Comic report Card: Adventures of Spawn

Hey, it’s Comic Report Card. Where we look back at older comic storylines/mini-series and grade them. I grade each separate issue then I add their scores together for an overall grade. It’s not he usual way I review something, but since these stories are often at least a few months to a year or two old some of their grade depends on how the stories have aged over time and if they are still enjoyable.

That being said I am sticking to the Rokk’s Comic book Revolution style of (insert #) Night Girls out of 10 along with my grade as well as their use of Synopsis, Good and Bad then ending it with an Overall thoughts.

Today I’m grading 2 comics that tell one story.

It’s…the Adventures of Spawn! A crazy fun re-imagination of the dark world of Spawn. Some may think it doesn’t work and it’s a stupid idea, but I’ve compared it to what the Ultimate Universe did for Spider-man.

Adventures of Spawn actually started as a web comic, for free online, available HERE but 2 one-shots from the 2 issues online have been printed and I’m reviewing them, even if you can just go and read the comics for free online.

Adventures of Spawn #1

Written: Jonathan David Goff

Art: Khary Randolph

Colors: Jason Gonzalez and Joe Ferstl

Synopsis: We first get an introduction to the villains. Mammon the leader. Tiffany the Angel who was abandoned by her lover the Redeemer. Cy-Gor the cybernetic gorilla. Overt-kill the machine based man. We see see them as their plan begins and they get ready to dominate the world.

A Reporter is (shockingly) reporting and talking about what a great day it is when Overt-Kill attacks the local New York Museum. After crashing and making a big explosion Overt-kill shouts at the reporter “Where-Is-the Stone?!”

Shifting to the San Diego zoo is Al Simmons, his wife Wanda and their daughter Cyan. (Al Simmons is the hero Spawn X who is given this power from the Necro stone. He is also still a mercenary like in the original comic.) As the family visits the monkeys the monkeys are hostile shouting and looking at the Simmons family.

We cut to Omega Spawn (robotic version of Spawn from the future who went back in time) working on building his Omega Squad (basically duplicates of himself) when Redeemer walks up and tells Omega Spawn to beam him out of their surveillance satellite, that he has a meeting with the council of Light. Redeemer is soon beamed out (Scottie! I like this Spawn, it’s exciting!)

Just when Omega Spawn finds out that Overt-Kill has attacked the museum Plague demons (Mammon’s minions) have invaded the Satellite and are flooding the place fast. Omega Spawn tells the computer to turn off the Jump Drive which is where the Plague Demons are getting in from.

Redeemer gets to the hall of light to meet the council when he, in shock, finds the entire council has been murdered. Tiffany, his ex-lover, stands in the middle of their table with their blood on her sword and she grins at Redeemer. After finding out that she let Mammon into the hall of light Mammon leaves and they start fighting.

Overt-kill grabs the Awakening stone and police draw guns on him. In response he draws his chainsaw.

The monkeys attack Al Simmons, after his family gets away he is swarmed by monkeys and soon transforms into Spawn X. He takes out a few monkeys when Cy-Gor strikes, pinning Spawn down and creepily saying “Now…it’s lunch time”

Omega spawn gets the Omega Squadron online and tells them to “bust some heads” (best line in the entire comic) While the Omega Squadron take care of the Plague Demons Omega Spawn heads down to earth to take care of Overt-Kill.

Redeemer and Tiffany fight, Redeemer confused still as to why Tiffany betrayed him. She says it was because he left her to join Spawn X and that she was abandoned. Just as she gets a killing blow on Redeemer the noise “Bzz-“is heard.

Just as Cy-Gor is about to take a bite out of Spawn X he gets blasted off and they fight.

Omega Spawn soon arrives and knocks Overt-Kill down. When Overt-Kill gets agitated Omega Spawn pulls out his buster (wait, is this Megaman? I’d play Megaman even more if Omega Spawn was in it!) and warns him that it packs a big punch. Just as Spawn and Redeemer have been teleported out of their fights to Omega Spawn.

Mammon shows up and has brought Cy-Gor and Tiffany with him, the heroes and villains face off to get the Awakening Stone. Leaving the first issue off on a cliff-hanger.

