What do you think?
Rate this book
Spawn (US) #5
Spawn, Book 5: Death and Rebirth
This is the fifth collection of the Spawn saga. This volume collects issues #21-25 of Spawn, and includes the four-part story arc 'The Hunt,' wherein Spawn is sought by the FBI, the Police and the CIA. Dramatic milestones weave in and out of these storylines, including Spawn revealing to Terry that he is his former best friend Al Simmons, the return of Overt-Kill, and the first appearances of Tremor and Spawn's shoestring stitch.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
120 pages, Paperback
First published October 17, 1997
70 people want to read
About the author
Todd McFarlane
1,875 books446 followersTodd 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 19, 2018
Spawn Book Five: Death and Rebirth is a return to form for Spawn. After having read the shit fest that was Book Four, I was reluctant to see where the series was going to go next. I guess from the bottom, there is nowhere else to go but up, and thankfully the focus here returns to the main narrative, making Book Five an overall enjoyable read.
Book Five collects issues 21-25, but it would have been just as well off omitting issue 25 as it acts loosely as an epilogue – an unnecessary one at that. In issues 21-24, focus returns to the main story of Spawn as opposed to throwing new one-off villains at our hero or putting him in gimmicky scenarios for the sake of artificial variety. After inadvertently putting his old friend Terry Fitzgerald in the forefront of a crazy scandal, the whole debacle comes to a boil when the CIA, FBI, NYPD, Mafia, and tabloid reporters meet up for a frenzied clash to see who can nab this one highly sought after man first. As you would expect, Spawn comes to the rescue and fends off these threats to protect his friend and save the day. In doing so, Spawn also manages to tie up a litany of loose ends by blackmailing his adversaries into submission. Though I would have preferred seeing Spawn beat his way to a happy ending, I did respect his choice to more peaceably handle his dilemma, for it demonstrated his character development up to this point in the comic series as someone who still has some humanity left within his heart and a brain in his head, and not merely someone with an insatiable lust for blood.
Once again, I have to praise the artwork. The illustrations are on par with each of the previous collections. But at this point, praise for the artwork goes without saying, so I won't say anything more on it.
I found Book Five: Death and Rebirth to be much better than its predecessor. However, one of Book Four's problems comes back from the grave to haunt this collection, and it's that certain passages get way too wordy. Simply put, when it comes to the medium of comic books, less is more. The strongest panels in iconic comic books are those that don't have any text in them – or if they do contain text, then it's kept to a minimum for dramatic effect. There are so many moments in Spawn that could have been iconic, breathtaking moments were it not for the unwarranted narration boxes intruding on an otherwise powerful scene. For example, when Wanda is sulking over the thought of her husband possibly being a murderer, we as readers don't want to read three paragraphs about how she feels. On the contrary, we want to get involved and also feel what she is feeling in that moment; that cannot be accomplished with blocks of text. We can get a lot more from a scene like this with well drawn emotional images or brief but impactful statements from the character. Leave some of it up for interpretation! I hate when these comics feel the need to spell out what is going on and how we should feel about it; that's the telltale sign of poor storytelling. And it's a shame, too, since these issues in particular were pretty well written (by Spawn standards) and definitely could have benefited from less unnecessary text.
Aside from that one recurring flaw, Spawn Book Five: Death and Rebirth was just what I was hoping for from this comic series. I got to see a meaningful progression of the main story, character development, and well drawn action scenes. Definitely worth picking up if you want to keep up with the series.
Book Five collects issues 21-25, but it would have been just as well off omitting issue 25 as it acts loosely as an epilogue – an unnecessary one at that. In issues 21-24, focus returns to the main story of Spawn as opposed to throwing new one-off villains at our hero or putting him in gimmicky scenarios for the sake of artificial variety. After inadvertently putting his old friend Terry Fitzgerald in the forefront of a crazy scandal, the whole debacle comes to a boil when the CIA, FBI, NYPD, Mafia, and tabloid reporters meet up for a frenzied clash to see who can nab this one highly sought after man first. As you would expect, Spawn comes to the rescue and fends off these threats to protect his friend and save the day. In doing so, Spawn also manages to tie up a litany of loose ends by blackmailing his adversaries into submission. Though I would have preferred seeing Spawn beat his way to a happy ending, I did respect his choice to more peaceably handle his dilemma, for it demonstrated his character development up to this point in the comic series as someone who still has some humanity left within his heart and a brain in his head, and not merely someone with an insatiable lust for blood.
