Batman/Spawn Trilogy

Spawn / Batman #1-3

by Todd McFarlane, Various (Illustrator), Greg Capullo (Illustrator)

Two of comics’ darkest characters cross paths again in the most anticipated comics event of the decade!

Batman and Spawn are two vigilantes of the night who avenge the innocent by their own methods. When sinister forces manipulate the Dark Knight and the Hellspawn into confronting each other, you can bet that there’ll be hell to pay when our heroes discover the truth and turn the tables on their would-be puppeteers.
This deluxe edition of the blockbuster event features the 2022 Batman/Spawn one-shot; 1994’s Batman/ War Devil #1 and Spawn/Batman #1; and a gallery of behind-the-scenes art from the new story and the original tales from the '90s.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Horror

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

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

[Benjamin Kimble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book collects all three of the Batman and Spawn crossovers and each of them is some level of dumb. First up is Batman/Spawn (2022) by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo. The writing in this book is bad, Todd McFarlane is an artist and a business man I don’t know who let him write this. The story is some about some weird portal between the two worlds that has something to do with Batman’s mom and Spawns wife dying on the same day, made no sense. The dialogue was pretty bad too I just think McFarlane wants things to look cool, and this book did look cool. The Greg Capullo art was incredible in this book, I absolutely love the way Capullo draws Batman and his Spawn was very good too. The art is the only thing really worth it in this story, so having it in deluxe size is nice. Next up is Batman/Spawn: War Devil by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, Alan Grant, and Klaus Janson. The writing in this book was significantly less dumb. It takes the story of the lost Roanoke colony and says it was caused by a demon, which is okay. But there are parts of it that just feel rushed, especially how it ends, it could’ve had some more pages to give it time to breath. But the dialogue was fine, nothing amazing but nothing bad either. Klaus Janson is a very good artist and I loved his takes on both Batman and Spawn. Last up we have Spawn/Batman by Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane. This was originally released as a complain to Millers The Dark Knight Returns, so you think it’d have some decent writing right? Well the story itself is pretty whatever, someone claims to want to make the world better to the public, but then she tries to nuke it, fine, but the dialogue isn’t great in this. It feels like Miller has already lost what he got about Batman and just makes him harder and edgier, and Spawn is mostly annoying. But the art in this is amazing, like I said McFarlane is an artist and he knows what he’s doing. McFarlane just gets the visuals of Batman and Spawn so well, especially in the 90s. I’ve never read McFarlane Batman before but seeing this is enough for me to know how influential he was on people like Greg Capullo and Jim Lee. At then end of the book we get all the variant covers and then the entire pencils to Batman/Spawn (2022) as well as the inks for all of Batman/Spawn: War Devil, except for page six for me reason. Which is pretty cool, especially if you like the artist on those books. Buy this book for the art.

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three stories, three takes on iconic characters.

War devil:
This is great example on how not to do comics. It had four writers (at least according to credits) and it's clear, that on such small space it didn't do much good to it.

Call me all fashioned, but I think good superhero team up is about characters. You throw two characters into the pot, let them steam a little bit, and then you just use their differences and chemistry between them.
Here we get two lone wolves, protectors and experts in brooding over the city. So no chemistry at all, just lot of depressing inner monologues.

Story is mix of everything, on few pages we will get old god, crazy villain without clear motivation, mix of pathos and shortcuts. Introduction of Batman and Spawn on same scene feels forced and poorly written.
Batman is investigating murder that happened six years ago, and he wasn't been able to solve it since then. Spawn somehow remembers that he killed somebody six years ago... Like really?! Couldn't you came up with something less dumb?!
Also line with soul sacrifices and Spawn being the special bonus one? Why? Seems like authors didn't even try.

Add awful art, crazy paneling and coloring - wild 90' at their worst. This is one of the things that should stay buried in the past. Getting it reprinted it's just waste of paper.

