Alan Moore, The Maxx, and the Uncomfortable Retcon

Alan Moore brought one bold idea to The Maxx, and the series' creator wasn't sure how to handle it. I examine Moore's lone issue of The Maxx this week at CBR. 

How Justice League Unlimited Took Inspiration from an Alan Moore Classic

 

As the JLU's Cadmus storyline concluded, Alan Moore's "final" Superman story inspired a disturbing villain team-up. I revisit this week at CBR.

Before Zack Snyder, Before HBO...Sam Hamm's Watchmen

 

This week I look back at Sam Hamm's 1988 draft of a Watchmen film (even Alan Moore seemed...somewhat excited for it...)

That Justice League Unlimited Episode with the Alan Moore Credit

 

This week, I revisit the Justice League Unlimited adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' famous "For the Man who has Everything."  Hey, where's Jason Todd?

Alan Moore's Contribution to the Jack Kirby Memorials (1994)

Alan Moore's tribute to Jack Kirby, published in Wizard #33.

SPAWN/WILDC.A.T.S #1-#4, January-April 1996

Devilday

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Scott Clark (pencils), Sal Regla (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), LeeAnn Clark & Olyoptics (colors)

As Alan Moore was wrapping up his Spawn work for Todd McFarlane in 1995, he also accepted Jim Lee’s offer to write WildC.A.T.s. Moore’s monthly stints on WildC.A.T.s and Supreme lead me to believe he would’ve taken over the Spawn regular series if McFarlane had asked him, but apparently McFarlane felt confident enough in his own writing abilities to keep going with the title. The addition of Tom Orzechowski and Olyoptics does bring a style reminiscent of Spawn to the miniseries, and artist Scott Clark seems better suited for McFarlane’s hero than he does the assorted WildC.A.T.s. Clark doesn’t seem able to draw a variety of body types or facial expressions, which you’d think would be a prerequisite for a team book. Spawn wears a mask, and has fairly standard “big, but not too big” comic book anatomy that’s usually covered with a cape anyway, so Clark’s interpretation is pretty close to McFarlane and Capullo’s.

The series opens with Spawn breaking into the WildC.A.T.s' headquarters, demanding a rematch with Grifter and Zealot. The two ‘Cats have no idea what he’s talking about, which is a cue for Future Grifter and Future Zealot to enter. As Spawn is quick to point out, Future Grifter is quite old, and Future Zealot is black. They’re from the future, and they’re on a mission to kill Spawn before he steals a magic talisman and becomes the evil Ipsissimus. Future Zealot can’t bring herself to kill Spawn, so instead everyone agrees to travel to the future and stop the Evil Future Spawn; not to be confused with the McFarlane Toys action figure, Future Spawn. Apparently Void can travel through time, which enables the cast to journey to the predictably dystopian future. I don’t think it’s a big secret that the WildC.A.T.s are at least a little inspired by the X-Men, so perhaps Moore is intentionally doing a riff on one of the more famous X-tropes. The very first page of the story details the origin of the mystic talisman, and I can’t decide if it’s supposed to be Claremontian or just Moore giving another magic lecture:

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Scott Clark (pencils), Sal Regla (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), LeeAnn Clark & Olyoptics (colors)

In the future, the cast is introduced to “WildC.A.T.s 2015,” the future resistance team. Not surprisingly, some of the ‘Cats are dead (Warblade and Voodoo), and some are maimed (the robot Spartan is a disembodied head and Zealot’s legs are missing). Violator’s brothers act as Ipsissimus’ henchmen, and a few Wildstorm characters make cameos, either as servants of Ipsissimus or as a part of the resistance. The united teams take Spawn to the Chrysler Building, which is now renamed “the Red House.” The script treats this as a shocking reveal, but the art simply shows the Chrysler Building with a few of Spawn’s costume elements added to it. It’s not even wearing a giant, impractical cape. This issue is mainly dedicated to showing off the future world, so very few new ideas or plot elements are introduced. Someone asks Spawn how he feels about fighting against his future self, and his response is essentially, “It’s alright.” The fact that Spawn doesn’t seem overly shocked or concerned that this is what he’s going to turn into actually says a lot about the character. He knows he’s already made a deal with a devil, he knows he’s capable of brutal violence…all he’s lacking at the moment is any ambition. The self-awareness that he might just turn out this way, and his cold acceptance of it, does exploit one of the unique aspects of the character.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Scott Clark (pencils), Sal Regla (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), LeeAnn Clark & Olyoptics (colors)

