SPAWN #48-#49, May 1996

The System

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Todd Broeker & Roy Young (colors)

Summary: Under the demonic influence of his symbiote, Spawn withdraws from his friends and builds a refuge deep within Rat City. He contacts Bobby, one of his few remaining defenders, to tell him that he’s going underground. In private, Spawn continues to feed on the evil passed on by the worms. Elsewhere, Sam and Twitch receive info on Chief Banks’ associates from a mystery source (Violator and Jason Wynn), while Terry Fitzgerald uncovers Wynn’s secret arms dealing. While conducting the research, Terry’s health continues to fade.

Todd Talk: A letter writer complains that the Sam and Twitch storyline has moved too fast for his tastes. Even McFarlane seems incredulous at this suggestion.

Spawn Stuff: The Image Info page suggests you find a second job if you want to keep up with all of the McFarlane Toys releases.

Review: It’s another subplot issue, with a few more pages of Spawn acting spooky thrown in. McFarlane just can’t let go of this “feeding on evil” nonsense, so even more pages are wasted on Spawn showering himself in worms while extensive narrative captions try to sell the idea that this is supposed to be terrifying. It isn’t. It’s dumb. Greg Capullo might’ve been able to pull off the imagery, but Tony Daniel is just too cartoony to sell the idea. And there’s no getting around just how ridiculous an idea this is. Spawn relying on “evil” animals to build his strength once was pushing it; keeping the idea around for months is inexcusable. Spawn playing with worms and doing minor construction in an alley are pretty dull things for the protagonist to be doing, and unfortunately this problem is going to get worse (we’re still not up to the “Spawn builds a chair” issue). There is some acknowledgment now that the homeless don’t want Spawn around anymore, and only Bobby and Boots are left as his defenders. This at least makes logical sense, although I wonder if this was an idea McFarlane cribbed from the HBO series, since most of the homeless were opposed to him from the beginning of the cartoon’s continuity.

Helter Skelter

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Brian Haberlin & Dan Kemp (colors)

Summary: After blacking out at work, Terry is referred to a neurologist. Meanwhile, Cy-Gor approaches New York, searching for Al Simmons. Cogliostro discovers the fortress Spawn’s symbiote has created in Rat City. A mutated potion of the cloak attacks Cog, but he speaks in a strange language and calms the symbiote down. Violator senses the symbiote’s transformation and is thrilled. Later, Terry has a second blackout while driving and crashes into a semi-truck.

I Love the ‘90s: On the Image Info page, Terry Fitzgerald is excited to play an early demo of the Nintendo 64, but he has to ask “what’s with the carts Nintendo? CD is where it’s at.”

Review: Issue #50 is just one issue away, which means McFarlane has to pick up the pace if he wants to achieve his stated goal of having Spawn return to Hell in the anniversary issue. Consequently, there’s about 40% less padding this issue. After months of allegedly scary activity by Spawn’s costume, it’s now morphed into a hideous form and doing something non-worm related. The visuals of the mutated costume do look great, and it’s refreshing to see a cover that doesn’t involve generic posing for a change.

I was never keen on seeing Spawn go back to Hell so soon, though, since it feels as if McFarlane’s skipping ahead to something that shouldn’t have happened until years later. The early issues made a big deal out of Spawn’s power-meter, which is supposed to mark Spawn’s return to Hell when it reaches zero (a special graphic for the meter was even created, and it was worked into almost all of the early issues). Now, even though Spawn has more than half of his powers left, the story jumps ahead and just dumps Spawn in Hell anyway. Out of all of the slow-burning plots, I have no idea why McFarlane decided to rush on this one. Meanwhile, the recurring subplots of the past few years have barely moved, as Jason Wynn is still being investigated by Terry, Sam and Twitch are chasing the same conspiracy, Wanda is still clueless about Al’s return (despite Spawn outright telling her his identity), and Cy-Gor continues to waste pages. I think even McFarlane was bored by Cy-Gor at this point, as he only appears here in a one-page cameo after being forgotten for several issues.

McFarlane actually can get to the point when he’s properly motivated, as evidenced by the “Terry’s sick” subplot. McFarlane needs him at death’s door for an event in issue #50, and what do you know, he got him to that place in less than four issues. Maybe setting a few more specific goals (like, say, resolving all of the dangling subplots introduced since #25 by #50) would’ve removed a lot of the book’s aimless wandering.

SPAWN #46-#47, April 1996

Revenge

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Todd Broeker & Roy Young (colors)

Summary: Several of Tony Twist’s enforcers are murdered by Tremor. He soon tracks down Vinnie, the man who can locate Twist. Tremor takes Vinnie to Twist’s home, but he can’t bring himself to kill Twist when he reveals that he knows where Tremor’s brother is hiding. Tremor leaves with Vinnie, dragging him to Spawn’s alleys. Tremor asks Vinnie to repeat the names he spoke earlier. Spawn’s shocked to hear Wanda, Terry, Cyan, and Jason Wynn’s names. Meanwhile, Terry’s flu worsens.

Spawntinuity: Cogliostro lectures Spawn about letting his symbiote take control. He also reveals that being eaten alive by animals couldn’t have killed Tiffany (angels can only be killed by absorbing their light), so Spawn must’ve been duped. Tony Twist divulges Tremor’s real name is Richard and his brother’s name is David. Tremor believed David dead, but for some reason is now convinced Twist isn’t lying. By the way, Tremor still hasn’t been called that name on-panel, and this is his second appearance.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority: As Vinnie leaves behind the two women in his bed, he proclaims he’s going to “take a dump.” A narrative caption soon describes the “parcel” he leaves in the toilet after Tremor breaks through the wall.

