2.93 (458) Spawn #3 ... Image ...

Someone asked me why I keep on doing reviews as I am now as of this review @ 458 but my readers are only in the thousands unlike other blogs. Well, the simple truth is that I am writing this for me and if others enjoy it (which I hope they do), then by all means, welcome onboard ... but like any other comic creator, we first have to have a passion. Otherwise, it will fizzle out the moment interest wanes and we will never improve to great heights

That being said ... I do hope that my readership grows because with readership, maybe some day, I can offer free hardcopy of comics as giveaways ... hehehe ... I have now over 10,000 comics in my humble collection

Alright ... we are now in issue 3 of Spawn's journey and this is an issue of amazing artwork as so many pages are filled with nearly splash page sized images and they are awesome! Especially final 2 page splash! WOWIEEEEeeeeee!

Aside from that, in terms of the story, we see progress (finally) as Spawn takes on Violator in his true form and not that of the fat fuck clown. Unfortunately our joy gets halved as we also waste time getting a glimpse of what happens when Al finally catches up to his other half in a fake human guise. Sigh! And finds out a mate of his is also her current beau. Double sigh! Enough already. We want the main event!

Ratings: 6/10 (because of all the pretty panels)

2.92 (457) Spawn #2 ... Image ...

And since we are on a roll reviewing comics that are not that mainstream, let's move back to Spawn. Okay admittedly Spawn was a huge success so much so that it eclipse at that time the so-called mainstream output from Marvel and DC for a few years always hitting the charts at the top few slots. And admittedly McFarlane's detailed kinetic drawings are just awesome to behold especially his covers and splash pages. So why do I rarely review his work?

Honestly, something about it doesn't appeal to me. With the exception of the adjectiveless Spider-Man run that I loved, the rest was just "entertaining". Sorry

Anyway, issue 2. After a huge sales numbers for 1, expectations run high for this issue and the cover alone makes it worth the price of the cover! Look at that cover!

As for the story itself, it is still on origin pace. We see Al Simmons hanging around rooftops in most of the pages still trying to figure out what the heck is going on, how he came back from the dead and what his powers are. There is a funny sequence when he tried to use his powers to make him whole again except that he then became white when he should have been black!

Aside from that, you have scenes of his main nemesis the Clown aka Violator. We see scenes of the Violator going after mafia scumbags killing them one by one ala Marvel's Punisher and not too sure why he is being such a nice guy instead of celebrating the villainy of the regular villains. While on the flipside, in his clown form, he was busy monologuing to an alley cat (we kid you not) ... sigh ...

The best part of this comic for us is for once the usage of TV screens and a print out of news segments because here Todd nodded in acknowledgement on the Dragon, Ninja Turtles and Youngblood and love the comments on changing of costumes!

Other than that, it's a wee bit slow ...

Ratings: 4/10 (would have been lower if not for that cover)

304. Spawn #1 ... Image ...

And speaking of an Image founder, one of the top 2 is Todd Mc who came off from a hot launch of a new Spidey title to this, his own comic that is still running until today. In fact, the timing is also good as Todd has been for the past few years back on the comics trail and busy revamping his Spawn trying to regain some readership

I will be honest. When this came out, much as I loved Todd's Spider-Man (not his Amazing Spider-Man run though), I didn't bother with this issue or series until friends lent me and even then, it failed to do much for me

Sure, the design of the Spawn is cool and so are the villains but somehow, I prefer lots of super heroic fisticuffs as opposed to Spawn who is afraid to run out of juice

Anyway, basically, for those not in the know, Spawn is Al, a chap who got iced by the govt operatives and comes back as a hellspawn with limited power that dwindles as he uses them. He is not meant to be a good guy and Hell has definite plans for him but until then, he is his own man as he doesn't know what is going on with him, how he came to be alive again or even who he was back when he was alive as his memories are all scrambled

So he is definitely not your average super hero

In this first issue, we are shown all this confusion as forces now start to surround him while he tries to regain a sense of who he was and his purpose. What I found disappointing is the tools used to communicate the current news event in the form of newscasters. Unfortunately, this becomes a standard tool even in subsequent issues. So while the artwork is awesome, the character design is awesome, I felt that there is too much "subtlety" to the Spawn comics as opposed to outright blow-em-ups

Ratings: 4/5

168. Medieval Spawn & Witchblade #1 ... Image ... Brandon Petersen ...

During the second half of the old 90s comics boom, Image began to have spin-off in the form of limited series for its popular characters and in this, we have from Todd Mc's Spawn and Top Cow's Witchblade coming together ...

Featured artist is Brandon Petersen .. he who has jobs at X-Men, who has some of his own fans but somehow never reached the height of his fellow superstar artists ... even though his lines are clean and his work is detailed ... that's life, eh?

Anyway, as the title implies, this series is not about the current Spawn and Witchblade but the past ... so Spawn ... is a power granted to certain people and with it they come back to life (not as zombies mind you) with some energy to carry out certain tasks before that energy level ends ... as for Witchblade, it is an artifact that somehow prefers to attach itself to action-oriented babes who go in for skimpy clothing

And there the two of them from the past joined together to combat a new threat to existence ... naturally their initial meeting is one of tension before they teamed up ...

As you will notice, we do not focus on telling you too much but instead gives you only the set up. Why? Check out the cover. If you like the art, you will buy the series. Otherwise, you won't bother

Ratings: 6/10