1*

Second piece from 90' is doing it's job better. Kind of classic style of that era, with very nice McFarlene's, almost cartoonish, art.
Batman exchanging one liners with Alfred from start, makes all that pathos and traditional explanatory frames easier to swallow.
Another thing is, that introduction of both of the characters to each other feels more organic. Clue leads Batman to the dirty streets of NY, to the same place society Spawn calls home.
Different take on solving of problems, makes it ideal stage for them to clear up the air with fists. It's nothing new or original, but at least it feel more natural.
Even the story and main plot is quite predictable, but overall nice one piece that manages to work with both characters and use their strengths and weaknesses.

3*

Third, modern story is something completely different. There are lot of references to the past, even though we once again reading about the death of the Bruce's parents.
With Court of Owls on the scene we get interesting and mysterious vibe. But without broader knowledge of Batman's universe you can get lost easily, and whole thing is more like introduction to longer series than self contained story.
Capulo's art is great, story is interesting, but feels kind of unfinished.

3*

Overall 2.5*

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greg Capullo was meant to draw Batman... and he did an amazing job with Spawn too.
The new story in this collection is what I wanted to read, and did.
The plot is well done. The Court of Owls bring Batman and Spawn together, trying to make Martha and Wanda have died at the same time. They both fight against each other, but also work together against the Court, and Spawn gets sent back to his world by the end.
Two left over threads to be used in a possible sequel. 1) They show Wanda alive in the DC Universe and Martha alive in the Imageverse. 2) They very strongly indicate an alliance between Joker and Clown.
Would love to see this again sometime down the road.
Excellent. Recommend

[TheMadReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 bad stories wrapped up in one. I’m both a Batman and Spawn fan however these stories never did it for me as a kid and especially not as an adult, the Frank Miller story was meh at best. Just really bad writing but Todd and Capullo always deliver art wise. The middle story by Doug Moench was the worst of the three, and that’s saying a lot.

This is a coffee table art book at best.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection was okay. As grateful as I am that I purchased it at a discounted price, I wish I had found it at the library to check out and saved myself the money I spent on it. I had read the latter two stories when they first came out but could not remember them; I was not aware there was another "crossover" between these two characters in 2022. The artwork was really hit-and-miss for me; I probably liked the art in the 2022 story the most, followed by the third story (Spawn/Batman). I liked the artwork for War Devil the least. I do not know enough about Spawn to comment on any kind of "character development" in his portions of the stories, but I have read enough of the Batman's comics to think that the Batman was presented as even more of a jerk than he has been in previous iterations of him. Granted, I have not read much of his recent stories in DC Comics, so maybe that has changed.

The stories were meh for me as well, overall. The story I liked most would have been the story from 2022. I was pretty ambivalent about the Court of Owls when they were first introduced; I thought they were pretty cool as adversaries for the Batman at first, but then it got frustrating as they seemed to be omnipotent and omniscient in Gotham City for as long as it was necessary for them to kick the Batman around and knock his teeth in right up until it was time for the Batman to somehow turn the tables and "win" (for that specific moment as they have popped up again in other stories). In this story, there is a faction that is trying to gain control of the Court and they intend to somehow use Spawn to gain that control by both killing the Batman and obtaining some kind of tech that was lost when Martha Wayne was killed or was used to open the portal to allow Spawn to enter the Batman's dimensional reality - I'm not sure which. For some reason, Spawn believes if he kills the Batman, his wife will be set free or be resurrected or something. The two fight then join sides to defeat the Court, which was pretty cool, overall. I could have done without the Joker; I have never really cared for him as a character for the longest time and what he has done to himself is beyond disturbing. Probably the best and baddest moment came when Spawn dressed as the Batman kills their captive member of the Owls' Court; Spawn told the Batman he did the Batman a favor because now the criminals believed if they want too far the Batman would kill them, too. It really threw me for a loop when it happened 'cuz I thought Bruce had snapped for a moment, so that part was well-played. The "second best" part of the story was when the Batman stepped back into the dimensional rift to allow Spawn the opportunity to kill him in order to convince Spawn of his innocence and that they needed to work together to defeat whoever was using them like they were. That was pretty cool, too. I could totally see the Batman doing that. I also liked the part where Spawn realizes that the Batman is "just/only" human and not superpowered. That was pretty cool, too. I "hated" the ending because Spawn's wife shows up in Gotham City and Martha Wayne shows up in some church in Spawn's reality. The way the story ends led me to believe there was a "Part II" to it, and there's not. Unless the second half of the story comes out "later", but it was really weird and annoying that that happened and then the story just ended. I was "where's the second half of the story?" and disappointed to discover that was it.