Review: So, after months away from home, Spawn returns to the alleys and promptly does nothing. Cogliostro’s claim that Jason Wynn was just one part of the conspiracy to kill Al Simmons is apparently enough to keep Spawn from going after him (even though this doesn’t seem to fit the previous continuity, unless McFarlane is referencing Wynn’s deal with Hell from the Grant Morrison issues), so apparently the hero has nothing else to do. Not really where you want the protagonist of your series to be, but that hasn’t seemed to have bothered McFarlane for over a year at this point. Instead of wasting time on making Spawn interesting or giving him the slightest direction in life, we’re treated to several pages of tired mafia clichés. Tony Twist’s men do bad things, a mystery man kills them, the killer is revealed as Tremor, and he shows up at the end to form a truce with Spawn. This eats up almost twenty-two pages. Making this aimlessness even worse is knowing that McFarlane actually does have at least three other ongoing subplots that could’ve been advanced while he wasted another issue with filler.

Twisted

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Todd McFarlane & Danny Miki (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Brian Haberlin & Dan Kemp (colors)

Summary: With Vinnie’s help, Spawn locates Billy, the man assigned to spy on Terry’s family months earlier. Tremor throws Billy in the dumpster, declaring that Spawn must now live up to his end of the bargain. When Cogliostro returns to the alley, he discovers the worms Spawn brought back to the city have killed Billy. Spawn and Tremor invade Twist’s hideout, where Tremor learns his brother David is actually employed by Twist. David refuses to believe Tremor is his brother and shoots him repeatedly. Spawn breaks David’s leg, sending Twist the message to leave Terry’s family alone. Meanwhile, Violator reveals his plan to have Spawn’s costume prematurely send him back to Hell.

Spawntinuity: A narrative caption refers to Tremor by name for the first time. In the letters page, McFarlane admits he forgot to call Tiffany by name during her appearances (notice a pattern?). Violator comments that Malebolgia dropped Spawn into a specific alleyway for a reason, but refuses to go into any more details. McFarlane would occasionally hint at the significance of “Rat City” but I don’t know if the clues ever amounted to much.

Production Note: Spawn’s word balloons are now colored a shade of light blue.

“Huh?” Moment: Spawn claims he’s only breaking David’s leg and that it can be fixed at the hospital, while the art clearly shows him shooting it with a gigantic canon.

Review: On the off-chance anyone cared about Tremor and his brother, here’s an issue almost entirely dedicated to their relationship. The revelation that David actually works for Twist is a decent, ahem, twist, but if McFarlane really wants the audience to believe it’s some horrible tragedy that Tremor’s brother doesn’t recognize him, he really needs to flesh these characters out. I honestly don’t think this is beyond McFarlane’s capabilities (before it grew into such a bore, Spawn’s yearning for Wanda in the early issues worked quite well), but he seems to have lost even rudimentary storytelling abilities during this run. Tremor and his brother don’t tie into any ongoing themes or emotional arcs, nor do they have anything to do with the continuing storylines that were supposed to be leading up to #50. The story only connects to Spawn because Twist assigned men to spy on Terry and Wanda back during “The Hunt” storyline, and apparently McFarlane feels Spawn never dished out the appropriate payback. And as great as the art is this issue, the action just amounts to Spawn and his monster friend beating up on guys in business suits. There’s even an opportunity for a legitimate confrontation between Spawn and Tremor after Spawn callously breaks his brother’s leg, but nothing happens because it’s page twenty-one by this point and it’s time for everything to be wrapped up.

Meanwhile, something actually happens in the subplot pages! Okay, it’s just the brief mention of a plan to do something, but that’s better than nothing. We now know Violator is still after Spawn because he wants to prove to his superiors that demons are better than humans, and he knows a way to send Spawn back to Hell soon. Okay, that’s something. I don’t think McFarlane really needed four pages to get that out, but considering the pacing of the previous issues, it’s a minor miracle that any idea was advanced at all.

SPAWN #44-#45, March 1996

Avenger

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor), Lois Buhalis (letters), Todd Broeker & Roy Young (colors)

Summary: The angel Tiffany goes on an unsanctioned mission to kill Spawn for his tryst with Angela. She finds him feeding on the dark energy of a bear in the woods. After killing the animal, Tiffany easily impales Spawn on a tree and prepares to decapitate him. Meanwhile, Sam and Twitch decide to investigate Spawn’s mysterious connection to Chief Banks and Billy Kincaid.

Spawntinuity: Tiffany claims that she’s shattered all of Angela’s old training records. She lives with other angels in “The Gate,” a dusty, rocky environment. According to Tiffany’s research, decapitation is the only way to kill a hell-creature.

Spawn vs. Lawyers: Although he didn’t work on this issue, Neil Gaiman has successfully sued over the character of Tiffany, citing her as a derivative version of Angela.

The Big Names: Two pin-ups of the Violator’s Clown form this issue, provided by, of all people, Ren & Stimpy animator Bill Wray and comics writer Chuck Dixon.

Production Note: This issue is printed on a much cheaper, flimsier paper stock than the previous issues. I’m not sure what happened behind the scenes, but the thicker stock is back next issue.

