What do you think?
Rate this book
Spawn (US) #9
Spawn, Book 9: Urban Jungle
Stories include Spawn's own Christmas version of It's A Wonderful Life as he helps a family appreciate their blessings; a two-part tale of woe as The Curse plays doctor with Spawn's trapped body while the massive creature known as Cy-Gor is on a second rampage; and a unique story where Spawn's living costume exacts playground justice on the tormentors of a young boy.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
96 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1999
51 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 of 1 review
July 11, 2011
Spawn: Book 9: The Urban Jungle by Todd McFarlane begins with a brief Christmas message, in which Spawn figures only slightly. Poor five-year-old Greg is being raised by his overworked single mother and neglectful older sister. As a result of Spawn busting a group of criminals, Greg finds a stack of money that he thinks is a gift from Santa. The result of his find is a preachy ending administered by his mother, “You see, what you’ve done is give me a chance to remind us all of what’s important in this life. Our families. Our friends. Please, never forget those you care for.” A bit too sugary sweet, even considering the image of the criminals wrapped painfully in the metal of Spawn’s costume, which Greg mistakes for Santa’s reindeer.
However, as the rest of the volume unfolds, two new and particularly problematic twists are introduced: a government experiment gone wrong and a costume with a mind of its own. Cy-Gor, part gorilla, part human, and part machine, has escaped the control of his creators, and is eating the wildlife and terrorizing the townspeople. By the end of the volume, the problem of the Cy-Gor is just beginning.
Neither is the problem of Spawn’s costume resolved, which as a result of an attack by the Curse, has asserted its own authority. The reader is left to wonder what complications this will cause and at what point Spawn and Cy-Gor will meet up.
The discussion of the nature of evil continues in Urban Jungle. A brief flashback of Al Simmons during war, before he was the Spawn, begins to show how Simmons became an assassin who did not always fight for what was right. Simmons, forced to view awful sights, such as dead bodies used as scare crows for the enemy, and then being tortured himself, wonders at his ability to survive. In surviving and not losing his mental faculties, Simmons loses a bit of his humanity and becomes desensitized to the atrocities surrounding him.
The question, the book begins to ask in multiply storylines, is how does a person survive the horrors of life and still remain good? In the final storyline of the volume, nine-year-old Pat is suddenly given the power to see his tormenters destroyed. He must decide what is the right thing to do. In this story, much more effectively than in the Christmas story, Spawn asks us to examine our own actions and motives. Can and should we allow evils to carry on around us? Are we powerful enough to fight? Quite a striking moral conundrum to be presented within the pages of a funny book.
However, as the rest of the volume unfolds, two new and particularly problematic twists are introduced: a government experiment gone wrong and a costume with a mind of its own. Cy-Gor, part gorilla, part human, and part machine, has escaped the control of his creators, and is eating the wildlife and terrorizing the townspeople. By the end of the volume, the problem of the Cy-Gor is just beginning.
Neither is the problem of Spawn’s costume resolved, which as a result of an attack by the Curse, has asserted its own authority. The reader is left to wonder what complications this will cause and at what point Spawn and Cy-Gor will meet up.
The discussion of the nature of evil continues in Urban Jungle. A brief flashback of Al Simmons during war, before he was the Spawn, begins to show how Simmons became an assassin who did not always fight for what was right. Simmons, forced to view awful sights, such as dead bodies used as scare crows for the enemy, and then being tortured himself, wonders at his ability to survive. In surviving and not losing his mental faculties, Simmons loses a bit of his humanity and becomes desensitized to the atrocities surrounding him.
The question, the book begins to ask in multiply storylines, is how does a person survive the horrors of life and still remain good? In the final storyline of the volume, nine-year-old Pat is suddenly given the power to see his tormenters destroyed. He must decide what is the right thing to do. In this story, much more effectively than in the Christmas story, Spawn asks us to examine our own actions and motives. Can and should we allow evils to carry on around us? Are we powerful enough to fight? Quite a striking moral conundrum to be presented within the pages of a funny book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review