The cast splits up, explores Ipsissimus’ lair, and encounters a few more future versions of the Wildstorm characters. Most of the females are in a harem, some of the Gen 13 cast has joined Ipsissimus, and WildC.A.T. Maul is now a brainless servant of the evil Future Spawn. Although a version of Spawn is the main villain, the miniseries has definitely leaned heavily over to the Wildstorm side so far, which automatically made it less interesting for me as a teenager. Even when Violator shows up, he just makes a brief cameo before Zealot’s older, future counterpart reduces him to bone. Unless an editor insisted, I really have no idea why Moore dedicated so much of the story to showing us how horrible the future is for Gen 13, the Black Razors, the Coda, and all of the other Wildstorm characters that the industry has abandoned.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Scott Clark (pencils), Sal Regla w/Chris Carlson (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), LeeAnn Clark & Olyoptics (colors)

Finally, Spawn actually has something to do, outside of setting up a story that mainly involves other characters. The heroes confront Ipsissimus, and Spawn promptly steals the amulet that started the mess. Unfortunately, Ipsissimus reveals that the amulet merely gave Spawn the courage and drive to fight against Malebolgia and steal his powers. The amulet itself is powerless. The WildC.A.T.s realize that Ipsissimus still has all of his memories as Spawn, so they’ve actually allowed an unwitting plant on their team all along. Future Zealot takes Spawn back to the present, and suddenly realizes that he still has the amulet he stole from Ipsissimus.

See? They’ve created the time loop that allowed Spawn to get the amulet in the first place, and while the amulet doesn’t grant him power, it does corrupt him into a power-hungry monster. However, the day is saved when Spawn accidentally knocks Future Zealot’s mask off, and realizes she’s a grown Cyan. Apparently, Moore wrote this under the impression that Cyan actually was Spawn’s daughter, which is why she couldn’t bring herself to kill him in the first issue. A few lines had to be rewritten to acknowledge Cyan is the daughter “who could have been” Spawn’s, but the content is really the same. With time altered, the future ceases to exist and the amulet disappears in-between the cracks of time and space.

Moore hasn’t invented any variations on the time travel story, but when he isn’t dwelling on how horrible and nasty the future is, he does create some entertaining time loops and conundrums for the heroes to explore. I wish the rest of the series explored the intricacies of time travel, or made some attempt to humanize Spawn. As much as I enjoyed this specific issue, getting here was a bit of a chore in places. And maybe doing a time travel story really wasn’t a nod towards the X-Men, but what am I supposed to think when the miniseries ends with a “corrupted” hero turning on his teammates? Dystopian futures and tainted heroes fighting against their allies? Was this really a coincidence?

SPAWN #37 - November 1995

The Freak

Credits: Todd McFarlane (plot), Alan Moore (script), Greg Capullo (pencils), Todd McFarlane (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Steve Oliff, Quinn Supplee, & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: In the alleys, Spawn rescues the Freak from a violent gang. The Freak explains that he was once a secret agent, until his family was murdered by a scientist nicknamed “Doctor Delirium.” Spawn agrees to help Freak stop the doctor and accompanies him to a mental institution. After fighting through security, the Freak targets a Dr. DeLeorean and throws him out of the window. Spawn wishes the Freak good luck and departs. Meanwhile, a Mrs. Kulbicizi is asked by a social worker to help locate her husband, who’s escaped from the institution again. His doctor, Dr. DeLeorean, hasn’t been answering the phone.

Review: If you were a millionaire, wouldn’t you hire Alan Moore to script an old plot you had lying around? The one that stars a character you still haven’t gotten around to introducing, but want to make into an action figure? If you add this to Blood Feud, Violator Vs. Badrock, and the upcoming Spawn/WildC.A.T.S. miniseries, you would have over a year’s worth of Alan Moore Spawn-related comics. I bet 1995 was a good year for the magic rings industry.