Review: If you really enjoyed seeing Spawn hang out with his forest buddies last issue, you’ll be thrilled to know he wastes numerous pages in this issue doing the same thing. McFarlane now brings worms into the act, which does seem to fit the horror ethic he’s going for. I seem to recall McFarlane later turning Spawn’s entire face into living worms, so he clearly liked the idea. Aside from wasting more pages with this inane “darkness feeding,” we have a few more pages of Spawn pining over Wanda again. Want even more recycled material? Violator wastes two pages laughing over his partnership with Jason Wynn that’s going to destroy Spawn and his extended family. I'm sure eventually they'll get around to formulating some kind of a plan. Meanwhile, Sam and Twitch are back to investigating Spawn again, putting them back on the path they were on all the way back in issue #5.

I think the introduction of Tiffany is supposed to be the major selling point, but McFarlane fails to do anything with the character. Gaiman was able to give Angela an arrogant, smug persona that’s actually fun to read, while Tiffany is self-righteous and boring. The internal politics of Heaven are also skipped over, which ignores the odd verisimilitude Gaiman gave his stories. If you’re really going to introduce the hosts of heaven into the storyline, you have to have an internal reason for why they’re not constantly after the demonic hero. Gaiman went about this by establishing Heaven as a pedestrian bureaucracy, filled with petty rivalries, egos, and backstabbings, and apparently little interest in actually executing the stated objectives. Tiffany is just too extreme for any office buildings or pantsuits, so all of the allegedly “boring” material is skipped over so that she can attack Spawn. The ensuing fight is pretty boring itself, as Tiffany only encounters Spawn a few pages before the story’s over and just beats on him for a couple of panels before the twenty-two pages are up.

Warriors

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Todd McFarlane (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Brian Haberlin (colors)

Summary: Tiffany slices what she believes to be Spawn’s head, only to learn it’s an assortment of worms. Spawn’s costume goes on the attack, summoning the forest creatures to target Tiffany. Soon, only her bones remain. When Spawn returns home, he’s warned by Cogliostro to take back control over his symbiote. After Spawn falls asleep, the symbiote stirs. It hides the worms it concealed in its cape inside a dumpster in the alleys. Elsewhere, Sam proposes Twitch join him as a private detective, while Terry worries he caught Wanda’s cold.

Review: First of all, what is Spawn doing on that cover? Capullo and McFarlane seem to be growing through a twisted tree phase during these issues (Curse’s laboratory was also located on top of a bizarrely contorted tree), so I guess it fits into a new motif they’re working on. But what about that pose? Half of Spawn’s right foot looks it’s missing, and there’s no way his left foot could fit on top of that tiny sliver of a limb. And why is he squatting like that?

Anyway, after attempting to sell Tiffany as a major threat last issue, here she’s quickly outsmarted by Spawn’s costume and his forest pals. Remember, any animal you see after sundown is evil and you’d best stay away. As previous issues have shown us, Spawn apparently isn’t clever enough to outsmart a carrot, so he’s lucky that Hell provided him with such a great support system. After Spawn returns home (how exactly he got from West Virginia to New York is skipped over, but at least we’re spared another tour of McFarlane’s warped interpretation of small town America), he’s lectured about the costume by Cogliostro. The idea of the costume actually working against Spawn has potential, and it creates a conflict the series hasn’t explored yet. Spawn needs the costume to survive, but what is he going to do if the symbiote pushes him further and further into evil? Unfortunately, I seem to recall this is another dropped idea, although I do remember McFarlane going out of his way to make Spawn more anti-social and unlikable during this era, so maybe that was his way of paying the subplot off.

SPAWN #42-#43, February 1996

Fanboy

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Steve Oliff, Quinn Supplee, & Olyoptics (colors)

Summary: Spawn’s cloak morphs into a protective shell and rockets him away from the lab’s explosion. He lands in rural West Virginia, where young comics fan Pat hides in a shed from local bullies. Spawn reluctantly gives Pat advice on life, and follows him during his next confrontation with the bullies. Against Spawn’s will, his cloak attacks the kids. When Pat pleads for their lives, the cloak eventually lets them go. Meanwhile, Cy-Gor searches for New York, while Sam and Twitch find more links between Chief Banks and Jason Wynn.

Spawntinuity: For some reason, New York City detective Twitch has a very nice home in Connecticut. An exciting subplot scene reveals Wanda has a cold.

“Huh?” Moment: Pat reasons that the design on Spawn’s chest is a giant “M.” Spawn dismisses the idea, until he realizes that Violator has the same design on his face-paint, and deduces the “M” is for Malebolgia. Aside from the fact that the name debuted in Alan Moore’s fill-in issue, long after McFarlane designed Spawn and Violator, we’re also supposed to believe Malebolgia uses modern English characters when designing his demonic henchmen’s outfits.

Review: Okay, Spawn hangs out with a nine-year-old, while Cy-Gor continues to roam the country and Sam and Twitch dig through more file folders. No filler here. I have to question why McFarlane is pairing Spawn with a cutesy nine-year-old after spending so many issues selling the idea of Spawn as so dark, gothic, and vicious. Now, he’s listening to the kid’s list of favorite comics and giving out advice on girls. It’s silly, but never funny, so the entire story is just flat. And this Cy-Gor stuff is sheer torture. This is the third issue in a row that’s wasting pages on this lame character doing absolutely nothing. Does a point ever emerge out of this, and why was I supposed to care in the first place?

Evil

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Todd McFarlane (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Brian Haberlin & Dan Kemp (colors)

Summary: Sam and Twitch arrive at work, only to discover their parking permit is revoked. After finally reaching their office, they’re confronted by Chief Banks, who feels enough time has passed to fire them without arousing suspicions. Sam and Twitch leak their files to the media, but Jason Wynn’s contacts give him enough time to distance himself from Banks. When the story breaks, only Banks is implicated. As Federal agents arrive to arrest him, Banks commits suicide. Meanwhile, Spawn recovers in the forest by feeding on the evil of the nocturnal animals.