Commentary

The Good: Adventures of Spawn has tons of great moments, characters and some enjoyable art. It’s a unique and fun twist on a series that never really seemed to fit with the idea of being kid friendly. Even if this entire issue isn’t suitable for younger kids.

What Goff did such a great job with this entire spin-off was he created a more all ages friendly book without dumbing it down. Not an easy task nowadays as most writers will write off an all ages comic as an excuse for simple dumb writing that doesn’t even seem somewhat interesting. Goff however does a great job of making an accessible comic and keeps it entertaining and not stupid fun.

Spawn X is a silly name I admit but the character is done nicely here. He has some great dialogue and it was really interesting to see how Al Simmons lives his life as a family man while balancing being a hero. It’s a really good spin on things and Goff also handles that nicely.

Turning Redeemer from Spawn’s biggest enemy into his ally was a very cool spin for the character. I also liked how it seems there was a deeper history to Redeemer of all people but he abandoned it all for his new role as protector alongside Spawn X. He’s a great character.

Omega Spawn was just plain awesome. Sure he’s a bit of a cheesy character, the idea of a robot from the future isn’t too original but he still is great. He’s got this very distinct personality where he doesn’t just feel like some cheap robotic stock character and he has some very badass moments. Why Omega Spawn hasn’t gotten his own spin-off series by now is beyond me.

Most of the villains are handled well enough. Mammon was a good choice at the time as he was the grand force behind the whole Spawn series in the first place but I was frustrated to see the Phlebiac Brothers pushed to the side for a mini-comic and rather Overt-kill took their place. They deserved his spot more.

I liked the idea of Tiffany as the love scorned angel who betrayed her brothers and sisters for revenge. It’s a classic idea and Goff really makes it work. Showing that in her loss of her lover she went nuts and Mammon took advantage of that.

I did like the simple premise of it and how it was handled. Goff doesn’t push himself too hard to try and make a simple fun premise into something too serious or interesting. He does well with what he’s got.

Randolph’s art is strong at times and the character redesigns are nicely handled. Randolph does a great job of telling a story with his art and packs a lot of great stylish action into his artwork here.

Though story itself is simply very well done and along with it the art fits near perfectly. Goff packs tons of great moments and tells an entertaining read from start to finish.

The Bad: Goff floods the pages at times with narration. It gets insane. While his story flow is nice, it’s so frustrating that there’s tons of text here and most of it is pointless. While the actual dialogue between characters is nicely done, this random narrator in yellow boxes is just annoying and it feels like it was Goff trying to add more to an already enjoyable and full storyline.

I am not too fond of Overt-Kill here. He’s all right, but he’s become such a C-list villain over the years that I would have preferred a more memorable Spawn villain in his place.

While Randolph’s art is good, the coloring falls a little flat. (I didn’t notice this until reading issue #2, mind you) but the coloring doesn’t really pop or give the stylish great art much definition. It’s a little disappointing when these great character designs have coloring that falls so flat and looks boring, not really complimenting the great art and even becoming a bit of detraction for it.

Overall: With good and bad to say about it, the first issue of Adventures of Spawn was a bold new attempt from TMP and overall it paid off well enough. It was a smart and fun recreation of an already enjoyable series and for that it gets good marks.

Story: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Art: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Grade: B-

Adventures of Spawn #2

Written: Jonathan David Goff

Art: Khary Randolph

Colors: Avalon Studios

Synopsis: Mammon has a brief monologue then shouts for the villains to bring him the Awakening Stone. Spawn says that’s not going to happen. Mammon tells the villains that no matter what they lose it will be worth the reward if they bring him the Awakening Stone. Also that any Plague Demon that brings him the stone will be upgrade to Terror demon.

As the fight starts up Spawn tells Omega to get the Squadron there now as they can’t handle the villains and go after the Stone. Tiffany says they are not enough and Spawn wonders if she can be redeemed, but she replies that she’s already been saved by Mammon.

As Omega is pounded into the ground by Overt-Kill Spawn tells him not to worry but soon the Plague Demons have their hands on the stone. Just before he can stop them Cy-Gor punches Spawn and the 2 continue their fight, Spawn trying to out-maneuver Cy-Gor. Cy-Gor gets Spawn down ,telling him that he plans to steal

Spawn’s K7-Leetha (the suit that grants his power) and use it for himself, shouting “Imagine the possibilities” with the sight of him standing on the bodies of the heroes and villains as the world burns behind him.

