Spawnography

Al Simmons is back from Hell — but this time, he's human? Things are certainly not as they seem. Powerless, disoriented, and haunted by his past, Spawn begins a fragile journey of rediscovery on the streets of New York. From a jail cell to ghostly alleys that Al feels compelled to visit, and a fateful meeting with the myserious Nyx, is there a road to redemption lying in wait for Al Simmons? Georg...

"A Season in Hell" concludes and the world is quickly changing for Spawn and Al Simmons. Promised the ability to remake Hell in his own image, it seems that Al has really just been a pawn in the plans of his newest big bad - Cogliostro?! Now stripped of his hellish legacy, Al has returned to Earth without his "shadow." What does that mean for the world famous government assassin? George and Pierce...

Spawn and Redeemer face off! Their battle in the desert pushes Spawn to his limits — body and soul — as old sins and buried guilt claw their way back to the surface. Wounded and dragged toward Hell, Spawn is forced to confront visions of his past life, his marriage, and the lies that forged his damnation. These issues dive deep into identity, faith, and destiny — asking whether Spawn can truly esc...

What's happening, Hellspawn? This week, we have a very special episode for you. We are taking a little break from the saga of Al Simmons in the early 2000s to talk to Chris Killian and Andrew Sanders, the writers of the recently announced Spawn Universe title, "I Saw Santa." We'll get into their history with Spawn and Todd McFarlane as well as dig into how they approached writing this books and ho...

Hey there Hellspawn! We're finishing up in Japan as Spawn faces ghosts, demons, and an ancient curse in "The Bridge, Part 2." As Ben Nakadai uncovers the mysterious Box of Eden — and falls right into Mammon's trap, opening a door between worlds that won't easily be closed. Back in New York, "Consequences" brings us a turning point: Spawn clashes with Cogliostro over how far he'll go to reshape the...

We're wrapping up "The Kingdom" and starting up a new arc! (I know it's weird but if you don't like it, start your own podcast.) A content warning for self-harm and suicidal ideation in this episode! Spawn #113 wraps up the "Kingdom" arc with a tense showdown in Central Park. Spawn battles the vampire cult while Twitch nearly makes a tragic choice—until Spawn steps in. The Hell-gate is destroyed,...

"The Kingdom" continues! Spawn versus Simon Pure and his hordes of Christian vampires! Absorbing the sins of all New Yorkers, he purifies the city and robs the zealots of their targets, forcing their crusade to a standstill. With the help of the demons Ab and Zab, Spawn rescues Twitch's son, Max and confronts the Kingdom head-on. But his victory comes at a cost, leaving him burdened with unimagina...

"The Kingdom" continues! Simon Pure and his army of Christian vampires are out for blood! But George and Pierce are liking how this story is unfolding as McFarlane, Holguin and Medina are bringing some interesting depth to Spawn's world by involving side characters and finding a new style for the previously established visual langauge of the book. This week's recommendations are the lovely kitty I...

We're back! The #SummerofHellspawn is over and we've got vampires. More specifically, we've got some of those Heaven vampires and the return of George's favorite character, Wolfram! But who exactly is Simon Pure? And what fate will befall Twitch Williams' son Max and his new friend, Dawn? We'll get into it! This week's recommendations are Thin Lizzy's Thunder & Lightning and the boxing anime Megal...

The grand finale of Hellspawn is here and with it, the #SummerofHellspawn comes to a close! In this episode, George and Pierce get into Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith's haunting conclusion to the series (despite the fact that they didn't seem to think it was ending just yet). There are a lot of heavy themes as there have been throughout so a light trigger warning for our discussion surrounding ab...

The final arc of Hellspawn begins here! George and Pierce begin with some chatter about Fantastic Four but then we dive into what turns out to be a couple of breezy issues of Hellspawn. It's clear the team doesn't quite know yet that they are nearing the end of their run but it's interesting to see how the book has evolved and how it fits into the larger Spawn mythos. As always, a hearty trigger w...

George and Pierce get into another couple of issues of Hellspawn because it is, in fact, the #SummerofHellspawn. No one has used that hastag and no one will again. In these two issues, we're going to finish things up with Cy-Gor, seemingly finishing things up with Mike Moran (?) and see what's in store with Eden, the woman who was left in a bathtub previously.  As with many of these episodes, trig...