The Big Names: The Image Info page announces Alan Moore as the writer of the Spawn Playstation game. When the game is finally released, almost two years later, it isn’t written by Moore, nor is it even playable.

Review: So, the Sam and Twitch subplot that’s shambled along for almost two years finally reaches something of a conclusion. Their nasty boss commits suicide, Jason Wynn remains spotless, and the detectives are out of a job. Over the next few issues, they’ll become private detectives, which doesn’t functionally change anything about their role in the book. And what is their role supposed to be? I can see the need for a pair of average cops assigned to investigate Spawn. I can even see why McFarlane would want to make them reluctant allies with Spawn later on. But why let this pointless conspiracy nonsense drag on for so long? Why waste two years on a story that just leads to the characters losing their jobs, only to have them take up virtually identical jobs a few issues later?

Meanwhile, the star of the book is wandering the woods, apparently near-death. Nice continuity with the previous issue, which had him well enough to humor an annoying nine-year-old for the entire story. The sequence is a bit hard to make out, but apparently Spawn is virtually a corpse at this point, rotting under a tree. He’s revived when insects and various creatures of the night sense his plight and arrive to help…by feeding him with their evil. The justification for this is a passage that's supposed to sound like something out of the Bible: “God shed his light on earth in the name of goodness. And those who dare shun it shall forever remain stained in evil.” So, any creature that’s out past 7:00 PM is evil in the Spawnverse; so evil that they even have red, pupil-less eyes. I will give the creative team credit for the imagery in the scene, which does look great. Brian Haberlin uses striking shades of white, blue, and red to create the sequence, and Greg Capullo is no slouch at drawing evil foxes, bats, owls, and snakes. I believe this is also the first time we’ve seen Spawn in the snow, and any break from the series’ standard back alleys is welcome. But, wow, is this dumb. Spawn’s receiving power-ups from evil woodland creatures, and the story is so deadpan in the delivery, you can’t help but to laugh.

SPAWN #40-#41, January 1996

Fugitives

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Todd Broeker w/Roy Young (colors)

Summary: Agents working for the Curse booby-trap Spawn’s throne, shocking him into unconsciousness. He awakens inside Curse’s laboratory, where he discovers he’s being dissected. Meanwhile, Cy-Gor is hunted in the woods by locals who believe he’s Bigfoot. After rescuing a boy from a careening SUV, Cy-Gor disappears.

Spawntinuity: This is the first time “Rat City” is used to describe the specific area where Spawn resides in the alleys. Curse now has tiny, cloaked followers with cybernetic body parts and giant teeth. Wanda and Terry have a two-page conversation, recapping their ongoing storyline and confirming that Wanda doesn’t believe Spawn is Al Simmons.

Production Note: Many of the pages clearly aren’t lettered by Tom Orzechowski, but the other letterer isn’t credited. Orzechowski's one-time assistant, Lois Buhalis, who also letters a future issue, is probably the letterer.

Todd Talk: McFarlane uses the letters page to map out the future of the series: A new angel (and lawsuit) named Tiffany will appear soon. Next, Spawn will return to Hell in #50 and stay for around ten issues. Post #60, a new character who knows Spawn’s identity will appear as Spawn uses his CIA training and goes on covert missions. Beginning in #70, Spawn will begin to learn more about his homeless friends, which will take the book to issue #80. McFarlane, perhaps, is overestimating his audience’s attention span.

Spawn Stuff: A letter to the McFarlane Toys “Endcap” column wants to know how many Angela action figures shipped without the painted-on panties.

Review: After a break for the Christmas story, we’re back to one of the alternating Tony Daniel issues. Cy-Gor has returned, and now he’s in an exhilarating battle with local hunters who think he’s Bigfoot. Surely a full third of the issue should be devoted to this excitement. As for the title’s star, he’s suckered into a trap by the Curse, which actually does end with a nice cliffhanger. Spawn’s strapped to a table, severed from his cloak and chains, and his legs are missing. That’s certainly a teaser for the next issue. However, before getting there, McFarlane spends forever on showing Curse’s followers (who were originally homeless people, but now appear to be Muppets or something) trying to move his body. This filler, added with the Cy-Gor filler, and the Wanda and Terry filler, leaves you with around six pages of actual story.

Fugitives Part Two

Credits: Todd McFarlane (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Todd McFarlane (inks), Tom Orzechowski (copy editor & letters), Brian Haberlin, J.D. Smith, & Dan Kemp (colors)

Summary: Curse continues his dissection of Spawn, hoping to learn the secrets of Necroplasm. When he leaves the room, Spawn snatches a scalpel and amputates his right hand. He mentally commands the hand to punch the containment tank that holds his uniform. The uniform escapes through a tiny fracture and absorbs Spawn’s severed limbs. Reformed by his uniform, Spawn thinks he has the advantage, until Curse presses the lab’s self-destruct button. Meanwhile, Cy-Gor is pursued by hunters while Violator reminds Jason Wynn of their deal.

Spawntinuity: During his dissection, Spawn flashes back to a jungle mission, which is apparently supposed to be in Vietnam (the narrative captions place him at twenty-one years old, which would easily put Spawn in his mid ‘40s, even in 1995). After Al Simmons’ friend is killed, he’s rescued by another soldier nicknamed “Saigon.”