Just as Overt-Kill stars digging into Omega’s shoulder with a chainsaw the Omega Squadron show up. They take out Cy-Gor and Tiffany then go to town on the Plague Demons (Damn, where can I get myself an Omega Squadron? Their this good on villains, I bet they could do wonders for my lawn)

Tiffany and Cy-Gor are back up, the heroes switch enemies. Redeemer takes on Cy-Gor, Omega against Tiffany then Spawn and Overt-Kill. Spawn quickly trashes Overt-Kill but it’s too late, Mammon as the stone and the Omega Squadron has been dismantled. (On second thought I’m going to cancel that order)

Mammon starts chanting some ancient language with the stone to open a portal and bring back his evil master Malebolgia (the roles are reversed this time I see) but Spawn stops him and grabs the stone then flees into the sky with it. Mid-flight mammon cuts him off high in the sky and grabs the stone then Spawn by the throat.

Mammon starts draining Spawn’s power from the Necro Stone, soon taking the stone out of Al Simmons body and just when Mammon almost has it Al Simmons focuses what power he has left into a giant spiked gauntlet and knocks Mammon down and grabs both Stones.

Mammon and all his demons are suddenly warped by the R-factor, a warp that randomly teleports them anywhere in the universe. Spawn is worried that this isn’t over even though the day is one, that this is just the beginning.

Commentary:

The Good: Issue #2 is a huge improvement over #1. With a bout a year to look back on #1 no doubt Goff saw what he did wrong and sought to correct his major mistake of the frustrating narration that flooded every few pages.

Narration is still there, but this time it’s from Spawn X himself which was a smart decision. Rather than some random narrator we can’t see we actually know who’s narrating and how they know what’s going on so we feel more of a reason to read the narration and the narration itself is more worth it.

The characters continue to be great. Even though I still dislike Overt-Kill it was worth it seeing Spawn smash his body and then his severed head whining about it.

I liked the little “you can do it!” moment with Spawn X nearly about to have all his power drained when he gets one last punch and takes out Mammon with it. It was a great scene and not really something we get in the main Spawn series which is disappointing as it’s so great.

I thought it was very cool when Tiffany said “I’ve already been saved” as a twist that she actually thinks Mammon saved her from herself. It’s funny and speaks loud for her character.

I liked the Omega Squadron a lot more this time around, they where great. Really badass and cool. It’s a shame they got torn apart so soon.

The artwork is it’s usual greatness, but it’s a lot better thanks to the expertise coloring. The coloring gives the art huge style and a great effect. Some incredible definition and it just looks gorgeous. Unlike last time where the coloring was just boring with the coloring here it was incredible and it proves just how important colorists really are as they turned strong great art into absolutely incredible art.

This was a satisfying conclusion to the series. Leaving more for the hopefully eventually 3^rd issue to pick up and continue the trend of greatness.

There’s also a Phlebiac brother’s short story that is basically the same panel over and over again with copy and pasted images of the demon brothers. It’s actually really funny as far as dialogue, it had me in stitches and laughing out loud a lot at how great it was but it’s also a little simple so I can only say this was a good back up story.

The Bad: While Spawn X’ narration was nice, it definitely went a little overboard at times and was a little unnecessary still.

Besides that I have no complaints about this issue.

Overall: Adventures of Spawn #2 takes what the first issue did and turned the volume up to 11. the characters contain their greatness, the issue was stuffed with great moments, absolutely incredible art and was an awesome conclusion.

Writing: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Art: 10 Night Girls out of 10

Overall: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Grade: A-

Final Thoughts: Adventures of Spawn isn’t perfect, but for what it is it’s a great spin-off that takes a brilliant spin on an already enjoyable series. For anyone who enjoyed Spawn, but wanted a less serious but still enjoyable take on the franchise this is the comic for you. Now if only issue #3 where to be made already!

Final Score

Writing: 8 out of 10

Art: 9 out of 10

Overall: 8.5 out of 10

Final Grade: B+