Spawn #1: Questions Part 1 Review

Spawn #1: Questions Part 1 Review

Medium: Comic

Release date: 6/1/1992

Review date: 9/15/2024

Score: 7/10

While almost against the business ethos of the entire company of Image, I've always thought of “Spawn” as the flagship Image comics title - when I have to put one character face (mask) to the label, it's Spawn. I saw a lot of Spawn growing up in comic ads and video game magazines, but I didn't know anything about him. And then when I got older, I saw a lot about Todd McFarlane, Spawn's creator and artist, but not too much about his most famous creation. Anytime I saw someone talk about Spawn, it was in the general sense and already resting on the series accomplishments, a very "He's Spawn! You know, the lead character of the comic series ‘Spawn!’ That comic that has hundreds of issues and yet I won't name a single series' plot beat! You know, Spawn!" So pretty much up to reading this issue, I generally knew who Spawn was but didn't actually know anything about the series or character; until now, that is. Issue #1 of “Spawn” was enjoyable enough, it has some good art with an intriguing mystery set up (who did Spawn cut a deal with to come back from the dead, what does the green timer mean, why is he dressed like a Union Jack flag), and the narrative framing with the news reports to show the passage of time and the state of the world was fun. If I had one real complaint, it's that not a ton happens this issue, like I get that it's the first issue and so it has to try and get everything in place to set up the whole series, but Spawn just kind of sits around talking to himself for most of pages - not exactly the most exciting of stuff. But a decent start, I'm intrigued enough to keep reading.