Spawn #187 review

Apologies for all these delays, I think a bit of an explanation is needed. My computer was on the verge of crashing a few days ago, so after getting all my writings and stuff onto a flash drive I did a factory restart on it. Now it works just fine and is like brand new. So yes, there’s been some problems still getting back a lot of what I lost, certain downloads and what, been kind of frustrating. But now I am indeed back and better then ever! So what does this have to do with my review of Spawn #187? Well I just thought it would be fair to let everyone know, but also to let you know that if Year’s End doesn’t come out by tomorrow then it may have to wait a day or two. I also will be picking up a lot of my comics from the shop soon, probably Friday, so expect some reviews soon. So that’s all I have to say on that, onto the review!

Spawn #187
Written: Todd McFarlane and Brian Holguin
Art: Whilce Portacio

Opening Comments: Spawn Endgame has been an interesting storyline so far, 3 chapters in and everything seems to be nicely established for more action packed moments over the next few months. While we got some nice action here, it was more like showing off what we can expect in the coming chapters and while this issue was a good read, for how little we really got it was disappointing.

Story Comments: Our opening establishes yet another new character to Endgame. I must admit, it feels like Endgame is getting a little crowded, all these plot points that lead into our new Hellspawn. It’s obvious they will all converge at some point or another and everything will make sense soon, but still, for now it feels a little out of place and unnecessary to open with the Young Reporter character when last issue left off with the Ghost Rider wannabe attacking Jim.
Though I still have to admit that for a new character who comes out of the blue, he is introduced very nicely and given enough development to where I look forward to him taking center stage in next month’s issue. It was nice to see a “man on the street” type character that is developed enough to where he isn’t some random boring guy or another Joe the Plumber.
Though this issue really picks up when we return to Jim and his mysterious flame-headed attacker. I would have liked that this new villain be given a name or a codename or, hell, anything we could call him. But I didn’t see any name given so we’re just going to call him a Ghost Rider Wannabe.
So GRW threatens Jim to come with him peacefully or he has to make a mess of things. Sara gets knocked out by a mysterious figure and the hospital starts burning down which is where our Young Reporter gets called in to investigate the fire.
The dialog between GRW, the people who hired him, and Jim, is all priceless stuff and it makes me wish more that he where an actual important villain. But as it would seem he is what I like to call “hero fodder”
I’m sure anyone who has ever seen a movie like this, an anime, read other comics or scene it in any hero scenario can understand what I mean by that. In what I mean is that he is merely there to spout around like a badass for half the time, making him seem like a huge challenge, then when our hero pulls out the big guns he takes the Fodder down without even really trying. It’s a bit cliché, mostly in anime nowadays, but its classic and it works well to convey the opening moments of our new hero.
Unfortunately, we only see our new Spawn for all of 2 pages, and the second page is him covered in smoke. Though by now we do at least know what our new Spawn looks like, still, it would have been nice to see some fancy trick or at least a something other then his transformation being that which kills GRW.
The issue ends rather suddenly after Jim transforms back to Jim and it cuts there. This leads to my biggest problem with the issue, there really wasn’t much to it. Sure it wasn’t 20 pages of boredom, but really I was hoping for more then this by now. While I can be forgiving of the slow pace of how this first crisis was averted, I’m hoping we see more in the future chapters of Endgame then this every month.
So while this was another great issue and I myself was very much impressed, at the same time I have to be fair when I say that I was definitely disappointed at the lack of development.

Art Comments: Whilce Portacio is really making his mark in the book already. Usually it takes a while for an artist to become at home in the new book he’s on, and that’s always something I can forgive, but here he is seriously firing all cylinders and it looks incredible. Even the simplest expression or moment of dialog is beautifully drawn here. While I understand not everyone may like his style, as it is a definite change from what Haberlin brought prior to Endgame, the artwork here is great. Most notably on the new Spawn and GRW look great. Portacio is already in his element her and it looks great.

Final Comments: I personally enjoyed the hell out of this issue and found it to be incredibly well done. But at the same time, I recognize that there was a lot to be desired by the third chapter of Endgame and for that, I was disappointed severely. Still, it was a good read with incredible art and I still recommend anyone interested in it check it out and jump onboard soon, because all the formalities should be out of the way, it’s time to get dirty.

3 out of 5
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