So, the Freak is finally introduced, and I have no idea why McFarlane was so determined to bring him into the Spawn mythos. He has no connection to Al Simmons, Heaven, Hell, or any other element of the series so far. If Spawn were the kind of protagonist who actively looked for action, people to help, or problems to solve, Freak’s introduction wouldn’t be so jarring. However, McFarlane has established pretty well by this point that Spawn just wants to be left alone, and is only defensive of a few of the bums who view him as their king (what a hero). Now, he’s jumping to the aid of a mysterious stranger, acting as an accessory as the weirdo murders several security guards, not to mention the innocent doctor he drops on top of a police car. The ending does turn things around a bit, showing just how absurd it is when heroes team up with mystery characters and blindly take them at their word. It’s not a good enough twist to justify the entire issue, though (and it certainly seems as if McFarlane is going out of his way to portray Spawn as a moron at this point). The Freak is a “crazy-is-a-good-enough-motivation” villain who doesn’t really fit into the series, as evidenced by his quick exile into limbo. He did become an action figure, although I’m not even sure why McFarlane thought the design was strong enough to justify a toy. He’s skinny, has frazzled hair and low-rider jeans. Was there a huge demand for a zombie Steven Tyler on the K-Mart shelves?

VIOLATOR VS. BADROCK #1-#4, May-August 1995

Rocks and Hard Places

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Bill Oakley (letters), Oclair & Extreme Colors (colors)

There is an odd significance to this miniseries, which was revealed during an online spat between Erik Larsen and Brian Denham. According to Larsen, retailers assumed this series would be produced out of Todd McFarlane’s offices at Image, and weren’t thrilled to discover it was an Extreme Studios job when the first issue arrived. Following this miniseries, Image solicitations specified which studio created each individual title. Using a novice artist on a high-profile miniseries, written by Alan Moore no less, seems to be the major criticism leveled against the title. The first issue mainly consists of Badrock and Violator fighting each other, then striking poses while Badrock taunts the incarcerated Violator. Badrock and Violator have such inhuman designs, it’s hard to say anyone could actually draw them wrong, so Denham’s artistic shortcomings aren’t obvious for most of this issue. Violator specifically looks consistent with McFarlane’s design, down to the inking of the texture of his disgusting skin.

The story opens with Badrock ambushing Violator in Washington, DC (Spawn Blood Feud has him leaving New York when Sankster causes too much trouble for supernatural beings). He’s taken in for study by a research institute named after real life “rocket scientist and occultist” John Whiteside-Parsons. Badrock, who’s leading the institute’s security, has a crush on Dr. Sally McAllister, but she’s only interested in demons. After news of Violator’s capture is made public, an angel named Celestine invades the institute and marches towards Violator. The story isn’t as over-the-top as the Violator miniseries, but Moore’s still keeping the tone light. The jokes are pretty funny, and Moore’s attempts at writing American teenager Badrock are unintentionally amusing.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Kurt Hathaway (letters), Donald Skinner & Extreme Colors (colors)

That pair of beach balls attached to a crude rendering of the female anatomy on the cover is supposed to be Celestine. According to the indicia, Alan Moore owns her copyright, so I’m sure he can expect a call from Neil Gaiman’s lawyers any day now. Denham’s rendition of Celestine is slightly less inhuman than the Liefeld version on the cover, which means it’s still pretty bad.

As Celestine draws closer to Violator, he convinces Badrock to free him from his shackles so that he can stop Celestine’s killing spree. Violator promptly changes into his human form and tells Celestine that Badrock is the demon; a Bugs Bunny trick that actually works. While Celestine’s distracted fighting the wrong monster, Violator comes from behind and rips her heart out. If you thought the imagery on the cover was gross, wait until you see the same character mutilated and covered in blood for several pages. With her last breath, Celestine opens the institute’s dimensional portal, hoping to send Violator back to Hell. A few hours later, Violator’s missing and Badrock and Dr. McAllister discover that the institute is in Hell. I like the cliffhanger, and Moore’s script still has a few laughs…but what an ugly, dumb comic this is.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal & Danny Miki (inkers), Bill Oakley (letters), Byron Talman & Extreme Colors (colors)

Now in Hell, Badrock encounters some of the demons Alan Moore created for Spawn #8 before catching up with Violator. The remaining Phlebiac Brothers also find Violator and try to kill him again. Badrock screws everything up by insulting Violator, which causes the paternal Phlebiac Brothers to attack instead the man who just slighted their brother. This issue is actually really funny, rivaling the first Violator miniseries in clever one-liners. Dr. McAllister’s clear disinterest in Badrock’s safety as she investigates Hell is also well played. The art’s not good enough to compliment the humor, though, and it’s a shame Denham can’t render the Phlebiac Brothers with the care Bart Sears put into their initial appearances.

