Spawn Collection, Vol. 2 (v. 2) by Todd McFarlane

Spawn Collection #2

by Todd McFarlane

Witness the power of pure Spawn with this essential collection It all started in 1992 with Todd McFarlane's smash hit Spawn. Don't have those early issues? Oh, yeah... they've been out of print for years Well, here they are in a brand new collection - bigger and badder than ever This collection features the pulse-pounding art and stories of the master himself, Todd McFarlane This collection also includes Marc Silvestri's Spawn issue and Greg Capullo's first issues.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Comic Book, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes

Mass Market Paperback

First published April 11, 2006

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

[Ill D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing that the second volume was composed of more than twice the number of the first, my apprehnsives quickly dashed to the foreground of my mind. Thankfully, my fears were allayed from beginning to end. Great writing, great art, and a thoroughly well-developed setting threaded through with a voluminous cornucopia of ancillaries grew to tell a great story.

Although busting at the seems with characters and their secondaries, the plot of Spawn surprisingly remains as transparent as it is bourgeoning. More and more threads darn themselves up into a complex tale of betrayal, love, and lies. Growing from a root point from more than south the subterranean realm, blasts forth from the dankest roots of hell to the post-exospheric confines of the heavenly cosmos. Jack and The Beanstalk has nothing on Al Simmons as he battles good, bad, and everything in between all over the x,y, and z coordinates of the space-time continuum.

At every level the story improves as back stories compound into this seemingly unending spool of literary fleece. Backdropping as well as interfacing the narrative, each block builds upon each other in rapid fashion. Yet, for all the thousands of stones that construct this pyramid of sequentially illustrated power, the story remains thoroughly coherent and phenomenally transparent. Todd McFarlane has certainly done a great deal of pre-planning before this series ever went to paper and the superb quality is a visually pleasing representation of that.

[Knjigoholičarka]

Kao prvo, odmah da se ogradim da izdanje Spawna koje sam ja čitala sadrži manje stripova nego originalni Volume 2 iz Spawn Collection serije, ali nemam sad vremena da ga unosim zasebno. A iskreno - i ne verujem da bi tih nekoliko brojeva napravilo razliku. Spawn je definitivno najkonfuzniji i prenatrpaniji (anti)herojski strip kog sam čitala. Uopšte ne postoji samo jedan aspekt u kome se ova prenatrpanosti i haos ogledaju - crtež je ujedno i spektakularan i na momente toliko haotičan da ne znam u šta treba da gledam i šta se dešava. Priča i zaplet su ujedno i najjednostavniji mogući (osveta, aaarrrgh!!) i najzamršeniji mogući (i Vlada zataškava vojne operacije i vojska Pakla koja ratuje sa vojskom Raja i parodija na superheroje u vidu Youngblood grupe i jeste magija i nije magija i jeste tehnologija i nije tehnologija, ima i Rusa i nuklearnog oružja i jebeni HARI HUDINI se pojavljuje... ne pitajte), likovi su ujedno i najzanimljiviji mogući (ubica Kinkaid, Violator) i najdosadniji mogući (Wanda - crkni ženo naporna), pa onda, podzapleti i sporedni likovi se tek tako pojavljuju kao zečevi iz šešira (predstavništvo Raja u svemirskoj stanici, wtf), poneki misteriozno nestaju i nema ih nigde jedno vreme (detektivi Sam and Twich, na primer), pojedini izlete kao čupavci iz kutije (demon Malebolgia npr.)...

Otprilike, ako vam je ovaj moj review natrpan i konfuzan (jer ne želim da vam spojlujem previše), to je samo bleda slika onoga što je strip. Što je zapravo prava šteta, jer ima potencijala (imao je potencijala?) da bude fenomenalan.

Dobra stvar je što su pozitivni aspekti stripa (kod mene) ipak razvili dovoljnu znatiželju da ponekad, u časovima dosade, čitam dalje nastavke stripa, ali daleko od toga da bih volela da posedujem fizičko izdanje.

Ako želite da čitate o borbi Raja i Pakla, izbor je mnogo veći i bolji - Hellblazer, Lucifer, Preacher, ako želite da čitate o sprezi politike i natprirodnog - Hellboy, ako želite osvetu zbog uništene porodice - Punisher, Batman (...da ne ulazimo u komparacije estetika i generalnih raspoloženja ovih stripova u odnosu na Spawna - govorim o nekim opštim motivima koji su pokretači priča)... Spawn će vam dati sve to, ali to vam je kao da pokušavate da strpate 5 kila jabuka u kesu od 3 kile - pući će i na kraju ćete ostati bez voća.