The Spawn/Batman story was somewhat disturbing, too, but also kinda prescient in away as part of its premise involves people being turned into killer cyborgs and we see discussions about modifying soldiers today by blending humans with machines to try and make a better soldier. The only part of this story I really liked was when Spawn and the Batman were initially fighting. Spawn holds back to avoid killing the Batman but still essentially kicks his butt, and the Batman is utterly humiliated by it and wants to take back what he lost in losing to Spawn. I don't know why, but I found that part of the story to be hilarious, how the Batman was so furious that not only did he lose but he realized that Spawn was holding back and could have injured him even worse than he did. Or course, their "round two" was even crazier because the Batman uses some military tech to even the odds and the two of them beat the crap out of each other before the Batman is attacked by robots and Spawn ends up not only saving the Batman's life but restoring his health so they can stop the real villain of the story. I liked the call out to the "Elseworlds" stories that DC did for a while - especially as there is a comment at the front of the story that says the story takes place in a different continuity and not the same timeline as DC's current continuity at the time. Still, though, the Batman is a complete and utter jerk in this story; he comes across as "better" in the War Devil story and the 2022 story, which still is a bit odd to me.

I don't know enough about Spawn to comment on him at all; it's just funny to me in a sad way that comics make the occult and the demonic so powerful, almost too powerful, until it's time for the hero or heroes to when, and then the demonic forces are no longer as powerful as they were. Or, you have the character gifted with demonic power who decides to turn on his or her demonic benefactors and use their demonic powers "for good" without any kind of repercussions. it's . . . well, I don't care for it and let's just leave it at that. The latter two stories made me physically sick to my stomach because of the demonic tones to it, and I cannot say I particularly cared for that.

It was okay to read. It does have some beautiful artwork in it in places, but not enough to warrant reading the stories to find that artwork. This compilation does have "Easter Eggs" in it (seems funny putting it that way because of the amount of the occult/demonic in the story), but I would not say these "Eggs" were anything to be excited about. I may reread the first story again someday, but I doubt I will ever read the second story ever again, and maybe not even the third story (in terms of the order in the compilation). I'll leave it at two stars for the artwork that I liked and the moments that I liked in the story, but this compilation was really not my cup of tea.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

W 'preorderze' na wrzesień w ofercie Egmontu znalazł się kolejny crossover znanych marek z postacią Batmana. I tak był kultowy sędzia Dredd. Był Predator. Były Wojownicze Żółwie Ninja. Wydawca sięgnął zatem po inny 'sprawdzony' klasyk. Spawn. Szkopuł w tym, że omawiany zbiór to mokre marzenie senne czytelnika rodem z lat. 90 XX wieku i na aktualne standardy zamysł jest już archaiczny, nawet jeżeli jeden zeszyt w kolekcji jest świeższy i ma tylko 'roczek'...

Wszystkie trzy opowiadania jadą na jednym schemacie. Obaj bohaterowie wpadają na ślad jakiejś intrygi, więc ich drogi się łączą. Jednak ze względu na różne metody działania, doprowadza to ich do małego prania po twarzy, po czym jak gdyby nigdy nic łączą siły, aby uporać się z powstałym problemem. Mogę to łyknąć raz, ale jeżeli widzę to trzy razy z rzędu w jednym tytule, to zaczyna mnie to już nużyć.