Review: The first page of this issue opens with an extended prose sequence that is at least four hundred words long. I question if the entire first issue of this series had that many words. Once McFarlane decided his book was too much of a “quick read,” he certainly threw himself into the opposite direction. I wouldn’t mind the verbiage if it added something to the story, but instead McFarlane just drones on with another long-winded recap of Spawn’s origin. Other recycled material in this issue includes more pages of Cy-Gor tearing through rural America, and Violator discussing his deal with Jason Wynn. Wanda & Terry and Sam & Twitch’s never-ending subplots apparently have the issue off.

Despite the stretches of boredom, the main story really is fun. McFarlane actually takes advantage of Spawn’s supernatural origins and does something with him that you can’t do with Batman or Spider-Man. Those wimpy heroes can’t survive a vivisection, while Spawn’s x-treme enough to cut off his own hand and get the job done (“Spawn’s hand had done its job” is an actual narrative caption in this issue, by the way). Watching Spawn’s hand run around like Thing from the Addams Family is honestly entertaining, and it’s the type of lunacy we don’t see often enough in McFarlane’s humorless stories. Spawn’s costume is also given something to do, as it escapes from captivity and consumes Curse’s lab in black ink. This is obviously a Venom riff, but I guess McFarlane deserves some license to go back to the idea. Even Curse has a somewhat credible motive, as he now wants to study what exactly Spawn is made of and use it in his war against the devil. He’s still nuts, but it’s less of the generic “ka-raaazy” that’s supposed to justify any ridiculous action, and more of a coherent motive. If the story had less Cy-Gor and more progression of the ongoing storylines, this would be a pretty solid issue.

SPAWN #38 - December 1995

Mind Games

Credits: Todd McFarlane & Julia Simmons (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad (inks), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Todd Broeker and Roy Young (colors)

Summary: A mysterious man named Chris kills a security guard and breaks into a secluded mansion. Chris watches the video diary of Frederick Willheim, a doctor who began neurology experiments after his wife Anna grew ill. The government learned of his research and hired him to work on its Cybernetic Simian Project, which grafted human intelligence and cybernetics to apes. Chris explores the mansion and soon finds himself a victim of Cy-Gor. Meanwhile, Cagliostro talks Spawn out of killing Jason Wynn before he learns all of the answers. Spawn visits Granny Blake, who asks him to protect the family from the “demon” that visited Wanda.

Spawntinuity: Spawn digs the guns he stole from the Army out of the garbage. He claims they’re right where he left them, even though he couldn’t find them in “The Hunt” storyline or Blood Feud miniseries. Cagliostro reveals that people within the government set up President Reagan’s assassination attempt. When Al Simmons saved him, he became too high-profile to be terminated, so he was brought into Jason Wynn’s employ. Granny Blake’s first name is revealed as Rosemary.

Spawn Stuff: Pressman has released a Spawn board game. Apparently, an option called “Memories” can prevent Spawn from reaching his destination, which is a nice connection to the comic book.

Review: God help me…Cy-Gor. This begins Spawn’s bi-weekly stretch, which was supposed to pick up the pace and develop the Cy-Gor storyline while setting up the pieces for Spawn #50. The bi-weekly schedule means Tony Daniel now alternates art chores with Greg Capullo. Daniel really begins to depart from reality and embrace cartooning during this run, which occasionally works, but often comes across as rushed as his Blood Feud art. I remember the book getting just dire during this run, and that’s coming from a young reader who thought most of the previous issues were pretty entertaining. From what I remember, Cy-Gor, who gets issue after issue of a slow build, doesn’t even confront Spawn when the arc is over. He disappears for months and only reappears, essentially as an afterthought, several issues later. And what is Cy-Gor anyway? I’ve mentioned earlier that McFarlane had an odd aversion to introducing characters from the toy line into the book, but for some reason he singled out Cy-Gor for a starring role. The guy who’s convinced his superhero book should move closer and closer to urban horror every month, who’s produced line after line of monster and zombie toys, chooses his cyborg ape action figure as Spawn’s new nemesis? You’ve got to wonder what he was thinking.

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…)

GAMBIT AND THE X-TERNALS #2 – April 1995

Where No External Has Gone Before!

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Conrad/Milgrom/Christian (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins & Digital Chameleon (colors)

Summary

The X-Ternals appear inside the Shi’ar Imperium, along with Apocalypse’s prelate, Rictor. They’re drawn into a fight with the Imperial Guard, but manage to escape into a nearby forest. Rictor offers to help the Imperial Guard find the team. Inside the forest, the X-Ternals learn that the planet’s vegetation is actually sentient. Lila senses that the entire planet wanted the team to arrive there. They meet a former Shi’ar soldier named Jonath, who was banished to the farming planet after failing to prevent the murder of the previous emperor. He explains that D’Ken and his sister Deathbird took control of the Shi’ar Imperium after killing their father. When D’Ken discovered the M’Kraan Crystal, he used its power to kill Deathbird and their other sister, Lilandra. D’Ken didn’t realize that wielding the crystal’s power caused its energies to radiate out into the universe and to nullify sections of space. The Imperial Guard finally catch up to the X-Ternals, as reality begins to blink out of existence. A crystal wave begins to consume the planet, but the X-Ternals are teleported away by Deathbird and the Starjammers. Onboard their ship, the team watches footage of the planet turning into crystal on the Starjammers’ video screen. Deathbird explains that the M’Kraan Crystal wanted the team to witness the planet’s destruction. According to the Starjammers’ sensors, two lifeforms escaped the plant before it crystallized, but Deathbird isn’t interested in them. Gambit declares that if the task has fallen to them, the X-Ternals will save the universe.