Ben Templesmith joins the fray as the #SummerofHellspawn continues! As with many of the previous episodes, we'd be remiss not to give a trigger warning for some of the content in these issues and the discussion of them surrounding self-harm.  That said, Steve Niles is clearly trying to set this book on a slightly different path than its been on to this point while Ashley Wood and Templesmith are s...

We are halfway through the #SummerofHellspawn! There's a lot to cover in these two issues! Trigger warning abound to for self-harm especially in these two issues! Issue #7 offers a surreal psychological portrait of Spawn's fractured identity, with dreamlike, unsettling visuals as Sam & Twitch strike a secret deal with Mike Moran and John Damascus tortures a broken Jason Wynn.   Then, in issue #8,...

Hey there Hellspawn! We're back with another two issues of the 2000s edgiest Spawn spinoff,  Hellspawn. Chatrooms are buzzing about the existence of Spawn and George and Pierce will dive deeper into Brian Michael Bendis and Ashley Wood's darker interpratation of the world of Rat City. But how does this fit into the the grand anarrative of the war between Heaven and Hell? Why don't these angels loo...

Summer of Hellspawn continues! And with it, another heavy trigger warning for discussions of selfharm and racism. This week, Brian Michael Bendis and Ashley Wood get a little assist from the legend Bill Sienkiewicz as the creative team dives deeper into the depths of depravity. They finish up the fight against Clown and then investigate the insidious ways that evil persists in our every day lives...

The Summer of Hellspawn is here! For the next two months, we will be covering the entirety of Hellspawn by Brian Michael Bendis, Ashley Wood, Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith before returning to our regular Spawn coverage. Before we go any further, we do was to issue a pretty heavy trigger warning for this book and a lighter trigger warning for our discussions of it. If you are affected by depictio...

Overtkill's back and he's better than ever! For Spawnie this year, Overtkill's here!  (^Obviously, that should be sung to the tune of the Hess truck jingle) But Overtkill is back and he's brought along a new writer for a couple of issues, horror aficionado, Steve Niles. You might be familiar with his work on 30 Days of Night, Batman and Kick-Ass but George and Pierce will dig into how well his wor...

This week, we've got a trio of stories that aim to refocus the main Spawn title after the events of the #100 milestone. Who and what is Spawn after the death of Malebolgia? What does he stand for? What is his place in the world? Is his humanity just a distant memory? This definitely feels like a retread of similar stories - namely, the "Spawn Across America" arc some 70 issues ago - but with Holgu...

Time to take a detour into a weird little artifact in Spawn publishing history, "Spawn: Simony." Originally published in French by the company that put out the main Spawn comics in France, it eventually got an English translation. Is this exactly where it fits in continuity? Uh, sure! Is this some underrated gem? Uh, probably not! But your humble Spawnographers will do their duty while also talkin...

And we are back to our regularly scheduled Spawn programming! Thanks again to Todd McFarlane for joining us last episode!  This episode we say goodbye to Greg Capullo and hello to new series regular artist, Angel Medina. Spawn hangs out with Granny Blake to decompress after the recent events of the comic and we get acquainted with the beginnings of this new era of Spawn. We'll get into some person...

We've covered 100 issues of Spawn and now we get to talk to the man himself, Todd McFarlane! We had a great conversation about Todd's approach to the book, how the book evolved over those first 100 issues, the secrets behind the Harry Houdini arc and a little bit of what Todd might have done differently.  Many thanks to Todd for joining us and his team for helping set up this opportunity. This wee...

We have made it to a milestone! Issue 100! This marks the culmination of the first era of Spawn and it is a doozy! Will Al confront Malebolgia? What's going on with Wanda and Terry? Can Spawn find redemption? All of this and more awaits and George and Pierce dig into the issue. Plus we talk about some of our favorite comics fights and how this milestone issue stacks up against the past ones. This...

Who hired Ab and Zab to unleash Urizen? How can an army of angels be stopped from attacking Earth? How did Al recover from his seeming defeat at Urizen's hands? Should Angela be played on the big screen by the singer of Castle Rat? What's Cyan got to do with this and what's the deal with Wanda's pregnancy? George & Pierce will get into al this and more in the penultimate episode before number 100!...

Armageddon is on the horizon and the fate of Earth hangs in the balance! Our hero may not have the chops to fight Urizen himself but with a little help from an angelic ally and a dose of the Greenworld's power, we're seeing him evolve into somthing more than his humble hellspawn origins. As always, George and Pierce get into it.  This week's recommendations are renowned Seattle punks, The Gits. Ch...