Batman/Spawn #1 (DC Comics/Image Comics) I could tell you every Spawn comic I’ve ever read. It won’t take long.
I was just getting into comics when Image was founded, and the hype that came with it, and of all products, Todd McFarlane’s comics produce is the one I found most fascinating because I saw some similarities between MacFarlane’s art and that of my favorite artist, Norm Breyfogle. I love the design of the character, with the billowing cape, chains, and glowing triangular eyes, I love the supernatural Batman vibe the character has, and I love the vibrant colors in the art. I read the first five issues and decided that although it was well drawn, it wasn’t great. I was 15 years old that year.
I came back and read issues 8-11, written by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim and Frank Miller, but that was the last one produce The periodicals I have read, excluding the two Batman volumes published by DC in 1994 War Demonwritten by all-time Batman writers Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant, drawn by Klaus Janssen, and published by Image Spawn/Batmanwritten by Miller and drawn by MacFarlane himself.
So it’s not like I don’t understand the character. My understanding of him is limited to the first point.
I guess MacFarlane gave up painting at some point produceThe job was accepted by an artist named Greg Capullo, who became a big star in DC’s 2011 New 52 project when he teamed up with writer Scott Snyder Snyder collaborated on ” batman per month.
This seems to be a selling point in 2022 Batman/Spawn Crossing over, the chance to see Capullo draw two of the characters he’s most familiar with now was rewarding for him. This time, MacFarlane will ink Capullo’s work and create the links himself.
It turns out that… well, it wasn’t the best division of labor. Considering all the comic book writers in the world – there are a dozen or so writing Batman comics every month – having someone who’s more of a dabbler than a skilled professional seems like a mistake.
I’ll try to explain the plot as best I can.
Spawn Al Simmons tells how when a man dies, the soul briefly enters a void that he can open to save someone, his wife, but the power to open the void lies in the hands of Batman, the “Black Beast” . One of the pearls Batman’s mother wore the night she died – yes, those damn tired old pearls – was a machine or some kind of magic that could open up different dimensions…? Or something else….? The Court of Owls wanted it, which is why they killed the Waynes.
They (or I should say “them,” since Spawn refers to the Court of Priests in his world rather than the Court of Owls) recruited Spawn, who was said to be from a different dimension. This may or may not be Batman’s future (they killed Superman first in Spawn’s world, he said at one point, because they weren’t afraid of him?), telling him that Batman has the soul of his wife Wanda.
Reborn goes to defeat Batman, entering into the traditional superhero team-up mode of fighting first and teaming up later. Due to his powers, Spawn won the fight very easily (see the cover’s version, with a victorious Spawn standing over a prone Batman, like the one above), but then he entered a “death zone” where he ‘s cape becomes floppy and he lacks his powers, and Batman is able to wipe the alley floor with him (now look at the cover, Batman victorious over a fallen Spawn).
Batman discovers they’re being manipulated, so they meet in the Batcave, then go out to brutally torture would-be informants and pose on a rooftop for a two-page spread, which McFarlane and Capullo use as dialogue The background, I thought, looked more graphic than another page of talking heads.
They then talk to the Joker, who is wearing his own skinned face as a mask, just like he once did in the New 52. .
I have no idea. I really miss the blogging days now because I could actually find someone to explain what the hell was going on in this, which was easily the worst of the three Batman/Spawn crossovers. Unfortunately, it’s not the last either, as the scene with the Joker and the Violator suggests. In fact, the final panel shows a man in violator makeup saying: “Everything is going according to plan. Now next steps be mine.
It’s nothing if not a threat to the sequel. I hope MacFarlane finds a co-author next time to make sure everything makes more sense than it did this time – I don’t know what the book’s editors did to ensure that it did, but it sure feels like it An old-school author image book with no editing infrastructure. Another good idea? This book was written as if the person reading it had no idea who Spawn was or what his deal was. Of the two players involved, he’s definitely the less well-known of the two, and McFarlane seems to have missed the opportunity to introduce him to the legions of Batman fans who are reading this article to get a sense of that side of Batman (And Capullo’s presence).
As for the artwork, it’s pretty good. I like Capullo a lot, but he’s never been one of my favorite Batman artists (now if Gilliam March drew this…!), but, that’s what the effort is all about, No? former batman and produce Artist draws Batman and Spawn at the same time? I might prefer March, John McCrae, Kyle Hotz, or – especially – Kelly Jones, but that’s just me, and having anyone other than Capullo draw this particular comic would have been Erasing its entire reason for existing.
DC con man gets run over by reindeer (DC) The theme of this year’s festive 80-page tome is A Christmas Carol, and as the title suggests, the results are mixed, but mostly middling. Maybe it’s the theme’s fault. The best of these is the “Batman and Catwoman” story written by screenwriter Scott Bryan Wilson and drawn by Skylar Partridge, in which Catwoman is the Bat Batman brought his favorite Christmas present, while Batman pulled out some Twelve Night trivia. The weakest is the story written by Max Bemis and drawn by Pablo M. Colllar, inspired by “Silent Night” in which Bemis has Constantine look like in Prose stories rather than comic book narratives.
Comey Can’t Communicate Vol. number 22 (visual media) Still on a class trip to New York, Mambaji decides to increase the drama a thousand times by confessing his feelings to Tadano. She does not quite get there but Do Telling him that she liked someone who looked a lot like him…and then deciding to try again when she returned to Japan led to a rather suspenseful cliffhanger in the book. Meanwhile, Komi’s younger brother Shosuke goes on a class trip, which is also led by Tadano even though he doesn’t want it to be.
Mickey Mouse: The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain (Fantasy Picture) Another Disney Masters Edition highlights the work of the great Paul Murray, collecting nine stories from 1959 to 1961.
Zom 100: The Dead Man’s Bucket List Vol. 8 (Right now) Zombies running through the Museum of Natural History become entangled in dinosaur fossils, seemingly bringing about the threat of zombie dinosaurs near the climax of the eighth volume of this entertaining series. This involves so many zombies tangled up with a complete Spinosaurus skeleton that they somehow render it lifeless and activate it to hunt down our heroes. While that turn of events is unlikely, it does lead to a dino-versus-dinosaur clash scene, with Akira and company battling it out using an animatronic T-Rex, with the battle being bolstered by a robot butler, a robot butler. Is inherited from all robots.
The early climax is followed by a story in which Akira tires of the concept of a wish list, which is of course the premise of the series. Just as he questions the list, he’s trapped in a newsstand by a horde of zombies with nothing to do but argue with philosophers, who seem to him to explore the nature of boredom, the human need for entertainment needs and the human need for entertainment.
This is surprisingly powerful stuff, and here’s another example of why Size 100 The perfect comic for our pandemic times.