Continuity Notes

Deathbird apparently didn’t die, despite Jonath’s claims. No one in this story points this out when she shows up, though. Jonath describes himself as half Shi’ar and half Mephisitoid. I have no idea if he’s supposed to be a blood relative of Mephisto, or if “Mephisitoid” is some other alien race that may or may not have a connection to Mephisto. Am I the only one who thinks that connecting Mephisto to the Shi’ar is a terrible idea?

Review

I guess when Marvel brought in the M’Kraan Crystal to justify Legion’s reconstruction of reality, it was inevitable that all of the Claremont/Cockrum space material would show up. I’ve never cared too much for the various outer space characters in the X-canon, so seeing D’Ken, the Imperial Guard, the Starjammers, etc. doesn’t automatically elicit much of a response from me. Nicieza crams them all together in this issue, and it reads like a bit of a mess. Daniel’s art isn’t as muddled and chaotic as the previous issue, but he still has a hard time handling so many characters. (Daniel left for Spawn right after this issue, which was probably a relief to him. Drawing a masked man with a giant cape sitting around a dark alley feeling sorry for himself had to be easier than this).

Aside from reintroducing a glut of characters, there’s also a decent chunk of exposition delivered here. The story Jonath tells isn’t that hard to follow, but really, who is Jonath, and why should we care? Nicieza attempts to give him a character arc that involves embracing the simple life of a farmer and leaving violence behind, but it’s buried underneath the massive amount of characters and story involved. The effort put into developing Jonath feels awkward and rushed, and I don’t see how his personal story really has anything to do with the main narrative involving the M’Kraan Crystal. Nicieza also tries to sell the idea that the X-Ternals are going to evolve from mutant thieves to world saviors, but all of the characters are so underdeveloped it’s hard to buy into their story either. This is definitely turning out to be one of the weak links in the AoA event.

GAMBIT & THE X-TERNALS #1 – March 1995

Some of Us Looking to the Stars

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Kevin Conrad (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Jubilee is caught by a group of Apocalypse’s Infinites while stealing medical supplies. Sunspot and Guido arrive to help her escape. They travel to their safehouse where Lila Cheney disburses the supplies to the human refugees. The X-Ternals head underground to the Morlock Tunnels to meet their leader, Gambit. The team is shocked to discover Magneto is waiting there with Gambit. Meanwhile, an angry Rictor receives word that Jubilee escaped. If Rictor captures the X-Ternals, he’s convinced that he’ll be promoted by Apocalypse. Inside the Morlock Tunnels, Magneto leads the team to Apocalypse’s hidden “science chamber”. He’s surprised to learn that Gambit and Lila Cheney are an item. When Sunspot asks Magneto how he can be sure this isn’t a trap, Magneto responds that he once saved the life of the chamber’s human librarian. Lila picks the lock, and the X-Ternals learn that the chamber is filled with displays of various galaxies. Suddenly, Apocalypse’s Madri guard, all duplicates of Jamie Madrox, teleport in. The team fights off the Madri while Sunspot finds Dr. Peter Corbeau, the human in charge of the lab. Corbeau tells Magneto that he’s found the Shi’ar galaxy. Magneto reveals to Lila Cheney that she has latent mutant powers, and will be the one to take the X-Ternals on their journey to steal the M’Kraan Crystal. She’s connected to a visor that links her to the lab’s navigational charts so that she can locate where she needs to teleport to. Her powers suddenly flare, as Rictor enters with backup. The team abandons the fight and escapes through Lila’s teleportation chamber. Enraged, Rictor follows them. Magneto wonders if he’s sent the X-Ternals to their deaths, then apologizes to Corbeau for setting him against Apocalypse. Corbeau knows Apocalypse will kill him, but he programs a systems crash to spite him.

Continuity Notes

According to the first page’s narrative captions, Apocalypse conquered North America on Jubilee’s sixth birthday. When her powers later emerged at age twelve, she had the opportunity to join Apocalypse, but went off with Gambit instead. “Everett” is listed as one of her former teammates who died (this is presumably Synch).

According to the narrative captions that introduce Gambit, he fled the Thieves Guild and joined the X-Men after Holocaust killed Candra “in one of the last battles for succession”. He left the X-Men two years ago and formed the X-Ternals after Magneto married Rogue.

Dr. Peter Corbeau is a supporting character who used to show up sporadically back in the ‘70s. Even though he was never used that much, he did play an important role in the original Phoenix story, and even showed up in the '90s X-Men cartoon.

Miscellaneous Note

Am I the only one who thinks the title is missing a word? There’s an empty black circle at the start of the title, where perhaps another word should’ve gone (I don’t know what would really fit there, though).

Review

And, finally, we have Gambit and the X-Ternals to round out the inaugural launch of AoA titles. While the rest of the AoA titles had some obvious connection to their predecessors, the only cast member this series has in common with X-Force is Sunspot (who had actually been written out of that title over a year earlier). Rictor is introduced as the team’s antagonist, which at least offers some connection to the regular series, but it’s not much of one. One of the earlier X-Force storylines involved the X-Ternals, but I don’t see any obvious connection between that story and the name of this team. I guess Marvel felt that Gambit’s popularity justified casting him as a leader of an X-team, but placing him as the leader of an alternate X-Force seems pretty random. Pairing Guido, Sunspot, Jubilee, and Lila Cheney with him just makes the cast feel totally arbitrary. If Nicieza’s devised some exciting group dynamics for the new team, they’re barely on display in the first issue. The story’s essentially two fight scenes with a plot setup in the middle, not offering any real opportunities for characterization. The fight scenes, at least, aren’t totally gratuitous (although how exactly the Madri found the team isn’t explained, unless we’re supposed to believe that Corbeau really did betray them). The first fight scene helps to establish the new world, while the second one sets Rictor up for a future role in the storyline. The heavy action does evoke the feel of the regular X-Force series, even if the cast doesn’t.

