COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK

COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK


Welcome back!  It's time for yet another comic book cover of the week!  And this week, we go to 1992, as we witness the launch of a brand new comic company that sets the industry on fire:  Image Comics.  And of all the colorful new characters introduced to us---this week, we focus on Image's "flagship" character:  Spawn.  Created by Todd McFarlane, Spawn has become one of THE most iconic comics ever.  And with 305 issues and counting, it is Image's longest standing series.  We have witnessed the journey of Al Simmons from soldier to dark world entity striving to be good with powers from Hell itself.  So, without further ado, let's see what the debut issue says about the man we know as Spawn.




SPAWN #1


COVER:  Todd McFarlane
WRITER:  Todd McFarlane
ARTIST:  Todd McFarlane
INKS:  Todd McFarlane
COLORS:  Steve Oliff
LETTERS:  Tom Orzechowski
EDITOR:  Todd McFarlane
COVER DATE:  May 1992
PUBLISHER:  Image Comics 



TAGLINE:  None

STORY TITLE:  "Questions"


Spawn #1 was one of the first major issues to be published by Image Comics, which had been co-founded by writer/artist Todd McFarlane.  Image was the first company where the creators OWNED total control of their work, and were paid for it.  Each of the founding members had their own production studios, and decided to release their books under a banner publishing name.  McFarlane's Spawn became an instant hit---based partly on McFarlane's popularity at the time, having been fresh off a run as the artist on Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man.  A dispute over royalties and other issues forced McFarlane and several other artist/creators such as Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee, and Rob Liefeld to leave the company and form their own---Image Comics.  Over the years, the creators came and went from Image, and the company has restructured a lot, but it has been firmly entrentched as the #3 comics publisher in the country.  Spawn has led the way with his popularity, haveing gotten an HBO animated series, a feature film, a toyline, and massive appeal.  McFarlane has also finished a script for a new Spawn movie, and we shall see what happens.  But Spawn #1 sold 1.7 million copies upon release, and he has been ranked #60 on Wizard magazine's Top 100 Characters list.  He has remained the longest tenured character published by the company.


THE STORY:  There is a strange assailant attacking people in the city and ripping their hearts out.  An otherworldly being arrives, but his mind is reeling with jumbled thoughts.  Eventually, this being realizes that he made a deal with the Devil in order to return to Earth to come back to his wife and child...five years after his death.


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This issue starts us off in a very gloomy and dark way, and we see our hero returning to Earth after a 5 year hiatus from being dead.  McFarlane sets up Spawn as a hero desperate to reunite with his family, only to realize he can't.  We see that he made the Devil's deal, and that is going to have severe consequences down the road.  We also have a psycho killer romaing the streets stealing human hearts.  So, right away, we've got some pretty heavy stuff here.  This is McFarlane's art at its peak, and showing us he can create an intriguing story, and pull us in from the outset.  It's amazing how huge Spawn became in the wake of his first issue.  I remember how big it was when Image Comics created.  It was something that rocked the industry, and set a new standard of creator-owned character and stories with much better pay.  Spawn is a part of that legacy that lives on.  A reminder of the past, and a sign of the future, as Image has become an industry standard for writers and artists to bring their creations to a new audience.  Everyone should have this issue...as well as this series.  It is also the one book published continually from Todd McFarlane Productions.