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Brian Denham (penciler), Jonathan Sibal & Danny Miki (inkers), Bill Oakley (letters), Extreme Colors (colors)

Celestine’s body is withering away, and once it’s gone the institute will return to Earth. Badrock has to find Dr. McAllister before time is up, which leads to more confrontations with the demons that apparently appeared exclusively in Moore’s comics. This issue introduces the “snotty Second Level hyper-shrimp” -- demon intellectuals who wonder why they’re so attracted to blonde, white female victims. Violator returns for a few more fight scenes, eliciting Badrock to comment on how “monotonous” this is getting. After getting the shrewish Dr. McAllister back to safety, the energy drained from Celestine dissipates and the institute returns to Earth. Surprisingly, Violator is left in Hell; although he can’t stay there for long since he’s appearing in the concurrent issues of Spawn. A dialogue exchange establishes that the Admonisher snuck his way back to Earth, but I don’t know if Moore ever used him again. This is essentially the same comic as the previous three issues, only now Denham’s art is really starting to deteriorate. I remarked earlier that it would be hard to truly get the title characters off-model, but Badrock and Violator do look terrible during a few of the scenes. And the human characters have always looked odd during this series, so it’s not a surprise this issue is no exception.

SPAWN BLOOD FEUD #1-#4, June-September 1995

Blood Feud Part One

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Tony Daniel & Kevin Conrad (art), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Todd Broeker (colors)

Todd McFarlane used to say he was reluctant to do spinoffs, even though retailers vocally demanded more Spawn product during the ‘90s. At this point, McFarlane still seems to be operating under the principle that miniseries should be special, so we have the return of Alan Moore, paired with the latest artist poached from X-Force, Tony Daniel. The story opens with a mystery figure preying on New York’s citizens, as Spawn is hearing the voice of his demonic costume (K-7 Leetha) in his dreams. Meanwhile, monster-hunter John Sankster arrives in town to stop the murders. Sankster declares that vampires are the likely culprit, and this Spawn character clearly must be a vampire. After a particularly trippy dream, a blood-covered Spawn awakens on top of a dead body, surrounded by police.

I guess Spawn is better suited for this story than, say, Wolverine since it’s possible that his costume could be revealed as a murderer, which would enable the lead character to get off the hook. But, really, anyone who’s remotely familiar with the genre tropes should be able to figure out where all of this is headed. I do like the crazy design Daniel gives Spawn’s costume (if you’re wondering why Spawn’s so skinny on the cover, that’s supposed to be his empty suit). Whenever Daniel has to draw civilian characters, they looked rushed and carelessly constructed, but he does make the supernatural elements look cool.

Blood Feud Part Two

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Tony Daniel & Kevin Conrad (art), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Todd Broeker (colors)

After escaping from the police, Spawn suddenly remembers the stolen weapons he “misplaced” in the alleys. He reasons that his old friend, and CIA arms dealer, Jason “Sonny” Groenfield must’ve retrieved them by now. This is where the shared continuity between two writers gets weird. Obviously, Moore knows about the weapons Spawn stole early in the series’ run, and that they went missing during “The Hunt” storyline. However, he seems to think that Spawn freely shares his secret identity with all of his old friends, since he casually visits Groenfield, talks about the old days, and asks him if he’s seen the weapons. The only character McFarlane has allowed Spawn to reveal his identity to is Chapel, and he did that out of pure anger. Terry Fitzgerald is supposed to be Spawn’s best friend, yet McFarlane has gone out of his way to keep Terry from learning Spawn’s identity.

Sankster also seems to know Spawn’s secret identity, as he’s already been in contact with Groenfield and intimidated him into giving up Spawn if Groenfield sees him. Either Moore is doing this to portray Sankster as a shrewd foe who’s studied Spawn and learned his secrets, or he’s under the impression that Spawn’s identity is somewhat public knowledge. As a villain, Sankster isn’t properly fleshed out yet. Moore emphasizes his preppy qualities, while dropping a few obvious hints about his true identity. He wears fake tanner, and refuses to continue his hunt for Spawn during daylight hours. He’s essentially a joke character with a very obvious secret, and he doesn’t seem to have enough weight to be the main villain of the series.

