Ye Olde Iowa
05-03-2007, 03:48 PM
Spawn #166 and 167
“The Voice-Hearers Part 1: Skin-Deep”
“The Voice-Hearers Part 2: The Peanut Butter Lady”
Written by David Hine
Pencils and Inks by Brian Haberlin
Colors by Andy Troy
Letters by Tom Orzechowski
Covers by Brian Haberlin
I haven’t picked up a Spawn comic since I was about 13 years old, which would have been fairly early into McFarlane’s premiere creation. I loved the concept and the character, plus the art was simply spectacular. Unfortunately, at the time, I was slowly moving away from comics and I never really got into much of a groove with the book before I stopped reading comics altogether. When I got back into comics about 2 ½ years ago, a little bit of research showed that things were getting fairly complicated for the book and I knew that it wouldn’t be very accessible. About a month ago I first started reading about the relaunch of Spawn, moving away from the grandiose Heaven vs. Hell vs. Spawn storylines and shifting towards street-level horror comics. I was intrigued, so I decided this week to pick up the first two issues of the “reboot;” though the books are not without their fair share of problems, I’m impressed enough to stick around for a few more issues.
As some background, issue #166 is the first issue to take place in a reformed world, created by Spawn when he banished God and Satan to a scorched Earth. The world is, according to Spawn, to be exactly as it was, only without Demons and Angels, with no promise of Heaven or Hell at the end of life. Picking up from there, these issues open with a series of strange happenings centering around an apartment building in New York. The incidents are violent and disturbing though, on their own, they don’t see to be too extraordinary. Recognizing that something is amiss, Detective Max Twitch confronts Spawn, hoping to get his help on the situation, which Twitch believes is caused by demonic possession. Spawn is, at first, dismissive. He believes that there is no way demonic possessions could happen when demons are supposed to be banished from Earth after the happenings of Armageddon (which the people of Earth remember as a tremendous white light that washed over everything). Spawn refuses to help, choosing instead to wallow in his own misery after finding out that before he was killed (which caused him to be Spawn in the first place), he had beaten his wife and forced her to miscarry their child. He chooses instead to remain in exile. However, once Twitch explains the full extent of the incidents in the apartment building, which include an overabundance of roaches, a young woman cutting off all of her skin, a woman killer her husband by tricking him into eating glasses, as well as other murders and suicides, Spawn leaps into action, heading after the Clown, who appears to be at the center of all of the horror.
While Spawn will always be associated with his creator, artist Todd McFarlane, I must say that I think the combination of Brian Haberlin and Andy Troy is absolutely perfect for the new direction of this title. There is a very Marvel-esque realism (think McNiven or Granov) to the art, which, given the subject matter, really drives the horror aspect of the title. When a woman skins herself, it is going to be horrific no matter who is drawing it, but when you draw it fairly realistically, the level of horror is risen considerably. Despite a heavy hand towards realism, the art team seems to have no problem drawing more fantastic elements, including Spawn himself (though the florescent green highlights are almost too jarring) or various other unrealistic items. It’s a nice balance that results in a very gritty, horrific art style that is perfect for the title.
While I haven’t been a huge fan of Hine’s recent romps through the X-Men universe, I do think that he has a knack for setting up some horrific elements. For example, there is a nice slow build for the girl that skins herself. At the beginning, we find out that she picks at her fingers, to a disgusting degree, but also that she is a meticulous perfectionist, then she disappears for a while. When we pick up on her storyline, after finding out some bad mojo is about, she speaks off-panel, building tension, until the final full page reveal. We are offered a bit of horror, a reprieve, some tension, and we end with an intensely horrific image. That’s not to say, however, that Hine relies on Haberlin and Troy to build the horror. Another incident centers around a woman killing herself after her husband kills their baby. The incident is first built upon the idea that the father is simply calming the child down in the middle of the night, when in reality he is driven to kill it. However, this happens off-panel and is really only hinted at, forcing the reader to actually visualize and make the murder of the child concerete. It’s a very cerebral moment that leads to intense horror, especially given our society’s terror at violence towards children. In this way, its almost even more disturbing than the graphic violence that surrounds it.
Unfortunately, there are still plenty of problems with these issues. For one, Haberlin and Troy are very inconsistent with their art. At times, their realism breaks down into rushed looking panels that appear almost as though someone were mimicking the style of the more impressive panels, which really hinders the power of the art. Plot-wise, these issues move at glacial speeds. It takes two full issues for Twitch and Spawn to finish their conversation, though much of this is due to the attention that the residents of the apartment building get. The speed of the plot feels even slower as Hine relies too much on exposition to tell the story. The dialogue is thick and the pages are peppered with caption boxes, forcing the reader to plod through the book, which, again, hinders the book’s horror.
That being said, there is definitely a lot of promise to this new direction. Spawn’s flaws, especially his self-doubt and self-loathing, are much more evident and hamper him just as much as his powers enable him, making him a much more interesting character than before. The recreation of Earth allows for Hine to essentially do anything that he wants, making the possibilities literally endless, while he has shown that he is still committed to keeping some of the best parts of the Spawn mythos and cast. The sense of horror is a disturbing update that feels a lot like Tales from the Crypt, only without the puns. While I may not be in for the long-haul, Hine and Haberlin have my attention for at least a few more issues.
Story: B/B+ The plot, dialogue, and execution of this story are really great, unfortunately, it moves at a snails pace and is too heavy on the exposition.
Art: B When the art is at its best, it is a perfect fit for this book; when it is at its worst, it is downright horrible.
Covers: B+ The layouts are strong, with a nice use of white space and strong fonts, plus the images are just downright creepy. I dig.
