Al Simmons and his team return for a sophomoric sophomore installment in King Spawn #2, written by Sean Lewis and Todd McFarlane, drawn by Javi Fernandez, colored by FCO Plascencia and lettered by AndWorld Design.
The ghoulish shape of Spawn’s Universe continues to form in King Spawn #2. Still reeling from the opening issue, Al Simmons and his newly assembled Spawn-themed team continue to try and suss out just who or what is behind “Psalm 137.” That search leads them to some … pretty dicey places narratively, but this issue continues to give readers more of a sense of how this new universe is going to operate, alongside some truly impressive work from the new artists The Todd has assembled.
From the jump, King Spawn #2 looks tremendous. Meticulously laid out by penciler Javi Fernandez and drenched in rich colors by FCO Placencia (long my favorite Plascencia), this sophomore issue, at the very least, keeps the visual acumen high, and on tremendous display. The issue’s show-stopping moment, worked from a sketch staging from McFarlane himself of Al’s cape intermingling with the American flag, works like gangbusters and stands well amid some of the other, more freely staged sequences.
That said, the pair suffer a touch in the more expository scenes, as they really don’t have that much interesting blocking or point of view compared to the action. But I would gladly take a few wooden establishing shots if it meant I got more of the stellar chain/cape movement that’s displayed in this issue.
Narratively, however, King Spawn #2 continues to be … a very specific kind of “edgy” that I am not sure is necessary. Though teased in some of the introductory issues of Spawn’s Universe, King Spawn #2 explicitly reveals that one Billy Kincaid, the Ice Cream Man, is back, and up to some real gross shenanigans. Going simply by “Kincaid” now, Lewis and McFarlane set him at the head of a new burgeoning domestic terror outfit, luring horny teens into his service as a “prophet” and goading them into mass shootings. On the steps of the Capitol no less. Don’t worry. That sudden feeling of ickiness that just washed over you is normal and proof that you are still empathetically sane.
Like we have discussed before, Spawn as a title is used to pushing this sort of thematic darkness as “maturity.” It’s also no secret that The Todd has tried to bring “real world” issues into the books. To varying results, obviously, but I totally understand it technically and as a narrative precedent for the title. But I have to admit, the spectre of gun violence that hangs over the issue and alt-right overtones evoked from the “Psalm 137” cult (further pushed from subtext into text by the ever-present Newscaster Chorus) really make me blanch.
For one thing, just visually, it’s very upsetting to “watch.” Though the creative team never makes any of the shooting sequences explicitly gory, it’s still enough to dredge up the very real images of gun violence and mass shootings that have become so heartbreakingly familiar. The hypersexuality and fanatic characterization of the two shooters too throws some major shade over what this latest installment does well, bringing some of the grossest aspects of 4Chan and Reddit rhetoric into the pages of a usually silly and over-the-top superhero comic.
It’s all just texture that doesn’t add to the overall experience. Sure, it gives it a sort of thudding grindhouse energy, one the title has some familiarity with. But it just makes this story feel gross for grossness’ sake, like it’s just reaching for that R rating because that’s what its audience expects from it. This detracts from the real reason these Universe titles have started to work — their interconnectivity, feeling of shared narrative experience and visual dynamism.
King Spawn #2 doesn’t make the title into a good one just yet. But it at least keeps it interesting for those looking for more of the burgeoning “Spawn Cinematic Universe.” Once it gets out of the muck and grime of “edgy comics” to make better use of its newly assembled cast and narrative cohesion, that’s when the real sparks will fly, for that’s where the real soul of these books lie. It’s not the journey, it’s the necroplasmic friends we make along the way.
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