I didn’t mind Daniel’s art when he first began on the title, but his work at this point is looking haphazard and rushed. A lot of the faces look flat-out ugly (especially Gambit’s), and most of the page layouts are too cramped and claustrophobic. His decision to make almost the entire issue full-bleed just makes things feel even more jumbled. With the exception of just five pages, all of the art in this issue extends to the end of the page, directly bumping up against the artwork on the opposing page. It feels like every event overlaps the next, with no time to actually absorb what’s going on. I flipped through the book and didn’t really feel like reading it, as it just looked confused and messy. The story’s not exactly a strong introduction to the team, but the art really makes things feel even more chaotic. Out of all of the AoA debut issues, I’d say this one ranks down there with X-Man and X-Men Chronicles, with the art making it the weakest overall.

X-FORCE #43 – February 1995

Teapot in a Tempest

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Kevin Conrad (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Mike Thomas (colorist)

Summary

Cannonball combines a part of Cable’s time travel equipment with Cerebro and is able to find Sunspot’s location. Meanwhile, Boomer comes across a teenage prostitute, while Rictor and Shatterstar go to a nightclub. When a woman in the club begins to touch Shatterstar, he runs away confused. Cannonball contacts Cable, but he refuses to leave Israel. Suddenly, Locus teleports inside X-Force’s headquarters. She tells the team that they have to reach Sunspot before he makes a terrible mistake. She teleports the team away to pick up Boomer, scaring off the young prostitute she was trying to help. Shatterstar is explaining to Rictor that he wasn’t programmed to deal with the emotional demands of sexual interaction when the rest of the team appears. They teleport away to find Sunspot. They land on the MLF’s island headquarters, where Reignfire is attacking Forearm and Moonstar. After killing Moonstar’s horse, Darkwind, Reignfire reveals himself to be Sunspot. Suddenly, reality begins to crystallize and shatter.

Continuity Notes

Well, this is the infamous “Shatterstar and Rictor are gay!!!” issue. Fabian Nicieza has always said that this wasn’t his intent, and it’s honestly surprising to me that some people (including the next writer of this series, apparently) interpreted this scene in such a way. You could of course view Shatterstar running away from the woman as a sign that he’s gay, even though his dialogue makes it clear later that he wasn’t programmed to deal with any sexuality. Shatterstar later says that he never felt “such stirrings” inside of him, implying that the woman got at least some kind of reaction out of him. If Nicieza’s goal was to imply that Rictor was gay, I don’t think he would’ve had a narrative caption describe Rictor’s way with women as “second nature” in this very issue. The question of Rictor and Shatterstar’s sexuality certainly didn’t die with this issue, though, and you can read more about it in this installment of Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed.

I Love the ‘90s

The time-hopping Locus says that CDs will be obsolete by the end of the century. Not quite, but that’s sort of true today.

Review

This is another issue that seems a little awkward in hindsight, knowing now that these storylines are just dropped once the title returns from the AoA event. Technically, this is Fabian Nicieza’s last issue, since he’s replaced on X-Force as soon as the AoA is over. I really have no idea where Nicieza was going with the Sunspot/Reignfire story, but it seems more confusing than engaging in this issue. As the story points out, the X-books have done their fair share of time travel stories by this point, and I’m not sure how this one was supposed to be different. Nicieza has shown an ability to add new twists to old clichés, though, so it’s possible that he could’ve done something interesting with this.

The character moments are the best part of this issue, taking advantage of the book’s new urban setting to put the characters in interesting situations. Shatterstar’s loneliness and isolation feel real, and pairing the normally airheaded Boomer with a teen prostitute has a lot of potential. It’s frustrating that this scene was cut short; it’s actually the plotline I would’ve liked to see resolved more than any of the others introduced here. I think that future writer Jeph Loeb later uses Boomer’s thought balloons in this scene as the basis for the implication that she used to be a prostitute. Her thoughts actually read, “This coulda been me…A runaway. Seventeen years old and working the corners”. The “coulda” leads me to believe that she actually wasn’t a prostitute, but I guess there’s a tiny bit of room for interpretation there. Tony Daniel’s art has gotten extremely cartoony at this point, working in the style that will lead him away to Spawn in a few issues. He’s still able to sell the acting in a few of the character scenes, but the looseness and exaggeration in his art distracts from a lot of what Nicieza’s trying to do at this point. Overall, it’s not a bad issue, but Nicieza deserved a much more graceful exist than this.

X-FORCE #41 – December 1994

The Fun House

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Kevin Conrad (inker), Chris Eliopoulos & Bill Oakley (letterers), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Thornn, Detective Jose Hidalgo, Cannonball, and Shatterstar search for Feral inside the abandoned tenement building. Feral emerges from the shadows and kidnaps Jose Hidalgo. Hidalgo tries to talk Feral into confessing to the murders of her family, but he isn’t able to reach her. Outside, Cable and Domino are monitoring the building, waiting for Feral to emerge. Domino is ready to take the shot, but Cable is adamant that Feral will not be killed. Thornn, Cannonball, and Shatterstar catch up to Feral. Feral blames Thornn for not protecting her from their alcoholic mother’s boyfriend, and brags that she knew how to deal with the problem. Feral drags Hidalgo to the roof where she kept her pigeon coop as a child.

