The American independent series restarted its world in an epic saga in which Heaven and Hell reached their final battle and Spawn was the only one on the side of humanity.
The creation of Todd McFarlane He had already gone through two definitive turns in his career, the change of origin due to editorial problems and the creation of a third side of which Spawn was his avatar. But every war has to have an end, and a winner. It was the year 2005 and the collection reached its number 150, and its author decided that it was time for Armageddon to arrive. Al Simmons vs. Heaven and Hell, winner takes all.
When McFarlane left Marvel, he knew that almost anything he drew was going to be compared to his Spider-Man. His little foray into the land of the script gave a series of stories that distanced itself from the classic Spidey story and entered more adult and terrifying terrain. Serial killers and characters like the Wendigo or Morbius were portrayed as beings more typical of a horror work than of superheroes. With that line and treatment in mind he created Spawn, a demonic superhero whose enemies were supernatural beings with a lust for blood and gore and soldiers in dark networks of covert operations.
A man condemned to hell who returned for love, with all the powers of the devil in his hands but without knowing how to use them. Al Simmons began his path knowing he was powerful but not knowing the extent of his powers. He first battled against Hell and its hosts, then added his enemies to a Heaven that had nothing of paradise. And he finally joined a third party that provided him with a neutrality that could prevent the arrival of the End of Days.
Armageddon at the bottom of the road
The collection had taken several turns in its more than 100 numbers, but always with Armageddon at the bottom of the road. Even with some special authors like Alan McElroy and Ashley Wood who showed the world after the beginning of said conflict. But the discovery of the Green World (yes, the blatant copying of DC’s Swamp Thing background was not very discreet) gave a truce time.
But McFarlane knew the end had to come at some point. And he decided that from number 150 he would count the final battle. It had not been too long since he had lost the legal battle with Neil Gaiman for the rights to MIracleman, and without being able to use it, as was normal for many of his colleagues and himself, he pulled out a version of it: THE Man of The miracles. This character would act as a guide, and would lead Spawn to the final conflict.
With Brian Holguin and artists like Angel Medina, Nat Jones or Danni Miki, the end of everything began. But in the McFarlane style, overloaded, full of dense and elaborate dialogues and reflections, with explicit violence and unusual cruelty with all the characters. Spawn was going to war and Armageddon had arrived.
Telling the end would spoil the volume, but from that end a new line for the character emerged, which would focus on what was the initial idea, a supernatural fight full of mysteries, uniting detective stories with terror and street superheroes.
A twist that served to re-engage casual readers
The series up to this point was getting repetitiveIf the situation dragged on, the good graphic level would not keep the public’s attention. This twist allows the casual reader to re-engage in the collection after the Armageddon sagaand who took more than ten years to remember because he began to buy it.
The collection has recently doubled these numbers and continues to appear every month, more than 300 issues already. And in what remains after this integral, there are still two more turns so as not to lose the attention of its public. It may not be the best superhero series on the market, but it knows how to reinvent itself as often as it needs to to find new customers.
COMICS: Spawn Integral Vol 10. End and beginning for Al Simmons