest victims) as he first enters the bowels of Hell. In this story, Kincaid follows a group of wandering souls venturing through the desolate wastelands of Hell, encountering several demonic creatures along the way. We also learn that this version of Hell is multilayered, where each layer serves to punish specific kinds of people. As punishment for his crimes against humanity, Kincaid finds himself in the 8th layer where he is overtaken by a parasitic Hellspawn costume and becomes a soldier of Hell's army – similar to Al Simmons' fate. What's great about this is that Kincaid has come to fear the costume of the Spawn since his murder, and in an ironic twist of fate must now don the appearance of the one thing that haunts him the most. Alan Moore's dark sense of humor works well in the Spawn universe, and I hope to see more of it in the future. In addition to telling a great story, his issue does a nice job of explaining how the afterlife works in this universe along with revealing more details about Spawn's living costume. Moore's concepts are all quite interesting and add depth to the Spawn lore. My only complaint is that Hell didn't look nearly as intimidating as I imagined it would; suffice it to say that I was not too impressed with the visuals of the setting. Otherwise, this was a cool and interesting issue, easily the best of the collection.

Issue 9 is where things get iffy for me. Both issues 9 and 10 are written by Neil Gaiman, but for some reason issue 10 isn't included in this collection (possible legal issues, I believe). Additionally, in some more recent printings of Spawn comic collections, both of Gaiman's issues are excluded entirely, leaving a significant gap in the story. I don't know why this happens to be the case, but I'm glad my edition at least had issue 9. Anyway, we start off strong with the introduction to Angela, a Hellspawn hunter who has been hunting and slaying the Devil's soldiers for hundreds of years. We see her take down a medieval Spawn 800 years in the past before returning to modern day. She is assigned the task of killing the new Spawn, Al Simmons. The next thing you know, she finds Spawn and starts attacking him; there is virtually no build up to this fight and it all feels very rushed. The fight lasts a grand total of a mere one or two pages before Angela is nearly killed and cowers away. I didn't understand why this was even included because she was made out to be this almighty Hellspawn hunter in the beginning of the comic, but when she faces Simmons she falters like she never hunted a day in her life. Was the point to show Spawn's strength? I think that end could have been achieved without sacrificing the credibility of Angela for all of her future appearances – I will now always see her as the weak and pathetic victim that she was made out to be in this issue, and that squanders the future potential of a cool character. Gaiman's issue starts strong but ends with a whimper. I can't say whether or not this fight is followed up on because issue 10 is not included. The best thing to come from this issue was the expansion of the Spawn lore as seen through the Medieval Spawn. Knowing that Spawns existed all throughout history is a fascinating concept that I want to delve into more deeply (I look forward to reading Spawn: The Dark Ages for this very reason). These old time periods are fraught with potential for the Spawn universe, and if handled properly, these stories could end up being more interesting than the mainline Spawn story. I guess we have Gaiman to thank for this addition.

We abruptly jump straight into issue 11 by Frank Miller. Sadly, this is the weakest issue in the collection. In short, it's a story about the lengths Spawn will go to protect his newly adopted home in the alleys. Threatening his newly befriended bums are two rival gangs called...the Nerds and the Creeps...and, yes, they're as stupid as their names suggest. Spawn, rather than killing them off himself, tricks them into killing each other. This doesn't amount to much other than a cool panel showing Spawn killing the last man standing. This one ends as quickly as it begins and doesn't add anything to the Spawn story, except maybe that Al Simmons is capable of strategic thought when he doesn't feel like doing something himself. A major disappointment considering Miller's impressive resume.

All told, McFarlane wrote two decent issues, Moore wrote a great issue, Gaiman had interesting ideas but didn't execute them well in his stint, and Miller dropped the ball. Again, not the worst set of comics, but there's definitely a lot to be desired. Hopefully the next volume has more focus and deeper writing.

[Wombo Combo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first volume and a bit of a mixed bag.
Issues 8 and 9 are fantastic 10/10 issues. Both expand the idea of Spawn being a part of something greater and show that like Ghost Rider, he only the most recent one in a very long line of guys. 9 is written by Neil Gaiman so that's pretty neato.
The other three issues are kinda meh. 6 and 7 are about Spawn fighting a dumb cyborg, and 11 is straight up bad, which Spawn inspiring two absurd fictional gangs to kill each other. On paper, these sound like they could be pretty fun, but I just didn't enjoy it.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

If it wasn’t for the Alan Moore issue, I would score this way lower. While this is far superior to McFarlane’s solo Spider-Man series, the writing is klunky, especially in regard to dialogue and pacing. Given its larger following, I expected better out of Spawn, but I also recognize that this is part of a larger series. I’m unsure though whether I would invest more time into the series to answer the question myself.

[Kevin Nantel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I thought, bringing top shelf writers like Gaiman, morrison and Miller really brought spawny to his A game. Wicked.

[Devowasright · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved what the guest writers did with the story.. due to the original agreement, dave sims' story is not included, so i will have to track down a copy of Spawn number 10, as i'd love to see what he did with it. i've read much about the resulting lawsuits, but this was my first chance to read the actual stories. sad that it all turned out so poorly in the end.

[Imogen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first seven of these kind of lump together in my brain; my review is in Spawn, Book 1.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leí y tuve de una mezcla de las ediciones española y mexicana que me gustaría ordenar y emprolijar en algún momento, sobre todo ahora que retomé la relectura (esporádica) de la serie.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

This mixed bag was boring. only issue 8 was enjoyable IMO.

Issue #8
Billy Kincaid gets the axe again this time becoming his fear. What's been haunting his dreams.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

See Spawn book 1

[Laural · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best issues are the ones guest- written by Moore and Gaiman. Easily.