I nie ma znaczenia, czy stoi przed nimi niedawno jeszcze zmarły jegomość, który wskrzesza zmarłych czy babka, która lubi umieszczać świadome głowy ludzi (bez ciała) w maszynach. Czy wreszcie powracający Trybunał Sów, który ma plan na pozbycie się Wayne'a z Gotham. Schematy niweczą sporo z miejscami makabrycznej zabawy, jaką ma być takie przedsięwzięcie w założeniu.

McFarlane może się dwoić i troić, ale nawet z jego klasą nie da tego potraktować, inaczej jak czystą ciekawostkę. Stare zeszyty pokazują, jak kiedyś wyglądała kreska, zaś Capullo standardowo daje coś świetnego, ale to za mało, aby usprawiedliwić cenę, jaką wydawca chce sobie zażyczyć. Zwłaszcza, że album liczący sobie 280 stron, prawie w połowie jest zapełniony szkicami czy projektami około komiksowymi, co mnie nigdy za mocno nie grzeje.

Jakieś plusy? Bardzo ładne wydanie, co jest standardem dla naszego rodzimego wydawcy i fakt, iż komiks bywa brutalny i miejscami wygląda dobrze, nawet pomimo faktu, iż najstarsza historia powstała w 1994 roku.

Niemniej w mojej opinii nawet najładniejsza okładka przy miałkiej zawartości nie ma żadnego znaczenia, no chyba że ma się tylko prezentować ładnie na szafce. We wrześniu w ofercie Egmontu jest m.in. Marvel Zombies, co wydaje się już o niebo lepszą opcją do nabycia. Tego zbiorku nie mogę polecić prawie nikomu, no może poza fundamentalistom obu serii.

[Yoshiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

POPKulturowy Kociołek:

https://popkulturowykociolek.pl/batma...

Drogi Batmana i Spawna skrzyżowały się pierwszy raz w roku 1994. Wtedy to na rynku pojawiły się dwa zeszyty z ich połączonymi przygodami. Na kontynuację serii fani DC musieli zaś poczekać aż do roku 2022. Teraz za sprawą wydawnictwa Egmont i wydanego zbiorczego albumu Batman/ Spawn mamy okazję w całości prześledzić ową historię. Opowieść gdzie Trybunał Sów zainicjował plan mający na celu doprowadzenie do starcia Mrocznego Rycerza i Spawna. Walki dwóch mrocznych herosów, która może odcisnąć swoje brutalne piętno na niewinnych ludziach, chyba że dostrzegą, iż są oni manipulowani.

Nie ma co ukrywać, że fabuła komiksu jest stosunkowo prosta. Todd McFarlane stawia tu nacisk głównie na akcję i interakcje między postaciami. Przedstawia kontrast między umiejętnościami detektywistycznymi Batmana a nadprzyrodzonymi zdolnościami Spawna. Pozwala on również fanom dostrzec nie tylko różnice pomiędzy herosami, ale również cały szereg ich wspólnych cech.

Tempo komiksu jest ogólnie dobre z odpowiednią równowagą pomiędzy sekwencjami akcji i rozwojem postaci. Historia jest jednak stosunkowo krótka, więc niektórym czytelnikom może się wydawać, że fabuła jest nadmiernie pospieszna (bo niestety tak jest). Biorąc pod uwagę złożoność postaci i potencjał świata, dłuższa seria mogłaby wyciągnąć ze scenariusza o wiele bardziej zachwycającą głębię.

Jeśli chodzi o samych bohaterów to zarówno Batman, jak i Spawn są przedstawiani wiernie, zgodnie z tym, jak prezentują się oni we własnych seriach. Ich interakcje, choć w pewnym stopniu przewidywalne, są zarówno widowiskowe, emocjonalne i zabawne. Wraz z rozwojem fabuły pojawia się pomiędzy nimi pewna nić porozumienia/szacunku. Bynajmniej nie jest to zalążek przyjaźni, raczej chwilowe zawieszenie broni....

