Spawn, Book 1 [Paperback]

Todd McFarlane (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Todd McFarlane Productions (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887279504
• ISBN-13: 978-1887279505
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,108,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McFarlane Makes Marvel Shiver, September 27, 2005

By 

Mr. Sinister (El Cajon, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spawn, Book 1 (Paperback)

Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld and their merry band of inkers and scribblers moved on from the publishing slaughterhouse of Marvel Comics to form their own brand of magic in Image. Soon, along with Marvel and DC, they became legion. Too many years had passed with artists treated badly, raped of thier work and paid a pittance for their scemes and visions. So says Frank Miller in the foreward to this first glimpse of the Spawn comic phenomenon.

Enter Image Comics. Enter Todd McFarlane. Enter Spawn.

The Empire is made.

Spawn starts off where most comics had not before this time in early '92. Al Simmons, an ex-paramilitary assassin, hired gun, mercenary, etc.... wakes up and finds that he had died and gone to hell and sold his soul to come back to earth to see his wife. Weird. Yeah. Only Al (Spawn) finds out that five years have passed since he died and that his wife Wanda has remaried his best friend and they now have a child together (something Simmons could never do). Ouch. Life sucks. The Devil (Malebolgia) has screwed him bigtime! Enter The Violator, an entity and emissary of Malebolgia's, hiding his truly hideous demonic form behind the guise of a short, fat, disguting clown. Really weird.

Spawn works on levels that Marvel and DC couldn't or wouldn't touch at the time. More adult in its themes. More skin. More violence. More vulgarity (without outright profanity). Issues illustrated and discussed in Spawn were darker and more relevant than anything that was going on in the big publishers comic collections. Corruption and greed, murder, rape and despair....


What McFarlane did in the creation of Image and Spawn was giving the artists and writers back their pride and their rights to make a profit on their own creations and move away from the tired characters that Marvel had been toting around for decades. What he did with Spawn was create a anti-hero/vigilante Hellspawn kick-ass comic legend. Sure it got tired as it drug on, but the begining was fresh. Dark. Deep.

Dig it.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good collection, September 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Spawn, Book 1 (Paperback)

This collection includes the first five issus from Spawn/Image. The design is good. It' s better than the german versions.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gothic and wierd, but definetly worth it., March 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Spawn, Book 1 (Paperback)

This is the collection of the first 5 Spawn comics. What can i say? The're great! They make a fascinating read, and even though it's a comic, it gives you the feel as if you're reading a novel. It's not your typical comic and definetaly worth it for both comic fans and non comic fans.