[Greg Strandberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great stories of Spawn continue. See my main review of the first collection to see what I think, but overall, this is a great series.

And how could you not like these bundles? I've not read them in this format, I'll admit, but I've read a few other comic collections that I missed in my younger, collecting days.

These are good and you don't have to worry about keeping them in good condition. They're good for the kids too. Alright, maybe not Spawn :)

[Alain DeWitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the problems with the three big omnibus volumes of 'Spawn' I bought was that it was only after I bought them and started reading them that I realized that there are gaps. Pretty big ones, in fact. Volume 1 completely omits the issues relating to Spawn's fight with Angela, for example.

The story is starting to suffer a lot of 'same-ness'. The art work is great. Stellar, in fact, but the story just isn't holding up its end and it's taking too long to do it.

[John Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously amazing!!!

[Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read about half of these when they originally came out, so it was a mix of re-read and new (to me) material. The art is really nice, especially for the era. The writing is so-so. It gets a bit repetitive, though it helps to remind yourself that these issues were coming out before the market for trade paperback collections had boomed, so you have to put yourself in the mindset of reading one issue every 4 weeks or so. My main complaint with this second volume is how much action takes place outside of the collection. I get not including the Youngblood issues it references, and I'm sure there were reasons the Violator, Angela, and Blood Fued minis weren't included, but there are HUGE story gaps between issues that rely on readers having access to those stories. A more complete omnibus would have been preferred. A more nit-picky complaint is that the binding left some text nearly impossible to read as it essentially got swallowed into the binding.

[Jedhua · Rating 1 out of 5]

ESTIMATED DNF RATING: {1/5 star to 1.5+/5 stars}

STANDARDIZED RATING: <1/5 stars>

[Cody Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved these books since i was a kid! Todd is an AMAZING Artist :D

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. A little weird. A little "all over the place". Artwork is always fun to look at.

[Sierra Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for TLP

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

art: ★★★★☆
story: ★☆☆☆☆

[Joseph Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep.

[Dope Ghost Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great character arc of Al Simmons aka Spawn continues to thrive with more amazing artwork and battles illustrated. Truly epic in every sense of the word!

[Eulercauchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

McFarlane can't write at all and when he has guests come in and take over duties it just highlights how bad his writing is. One of the few comic books I'll fall asleep while reading.

The art is nice though.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
These 20 issues of Spawn had their ups and downs, but the overall picture was good. The art is well known and the overall story progresses nicely. However, when reading this all at once it suffers from slight tediousness and a drive from the reader to, from time to time, "get on with it". Al Simmons does great in his ability to save people in the nick of time, but at the same time, seems to not care enough about his new "savior" status to learn about the limits of his costume. Will his "oh poor me" attitude ever cease? Who will be the next villain to get thrown at Spawn?
Not 100% sure I want to continue with this series, but the "countdown clock" is enough alone to keep me going. What will happen when it runs out? The very fact that this comic is still running today lets me know that he will get through it all, but what happened?
Onto Volume 3...

[Donald Armfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one huge graphic novel. Not just the amount of pages. But the characters; Chapel, Overt-Kill, Anti-Spawn, The Curse, Houdini and the Normal gang from Todd McFarlanes comics.

Spawn's Clock is at 6:8:8:7 to be continued.....

[RoChe Montoya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have the individual issues so i don't know what happens in this collection, but read my review on Spawn Collection, Vol. 1 5of5 stars on Spawn altogether.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otro tomo que, por los capítulos contenidos, quizás se merecería una puntuación un poquito por encima del promedio de la serie.

[Michele Rice Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent graphics and colorization. I'm enjoying the development of the characters and storyline.

[Matt Gallant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe it's taken me this long to get into the Spawn series! I read the first one a while back and just recently got my hands on this. The story is compelling and I just want more!

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A darker hero than most. While the story is above average it's the fantastic McFarlane art that makes this book above the regular comics. Very recommended

[Ben Brackett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing art, but oh god the writing is terrible. And constant references to mini-series containing major plots points that affect the main series, kinda lame.

[Mitch Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short run from Grant Morrison towards the beginning of the collection is the highlight, the moment when Spawn digs up his own corpse has stuck with me since I read it the first time when I was like ten. Watching the art evolve as McFarlane and Capullo figure out how to work with each other in the second half is also great. This ends right around when I started reading it monthly in about fifth grade. I'm excited to start the next volume.