The rest of the issue is dedicated to Spawn ripping off his costume, which is causing blackouts and giving him bad dreams. He tries to drown it in the bottom of the river, but still can’t escape their mental connection. The next time Spawn awakes, his homeless friends have driven a stake through his chest. Moore’s handling of Spawn’s relationship with his costume and his friends is the highlight so far. While McFarlane tends to portray the homeless as childlike followers, I like Moore’s willingness to show that at least some of them could buy into the vampire hysteria.

Blood Feud Part Three

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Tony Daniel & Kevin Conrad (art), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Todd Broeker (colors)

Oh, John Sankster is actually a vampire! What a crazy twist. Twitch discovers Sankster’s secret, and is brutally attacked as soon as he puts the evidence together. Meanwhile, Spawn stumbles across the Violator, who helps him recover from the staking. Violator reveals some helpful information about his costume, which clears it of the murders (it only feeds on souls, not blood) and establishes that it is a female. For some reason, this reminds me of the television censors that only allowed Hill Street Blues to do a bestiality story if the pervert was involved with female sheep.

Spawn’s physically ill without the costume, so he must travel across town to retrieve it. Moore actually tries to answer a question McFarlane always skirted over -- how does Spawn travel across New York? Moore has him magically hotwiring an abandoned car, which marks the first time Spawn’s ridden in a vehicle (discounting the comic that was packaged with the Spawnmobile toy, of course). Sankster catches up with Spawn again, traps him inside the car, and drives it off the docks. That’s what I think is supposed to be happening, but Daniel’s storytelling is almost incoherent during the sequence. His work looks increasingly rushed as the series goes along, and I can’t tell if it’s an intentional choice or his response to deadline pressures. This is probably the weakest chapter so far, but it has one of my favorite moments. Moore has at least one bum cuss Spawn out for sitting on a throne and declaring himself the king of the alleys. Was McFarlane not aware of how bizarrely egotistical that setup was?

Blood Feud Part Four

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Tony Daniel & Kevin Conrad (art), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Todd Broeker (colors)

Spawn’s reunited with his costume, just in time to rescue Sam from Sankster. Sankster tries to explain why he’s framing Spawn, but the only real explanation we get is that he wants to take out the other supernatural competition. In fact, his entire operation in New York has just been a test run for his planned conquest of Hong Kong in 2070. Spawn refers to him as “an undead Donald Trump,” which is apparently all of the development we’re going to get out of Sankster. The sun comes up, he turns into a snake creature, then disappears in the sewers. Spawn decides that only darkness accepts him now and jumps back into the river, even though Sam’s willing to clear his name now.

So, it turns out the villain never had much of a motivation, and the question of how he knows Spawn’s identity is never answered. Spawn embraces the darkness, just like he usually does at the end of McFarlane’s stories. For this, we needed a four-issue miniseries? I could buy it as a two-part fill-in, but releasing it separately as a miniseries just emphasizes that it’s not up to the levels of the Violator and Angela limited series.

SPAWN #32 - June 1995

Appearances

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Greg Capullo & Todd McFarlane (art), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: Following Cagliostro’s guidance, Spawn invades Heaven’s skyscraper in New York. When Spawn grabs what appears to be a defenseless elderly lady for cover, Rafael orders the angels to stand down and agrees to return Bobby, who is being studied in Heaven’s space station, to Earth. He arrives with the Redeemer, who promptly attacks Spawn. Spawn tries to protect Bobby and the elderly woman during the fight, and eventually teleports away. As Spawn recovers, Cagliostro reveals to Bobby that they survived an encounter with God. Meanwhile, Terry reveals his plan to Wanda, as Jason Wynn assures Chief Banks he’ll discover how their connection to Billy Kincaid was uncovered.

Spawntinuity: The opening narration claims that Spawns only appear every four hundred years. It also describes Spawn’s body as “necro-plasm” which is the first time the term has been used (Grant Morrison called it “psychoplasm”). Cagliostro still isn’t “Cogliostro” yet, but this is the first time he’s called “Cog” by another character. Cog gives Spawn a blank card which soon reveals the address of Heaven’s skyscraper, which is reminiscent of the scene between Spawn and a mystery man from Grant Morrison’s run (issue #18). Cog also says that God is “a chameleon of sorts…the Lord can appear in many forms.” The elderly lady that’s obviously supposed to be God declares that she allowed these events to happen, and that because Spawn’s willing to fight for other people, he’s destined to be “the one.”