Feral pushes Thornn into telling the truth about their family. Thornn remembers leaving Feral in charge of their younger sister while she went outside to play with Hidalgo. When Thornn came back, their sister was dead after falling down the stairs. Feral was smiling. Thorrn remembers that their mother always said that the birth of their sister drove their father away. She wonders if Feral believed it. No one knows if Feral pushed her sister or not, but she denies it. Feral then explains that their brother died while chasing her pigeons off of the roof. She blames him for not being able to hold on to the ledge.

Thorrn explains what happened to Harry Bellinger, their mother’s boyfriend. After repeatedly attempting to molest the sisters, he followed Thornn outside one night, dragged her into an alley and tried to rape her. Feral came from out of the shadows and killed him. The sisters stuffed his body between the walls of a nearby building, where it was only recently discovered. Cannonball asks about their mother. Feral reveals that her mother killed the pigeons in her coop to get back at her for killing her boyfriend. Feral brags that she killed her in retaliation. She then leaps at Cannonball, but he easily stops her. Detective Hidalgo places Feral and Thornn under arrest, although it’s unlikely that Thornn will be prosecuted for covering up Harry Bellinger’s murder. The MLF are blamed for breaking Thornn out of her prison transport earlier. Cable reveals to Cannonball that it was Dani Moonstar who suggested framing the MLF, and fed Feral the information that lead her to the tenement building.

Review

This is one of Nicieza’s best issues of X-Force, and probably the darkest story to be told in the X-books during this era. Using a gritty, urban crime story as an origin for Feral works surprisingly well, actually making her interesting for the first time. Feral was originally just violent and hateful because that’s what the cool characters were supposed to be, but now we learn that she’s been shaped by drug addicted parents, poverty, child molestation, rape, and murder (I hate to think about the Google hits I’ll get off of this). This could’ve been a cliché villain origin, but Nicieza makes it feel real. His ability to take the blank slates given to him at the start of this series and actually do something with them should be admired. The pacing of the story, which offers vague hints about the past while building to the climax, is nicely done. There’s a lot of backstory in this issue, but the story doesn’t feel cramped or rushed. Avoiding any superpowered showdowns between Feral and the team helps, since that’s not what this story is about (plus, Feral isn’t a legitimate threat for the entire team anyway). Daniel’s cartoony art isn’t really suited for a story with such grim themes, but it’s not distracting enough to drastically dampen the impact. This isn’t the type of material I’d like to see on a monthly basis in a superhero comic, but I think there is room for the occasional dark story that serves a purpose outside of nihilism.

X-FORCE #40 – November 1994

Holding On

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (penciler), Kevin Conrad w/Tim Townsend (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Thornn is arrested and charged with the murder of her mother, brother, and sister from years earlier. She’s interrogated by her childhood friend Jose Hidalgo, who became a police officer hoping to find out the truth about the murders. Meanwhile, Domino introduces X-Force to their newest headquarters, Arcade’s Murderworld. Shatterstar brags that they’ve taken the complex from Arcade and will fight back if he ever returns. Thornn’s arrest is generating anti-mutant protests outside of the police station where she’s being held. The one phone call she makes is to Cable, who actually has a law degree from Harvard. X-Force stops the Friends of Humanity from killing Thornn while she’s being transferred to prison, and then takes her to the building where she grew up. According to Cable’s plan, Thornn’s sister, Feral, is already there. Feral claims that she knows the real story behind the murders.

Continuity Notes

Domino says that her ex-husband comes from a long line of in-bred cousins. Was her ex-husband ever revealed?

It’s revealed that Cable graduated Harvard in 1988 and passed the New York bar exam the next year, which is really the strangest Cable revelation yet. A lot of people have speculated that the bar license he flashes is a fake, but Nicieza once said that he wanted this revelation to show that Cable is more than just a trigger-happy tough guy.

Review

This is supposed to be the start of a new era for the series, but it never really begins thanks to the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline and Nicieza’s removal from the book. The Murderworld headquarters gets an eight-page introduction, indicating that this was supposed to be a much bigger deal than it turned out to be. Moving the locale closer to Manhattan is supposed to give the cast new characters to interact with, and more normal settings to explore (Siryn mentions that she’d like a job at a flower shop, Domino lists all of the local colleges, etc.). This never happens, as the cast just ends up isolating itself inside the X-Men’s mansion after “Age of Apocalypse” ends. It’s too bad Nicieza’s plans didn’t go through, since the move would’ve helped to differentiate the title and give it a new direction.

This is one of the storylines I can distinctly remember after fourteen years, and it holds up very well. Feral and Thornn are one-note characters from the Liefeld days on the book that most writers probably would’ve tossed away by this point. Nicieza is actually able to create a realistic backstory for the characters that doesn’t require him to reinvent their personalities. I like the use of Detective Hidalgo as a figure from their past and as the driving force behind the story. Showing the real people Feral and Thorrn knew before they joined the Morlocks helps the story to feel grounded, which is appropriate for the subject matter. Daniel’s art, unfortunately, is often too cartoony for a gritty story about a young woman killing her entire family. He does pull some of the acting off, but too many of the facial expressions consist of teeth-gritting or just total blankness. The last few pages look especially loose, suggesting that he might’ve had some deadline troubles with this issue.