“The Voice-Hearers Part 1: Skin-Deep”
“The Voice-Hearers Part 2: The Peanut Butter Lady”
Written by David Hine
Pencils and Inks by Brian Haberlin
Colors by Andy Troy
Letters by Tom Orzechowski
Covers by Brian Haberlin
I haven’t picked up a Spawn comic since I was about 13 years old, which would have been fairly early into McFarlane’s premiere creation. I loved the concept and the character, plus the art was simply spectacular. Unfortunately, at the time, I was slowly moving away from comics and I never really got into much of a groove with the book before I stopped reading comics altogether. When I got back into comics about 2 ½ years ago, a little bit of research showed that things were getting fairly complicated for the book and I knew that it wouldn’t be very accessible. About a month ago I first started reading about the relaunch of Spawn, moving away from the grandiose Heaven vs. Hell vs. Spawn storylines and shifting towards street-level horror comics. I was intrigued, so I decided this week to pick up the first two issues of the “reboot;” though the books are not without their fair share of problems, I’m impressed enough to stick around for a few more issues.
As some background, issue #166 is the first issue to take place in a reformed world, created by Spawn when he banished God and Satan to a scorched Earth. The world is, according to Spawn, to be exactly as it was, only without Demons and Angels, with no promise of Heaven or Hell at the end of life. Picking up from there, these issues open with a series of strange happenings centering around an apartment building in New York. The incidents are violent and disturbing though, on their own, they don’t see to be too extraordinary. Recognizing that something is amiss, Detective Max Twitch confronts Spawn, hoping to get his help on the situation, which Twitch believes is caused by demonic possession. Spawn is, at first, dismissive. He believes that there is no way demonic possessions could happen when demons are supposed to be banished from Earth after the happenings of Armageddon (which the people of Earth remember as a tremendous white light that washed over everything). Spawn refuses to help, choosing instead to wallow in his own misery after finding out that before he was killed (which caused him to be Spawn in the first place), he had beaten his wife and forced her to miscarry their child. He chooses instead to remain in exile. However, once Twitch explains the full extent of the incidents in the apartment building, which include an overabundance of roaches, a young woman cutting off all of her skin, a woman killer her husband by tricking him into eating glasses, as well as other murders and suicides, Spawn leaps into action, heading after the Clown, who appears to be at the center of all of the horror.
While Spawn will always be associated with his creator, artist Todd McFarlane, I must say that I think the combination of Brian Haberlin and Andy Troy is absolutely perfect for the new direction of this title. There is a very Marvel-esque realism (think McNiven or Granov) to the art, which, given the subject matter, really drives the horror aspect of the title. When a woman skins herself, it is going to be horrific no matter who is drawing it, but when you draw it fairly realistically, the level of horror is risen considerably. Despite a heavy hand towards realism, the art team seems to have no problem drawing more fantastic elements, including Spawn himself (though the florescent green highlights are almost too jarring) or various other unrealistic items. It’s a nice balance that results in a very gritty, horrific art style that is perfect for the title.
While I haven’t been a huge fan of Hine’s recent romps through the X-Men universe, I do think that he has a knack for setting up some horrific elements. For example, there is a nice slow build for the girl that skins herself. At the beginning, we find out that she picks at her fingers, to a disgusting degree, but also that she is a meticulous perfectionist, then she disappears for a while. When we pick up on her storyline, after finding out some bad mojo is about, she speaks off-panel, building tension, until the final full page reveal. We are offered a bit of horror, a reprieve, some tension, and we end with an intensely horrific image. That’s not to say, however, that Hine relies on Haberlin and Troy to build the horror. Another incident centers around a woman killing herself after her husband kills their baby. The incident is first built upon the idea that the father is simply calming the child down in the middle of the night, when in reality he is driven to kill it. However, this happens off-panel and is really only hinted at, forcing the reader to actually visualize and make the murder of the child concerete. It’s a very cerebral moment that leads to intense horror, especially given our society’s terror at violence towards children. In this way, its almost even more disturbing than the graphic violence that surrounds it.
Unfortunately, there are still plenty of problems with these issues. For one, Haberlin and Troy are very inconsistent with their art. At times, their realism breaks down into rushed looking panels that appear almost as though someone were mimicking the style of the more impressive panels, which really hinders the power of the art. Plot-wise, these issues move at glacial speeds. It takes two full issues for Twitch and Spawn to finish their conversation, though much of this is due to the attention that the residents of the apartment building get. The speed of the plot feels even slower as Hine relies too much on exposition to tell the story. The dialogue is thick and the pages are peppered with caption boxes, forcing the reader to plod through the book, which, again, hinders the book’s horror.
That being said, there is definitely a lot of promise to this new direction. Spawn’s flaws, especially his self-doubt and self-loathing, are much more evident and hamper him just as much as his powers enable him, making him a much more interesting character than before. The recreation of Earth allows for Hine to essentially do anything that he wants, making the possibilities literally endless, while he has shown that he is still committed to keeping some of the best parts of the Spawn mythos and cast. The sense of horror is a disturbing update that feels a lot like Tales from the Crypt, only without the puns. While I may not be in for the long-haul, Hine and Haberlin have my attention for at least a few more issues.
Story: B/B+ The plot, dialogue, and execution of this story are really great, unfortunately, it moves at a snails pace and is too heavy on the exposition.
Art: B When the art is at its best, it is a perfect fit for this book; when it is at its worst, it is downright horrible.
Covers: B+ The layouts are strong, with a nice use of white space and strong fonts, plus the images are just downright creepy. I dig.