Once again, I have to praise the artwork. The illustrations are on par with each of the previous collections. But at this point, praise for the artwork goes without saying, so I won't say anything more on it.
I found Book Five: Death and Rebirth to be much better than its predecessor. However, one of Book Four's problems comes back from the grave to haunt this collection, and it's that certain passages get way too wordy. Simply put, when it comes to the medium of comic books, less is more. The strongest panels in iconic comic books are those that don't have any text in them – or if they do contain text, then it's kept to a minimum for dramatic effect. There are so many moments in Spawn that could have been iconic, breathtaking moments were it not for the unwarranted narration boxes intruding on an otherwise powerful scene. For example, when Wanda is sulking over the thought of her husband possibly being a murderer, we as readers don't want to read three paragraphs about how she feels. On the contrary, we want to get involved and also feel what she is feeling in that moment; that cannot be accomplished with blocks of text. We can get a lot more from a scene like this with well drawn emotional images or brief but impactful statements from the character. Leave some of it up for interpretation! I hate when these comics feel the need to spell out what is going on and how we should feel about it; that's the telltale sign of poor storytelling. And it's a shame, too, since these issues in particular were pretty well written (by Spawn standards) and definitely could have benefited from less unnecessary text.
Aside from that one recurring flaw, Spawn Book Five: Death and Rebirth was just what I was hoping for from this comic series. I got to see a meaningful progression of the main story, character development, and well drawn action scenes. Definitely worth picking up if you want to keep up with the series.
October 23, 2022
Book 5.
Terry Fitzgerald finds himself the focus of a manhunt by the police, the FBI, the CIA and the Mafia, who all believe he has wronged their group in some way. However, it is Terry's dead former best friend Al Simmons, now known as Spawn, who is secretly behind everything. To save Terry, Spawn must finally step into the limelight and confront his enemies openly, before his actions doom those he cares about the most.
To begin with, much of this book is overly-wordy and pretty convoluted in its plotting. With all of the various antagonists on the hunt for Terry Fitzgerald, it rapildy becomes difficult to tell who's who and which agenda they're working for.
However, I have to say that things improve vastly when Spawn finally springs into action and his public debut, laying claim to the alleys of New York as under his protection, was such a triumphant moment for the character that it redeemed many of the book's early flaws.
That said, it feels pretty weird for Spawn's "Here I am!" moment to come as far into the series as book five.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
Terry Fitzgerald finds himself the focus of a manhunt by the police, the FBI, the CIA and the Mafia, who all believe he has wronged their group in some way. However, it is Terry's dead former best friend Al Simmons, now known as Spawn, who is secretly behind everything. To save Terry, Spawn must finally step into the limelight and confront his enemies openly, before his actions doom those he cares about the most.
To begin with, much of this book is overly-wordy and pretty convoluted in its plotting. With all of the various antagonists on the hunt for Terry Fitzgerald, it rapildy becomes difficult to tell who's who and which agenda they're working for.
However, I have to say that things improve vastly when Spawn finally springs into action and his public debut, laying claim to the alleys of New York as under his protection, was such a triumphant moment for the character that it redeemed many of the book's early flaws.
That said, it feels pretty weird for Spawn's "Here I am!" moment to come as far into the series as book five.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
January 5, 2025
Εδώ περίπου είχε σταματήσει το ελληνικό κόμικ και χαίρομαι που επιτέλους απέκτησα και διάβασα τη συνέχειά του για να κλείσει η ιστορία. Αγαπάω Spawn γι αυτό ακριβώς που παρουσιάζεται εδώ. Ακόμη δεν ξέρει το μέγεθος των δυνάμεών του και μου αρέσει να το ανακαλύπτω μαζί του. Παλιός, καλός Spawn.
January 20, 2025
Quinto tomo, penúltimo de estos recopilatorios primigenios.
December 8, 2008
The first seven of these kind of lump together in my brain; my review is in Spawn, Book 1.
November 12, 2025
Aunque este tomo lo leí de la vieja edición mexicana que tenía una traducción espantosa, recuerdo estos capítulos como muy entretenidos y con un nivel de dibujo muy alto.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews