Spawning Passion

While it was not the first comic book that I ever purchased or read, “Spawn” was the first book that I ever felt the need to purchase every month. Let’s all face facts; the comic book is a form designed in large part to keep outsiders out. Most books are are absolutely mired in continuity so dense that sometimes even true devotees forget storylines. In 1992 the world of comics was turned on its head with the launch of Image, a comic company founded by some of the day’s hottest artists. I was nine at the time and remember the release well, but did not really have much interest. It wasn’t until three years later, at the age of 12, that I became interested in “Spawn.” I remember walking down the new comics wall of my local shop, seeing the cover to an issue of “Spawn,” and thinking “gee this looks pretty cool maybe I should give it a try.”

At the time that I picked up my first issue, Todd McFarlane was no longer on art duties. Pencils were being done by Greg Capullo and the dark art was all I needed to suck me in. There was something about the world of “Spawn” that was both darkly intimidating and greatly exiting. I read through that first issue several times then went on a quest to collect up all of the back issues. I knew I had stumbled on to something special. Granted, the story was not particularly original or complex. The writing was merely serviceable but, when combined with the art of McFarlane and the creators to follow, it was as though some sort of magic had aligned to create something perfect.

Everything about Spawn speaks to the mind of a twelve year old boy. The violence is extreme. The Monsters are horrific. Many a night Malebolgia would haunt my mind, my dark room full of his sharp teeth and pot belly, waiting to gobble me up and swallow my soul. The women were everything sexual. Wanda was a perfect wife with a drop dead perfect body, a woman worthy of trading your soul for. The Angels were even hotter women who could kick anyone’s ass. Angela alone could take down every nerd hating bully in the world, not break a sweat, and look beautiful doing it.

I collected everything Spawn: action figures, comics, shirts, movies, soundtracks, pins. I have every issue of “Curse of the Spawn,” “Hellspawn,” “Angela,” and “Sam and Twitch.” Over the years, the comic has lost some of its luster. Angela and Malebolgia died in issue 100. Al Simmons is no longer the Spawn of continuity; ex comma patient Jim Downing is the new character readers are following. Somehow, even though I know that it isn’t what it once was, (and, honestly, wasn’t much more than a flash to begin with) I still purchase an issue of Spawn every month and, somehow, I am transported, if only for a matter of minutes, to 1995 and the mind of a twelve year old boy who was looking for some danger.

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