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd collection and doesn't really provide a smooth reading experience.

This collects three Batman/Spawn crossovers, two from 1994 and one from 2022. They are printed here in reverse order, from most recent to oldest. Why not the other way around? In each story Batman and Spawn meet for the very first time. Again, why?

I liked the Frank Miller story the best, as it is about the two heroes and their conflicting ideals and less about confusing villains, like the other two stories. Still none of them are memorable at all.

Artwork is fire in all of the stories, as expected.

Almost half of the book is bonus material, among which one of the stories is printed again in its entirety in B&W. Why just this one and why at all?

As I said, I find this to be a very odd collection. It can entertain, but it's forgettable.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deluxe Edition compiles the 3 Batman/Spawn crossovers: 2022's Batman/Spawn, Batman/Spawn: War Devil, and Spawn/Batman. All 3 stories follow similar arcs: misunderstanding in the beginning leads to a fight, a greater threat is revealed, and an uneasy alliance is formed.

I actually preferred the 2022 version with the Court of Owls. Rereading the Frank Miller one in 1994, his shtick and brooding dialogue was running thin for me and it was the Todd McFarlane art that appealed to me for.

[Davide Pappalardo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first story sports wonderful art by Capullo (his Spawn will always be the best Spawn) and, unfortunately, a very convulted, confusing, some time unintelligible plot by McFarlane. The other two stories are better, the last one being the most interesting. I don’t regret buying it, but this is not essential material and there are better crossovers out there.

[SarahKat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun. I picked it up randomly at a bookstore just because I love Batman and my dad liked Spawn. I knew pretty much nothing about Spawn going in. I preferred the first and last stories because they were more modern, but the older one was good too.
Snarky Alfred line: "No need for punchlines, sir. You're among friends."

[Connor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad. The first book I've ever read where that's all I can say about it. The art didn't even hit my expectations, nevermind the TERRIBLE stories.

Multiple books written by multiple duos and not a single person seems to have said "bro... This sucks"

[Jake Nussbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10. The art for all the issues are great, but the stories and dialogue are quite lacking.

[Anthony Rizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All three stories are just dumb fun with glorious action and art with dialogue that varies quite a bit throughout. I really enjoyed it and will gladly keep it around to reread someday!

[Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick impressions: Overall, this was OK. The concept is great, but the stories and writing leave much to be desired.

(Full review on my blog soon.)

[Ming · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. I thought the 90s originals (also collected here) were bad enough. This new tale though, is the clear king of awfulness by being utterly incomprehensible, like it was written by a child.

[Desire Manara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición argentina con los tres cruces de ambos personajes. Contó con al menos una portada alternativa.

[Index Purga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traduce los tres crossovers del Hombre Murciélago y el Engendro Infernal. Índice pendiente.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pensé que ya tenía recontra marcada esta versión. Edición argentina triple con los tres crossovers de la dupla. Creo que sólo tengo repetido el primero de todos en otras ediciones.

[Ribrarian Not · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Tomo triple.

[Lain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This shit is stupid and awesome.

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good set of crossover stories and really enjoyed Capell and Mcfarlanes artwork in this.

[MannyLikesPie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great for either character but art cool

[Darren Desilva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta love this book.

[Juha Soininen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Kapitol Tank · Rating 4 out of 5]

La trilogía Batman/Spawn;Spawn/Batman por primera vez en un solo tomo que combina las historias clásicas con la más moderna.

[Ashcan F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un choque intereditorial a través de las décadas y las estéticas.

[Mystique X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tres Spawns y tres Batmans se cruzan en distintos momentos de sus continuidades en una trilogía sin secuencia lógica pero que adapta sus idiosincrasias.

[Zintulo Deyuno · Rating 4 out of 5]

BATMAN|SPAWN (Batman/Spawn War Devil 1994, Spawn/Batman 1994, Batman/Spawn 2022)