Spawn Stuff/The Big Names/I Love the‘90s: On the Image Info page, Terry Fitzgerald talks about attending the 1995 E3 event, which unveiled the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn systems. Michael Jackson showed up at a party to try out the games. Fitzgerald says that a Spawn Super Nintendo game is coming soon, and that a Playstation game is in the works, but it won’t be out until 1996 because they’re putting so much work into it. The game doesn’t come out until late 1997, and it’s horrendously bad by any standard.

Review: After six months of hype, Spawn’s new costume debuts. And he meets God. This sounds like the events of a big anniversary issue, but for some reason McFarlane decided to work them into #32 (I wondered if this was the third anniversary of Spawn, but #1 was cover-dated May 1992). As McFarlane later admits, Spawn’s new costume isn’t very different from his original, and all of the pre-release hype was a little much. Even by ‘90s standards, the costume’s a bit over the top, although I do like the new skull designs and the tattered cape. Oddly enough, even though they’re years away, both the cartoon and movie use the original design.

While Spawn often feels needlessly decompressed, this issue actually gives you the impression that things are happening. He rescues his friend, the angels in New York make a move, God shows up, some hints about the future are given…it’s like a “season finale” issue. It’s also obvious that McFarlane’s now trying to make Spawn more sympathetic, as he spends the entire issue apologizing for using “old lady-God” as a hostage, and several narrative captions assure us that he’s bluffing, and that his costume won’t harm her anyway. Because Spawn’s not truly evil, we even learn that he’s “the one,” whatever that means. Why exactly McFarlane veered so far in the other direction over the years, and made the character even more unlikable, is beyond me.

While the main story feels meaningful, those two subplots are still dragging. After months of exciting scenes of Terry studying files, we now have a page dedicated to him telling Wanda his plan to spy on Jason Wynn. He already decided to do that last issue; now a month has passed and his subplot page this issue is just dedicated to him telling his wife about his plan. Just as boring is the Chief Banks scene, which has him repeating what happened last month to Jason Wynn. I know that McFarlane wants to assure the reader that he hasn’t forgotten these storylines, but why does he bring them back up every month and do nothing with them? The “reminder” scenes just become reminders of how slow this book usually is.

Blood Feud - Preludes & Nocturnes

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: John, a self-professed “monster hunter,” finds the crucified Curse in Spawn’s alleys. He tortures Curse and forces him to claim that he saw Spawn feeding on small children.

Review: This is a six-page teaser for the Spawn - Blood Feud miniseries. Since it only runs six pages, and one of them is a “Spawn poses like Batman” splash, there’s not a lot to say. Moore gives John the “sadist with a sarcastic sense of humor” characterization that’s a hallmark amongst British writers, and gets a few decent jokes out of it. I will say that these extra six pages of content are free, which reminds me of one reason why I liked McFarlane’s output in the ‘90s. With the higher production values of his comics (and refusal to do high-priced gimmick covers), and insanely detailed action figures, I always felt as if he was trying to give the audience its money’s worth. (I guess I didn’t personally blame him for that Spawn Playstation game…)

VIOLATOR #3 - May 1994

The World- Part Three

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Mark Penington (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: Violator tricks Spawn into restoring his demon form. After Spawn transfers his magic into Violator, he reneges on the deal and kicks Spawn off the roof. The Admonisher continues his attack on the Phlebiac Brothers, as the revived Violator returns. The brothers run in terror, opening a portal to Hell. Meanwhile, Violator discovers Tony Twist and his assistant Alberto are within the forcefield. Twist tricks Violator into believing Alberto is really him; then Violator tricks the Phlebiac Brothers into believing Alberto is Violator in his clown form. Admonisher chases all of them into Hell. When the brothers disappear, the forcefield dissipates.

