Spawn #4: Questions Part 4 Review
Medium: Comic
Release date: 9/1/1992
Review date: 10/23/2024
Score: 7/10
An unexpected bonus of reading this series is getting a bit of a peek into 90s American culture, however slight. Al getting so angsty and emotional over his (former? Still current as he’s a walking corpse?) infertility and being the reason Wanda couldn’t have a child, comes across a little, dare I say it, comical, in 2024, at least to me. It honestly feels a bit like Todd purposefully writing Al a “real life adult problem” that the series’ younger audiences could also follow along with, to a bit exaggerated results. Anyways, Spawn and the Violator tussle a bit this issue, shooting each other with their powers and ripping off one another’s arms - you know, just boy things, which leads to the two’s demonic master (still unnamed) to show up and stop the squabbling. I am unimpressed by the devil’s design - don’t get me wrong, it is certainly unique and stands out (that full head of rocker hair is definitely a choice); I just don’t think it looks very good. The demon reveals to former atheist Spawn that God is real and Spawn’s job (as a Hellspawn, get it?) is to harvest souls for the devil to use to kill God, and that also Spawn’s powers are limited, with that green neon clock Spawn keeps seeing in his mind’s eye representing the countdown to his devilish master harvesting his soul. After catching Spawn up to speed, the devil fixes his arm and sends our antihero on his way, but rages at the Violator for a perceived failure of his mission and strips the monster of his powers temporarily, trapping him in the fat clown man body he uses. Al finds a trench coat and fedora somewhere to moodily wear as he walks through the streets of New York, mulling over what the demon told him, when he overhears some kids talking about heroes on the news. Al seems to consider that he too could be a hero instead of a Hellspawn with these new powers, with the issue ending by showing Wanda waking up from a nightmare where she could have sworn she saw Al alive.
Things kind of happen this issue, hooray! The fight between Spawn and the Violator could have been a little longer and flashier, as I’m still a bit unsure what Spawn’s powers really are yet - they mostly seems to be some sort of generic magical power that can do whatever the comic needs them to in the moment (outside of being able to shape change him into somebody other than a white guy). Likewise, I’d have liked to have a name for Spawn’s demonic master by this point, as I don’t like referring to him as just “that devil guy.” Finally, and apologies for sounding like a broken record on this, but we get yet another “Youngblood” reference this issue as Spawn listens to the kids discuss super heroes at the end, with there being a “Savage Dragon” name drop too. I really did not understand before reading some of these series how interconnected early Image comic titles used to be - like yeah, narratively Spawn needs some sort of heroes to compare himself to in order to decide to become a good guy himself, so why not have those comparisons be Rob Liefeld’s “Youngblood” or Erik Larsen’s “Savage Dragon?” But on the other hand, outside of these issues of the comic, me knowing that the “Youngblood” series completely falls apart and that Todd starts getting into very litigious arguments with collaborating creators over individual character rights ownership makes these inclusions feels super dated and like a ticking legal timebomb to eventually be scrubbed out to avoid any statutory ramifications. Don’t get me wrong, the references aren’t bad, but I do wonder how much longer I’ll keep seeing them in the series. Overall I think this issue was fine, Spawn’s finally (hopefully) having some character growth, so maybe we’ll get around to the superhero part of this superhero comic soon.