Review: I remember Bart Sears telling Wizard that he didn’t draw the final issue of the series because Todd McFarlane decided he wasn’t working fast enough. Greg Capullo isn’t as detail-oriented as Sears, but he can draw demons and gore quite well. This doesn’t look as labored as the previous issues, but it’s more energetic and it’s a nice example of Capullo’s “in-between” style, before his work grew more exaggerated. Like the previous issues, it’s an over-the-top comedy story with a few twists thrown in. The running joke that demons think all humans look the same is one of the best of the series, along with Vaporizer’s cry when running from Admonisher (“Let’s get the heaven outta here!”). McFarlane always envisioned Violator as a comedic character, even though he didn’t seem able to actually make him funny. Moore solves that problem very quickly, and gives the teenage audience all of the violence and gore of their dreams.

VIOLATOR #2 - June 1994

The World- Part Two

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Bart Sears (pencils), Mark Penington (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: The Phlebiac Brothers create a forcefield around the area surrounding the mall. Their plan to kill Violator is interrupted when the Admonisher resurfaces and attacks. Violator hides from the violence and tells his life story to his new friend, the decapitated head stuck to his arm. Vaporizer swallows Admonisher, but he rips through the demon’s body. Violator gets an idea and leaves the mall. In the alleys nearby, he finds Spawn and asks for help.

Spawntinuity: Violator explains to his “friend” that he was born in 1589, after Dr. John Dee conjured his father, a Cthulu-style monster. Violator’s human mother died during childbirth, as did the mothers of all of his brothers. After Violator killed his father, he began working for Malebolgia. If Medieval Spawn lived 800 years ago, as we learned in Spawn #9, this origin makes Violator too young to have interacted with him. (However, I guess time and space are meaningless to Hell.) Another questionable plot element has Spawn’s alleys just a few blocks away from a clean, heavily populated shopping mall.

Review: More gross out humor and insane violence. I’ve always thought this mini was funny, but I really found it hilarious when I was fourteen, which is probably the audience Moore is going for. Violator is cast as the abusive older brother of the Phlebiac clan, allowing Moore to use Leave It to Beaver humor as the basis for jokes about Violator eating the human heads his brothers were using to play baseball. My favorite moment is Violator suddenly declaring that the disembodied head is his new best friend. He then has a back-and-forth conversation with the head, before the head reminds him that he’s a “terrible, rotten person who deserves everything he gets!” Violator responds by bashing it repeatedly against the ground, breaking his hand and turning the head into partial, bloody mush. This is also the first issue that allows Bart Sears to draw the Phlebiac Brothers for the entire story. McFarlane was wise to hire him, since Sears is probably the only artist outside of McFarlane who seems to get so much out of drawing the twisted anatomy, horns, teeth, scales, and tentacles of demons.

VIOLATOR #1 - May 1994

The World

Credits: Alan Moore (story), Bart Sears (pencils), Mark Penington (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: From Hell, the Phelbiac Brothers spy on Violator. Tony Twist’s men are attempting to kill Violator, but he escapes after a bloody fight. During the fight, a mobster’s head becomes attached to Violator’s arm. Violator heads to a local mall to find a saw to remove the decapitated head. There, he’s confronted by the Admonisher, a hitman contracted by Tony Twist. Fearing a human could kill their brother and embarrass the family, the Phelbiac Brothers arrive on Earth to kill Violator personally.

Spawntinuity: The rest of Violator’s brothers are introduced. The Phelbiac Brothers include Vaporizer, Vacillator, Vindicator, and Vandalizer.

Review: According to the ads McFarlane later ran that year, this was the highest-selling comic of 1994. I’m glad an Alan Moore comic could be number one, but it amuses me that a book filled with guts, gore, and decapitations was the most mainstream product released in 1994. At this point, I’m not sure how seriously McFarlane expected people to take the gory elements of Spawn. He obviously wasn’t shy about blood-stained walls, dangling organs, or dismembered corpses, but was this supposed to be dark and scary or absurdly amusing? McFarlane later decides he’s doing serious gothic horror, but Moore knows how ridiculous all of this is. The Phelbiac Brothers spy on Earth by using human blood as an oracle, Violator punches through a man’s mouth and gets the head stuck on his wrist, Admonisher casually blows the heads off of Twist’s men, and a few of the bystanders to the carnage puke all over themselves. On the bottom of most pages, Violator is contorting his body “YMCA” style to match the page number. The Admonisher, clearly inspired by a certain Marvel vigilante and his legion of clones, wants to give his targets a “good talking to.” There’s a demon named “the Vacillator” who can never make up his mind. This isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. Moore’s later Image work is also pretty comedic, but I don’t think he ever matched the ridiculousness of this miniseries. Bart Sears’ extremely detailed art is appropriate for the blood bath, as he seems to enjoy drawing every tiny speck of gore. Moore also seems to have kept Tom Orzechowski in mind, since all of the Phelbiac Brothers have their own distinctive word balloons, and he’s going for the big, dramatic sound effects this time. It’s gross-out humor with great production values and Alan Moore jokes, which is really the best you could hope for in a Violator miniseries.

SPAWN #8 - February 1993

In Heaven (Everything is Fine)

Credits: Alan Moore (writer), Todd McFarlane (art), Tom Orzechowski (letters and editor), Steve Oliff, Reuben Rude, & Olyoptics (colors),

Summary: Billy Kincaid awakens in the lowest sphere of Hell. He’s joined by a group of the recently deceased, who are all eventually grabbed by demons from various levels of Hell. Kincaid is left alone with the last survivor, a young girl. When he gives in to his urges and reaches for her throat, she rips off her skin and reveals herself as the Vindicator. Vindicator takes Kincaid to the eighth level, the Malebolge. Kincaid is fitted with a Spawn uniform, and forced to live under Malebolgia.

Spawntinuity: Billy Kincaid claims his serial killer name is “Mister Chill-ee.” Vindicator, of the “Five Fabulous Phlebiac Brothers,” makes his first appearance. The devil Spawn made a deal with is named for the first time. “Malebolgia” is a “Dante’s Inferno” reference, like much of the issue. According to Vindicator, there are ten levels of Hell, with unique demons on each sphere (although the tenth level is supposed to be Heaven). Vindicator refers to Spawn uniforms as neural parasites.

Todd Talk: McFarlane has begun bashing Peter David and John Byrne for being “obsessed” with Spawn and Image in the letters page.

The Big Names: Frank Miller provides a Sin City style Spawn poster. Dark Horse’s Diana Schultz writes a fan letter, saying the book isn’t “high art,” but she enjoys it. (She also says it was impossible to find the early issues of the series, even though this book had print runs of around a million copies in the early days. Crazy times.)

Miscellaneous Note: The title of the issue is a reference to a song on the Eraserhead soundtrack.

Review: This comic has been forgotten over the years, but it is significant for being Alan Moore’s return to mainstream comics. It’s obviously a Moore story, if only because the generic “Hell” of the early issues is now an elaborate literary reference populated with bizarre demons that collect souls for psychotropic highs or fashion statements. Moore doesn’t seem to expect people to take the horror elements that seriously, since he’s largely playing this for laughs. Kincaid’s traveling companions in the afterlife are a collection of various American stereotypes (the ditzy Californian, the black gospel singer, the Elvis-loving redneck) who all meet terrible fates. I don’t think Moore wants us to actively root for their deaths, but he clearly wasn’t trying to create three-dimensional figures.

Billy Kincaid gets a personality makeover, as Moore drops the childlike speech pattern given to him by McFarlane and instead writes him as a blue-collar slob who just happens to kill kids. Since Kincaid narrates the story, I can see why Moore gives him a more natural voice. It also enables Moore to work in more jokes, such as Kincaid’s questioning if Spawn violated his constitutional rights by killing him. Moore also makes the Vindicator genuinely funny, vastly improving on the brash, loudmouthed personality McFarlane was going for on his brother, Violator. McFarlane’s art excels in this issue, as he’s given plenty of freakish demons and alien landscapes to draw.

McFarlane’s decision to turn his continuity over to a series of guest writers while the book was still young was an unusual choice, since he still had every intention of staying with the title. In some cases, Moore’s ideas survive throughout the book’s run (among other things, this issue establishes that good and evil don’t matter in the Spawn universe’s afterlife), but not everything stuck. Moore creates an army of souls wearing the Spawn uniform, which will contradict McFarlane’s future attempts at making the Spawn identity unique to soldiers sent to train on Earth. When Kincaid does show up years later as a ghost, he’s certainly not wearing a Spawn costume (although his speech pattern is closer to Moore’s). The real problem for McFarlane in the future won’t be minor continuity issues, though. Alan Moore didn’t seem to mind creating brothers for the Violator or naming the series’ main villain as a part of his freelancer fee, but the next guest writer was more willing to take up McFarlane on his beloved “creator’s rights” cause.