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Spawn is the main character of a comic book of the same title from Todd McFarlane Productions. Spawn was one of the flagship titles at the launch of Image Comics, and the first issue hit the newstands in May of 1992.

History

Template:Spoiler Al Simmons was a highly decorated member of the Secret Service (notably saving the President in an attempted assassination) and the CIA. After being murdered in a foreign country by his superior Jason Wynn, Simmons is sent to hell because of his life as a mercenary. Making a deal with the devil, Simmons agrees to become a Hellspawn and serve Malebolgia if he is allowed to see his wife, Wanda, one last time. Malebolgia returns Simmons to the living realm, but with only the barest of memory, a badly burned body, and a watch dog, the Clown. Simmons is unaware that five years have passed. His wife has married his best friend, Terry Fitzgerald, and the two have a daughter, Cyan.

His life over, Simmons has two choices before him: follow Malebolgia, or renounce the devil. The two choices come in the form of Clown, a diminutive, portly, disgusting minor demon (who can transform into the huge, fanged, clawed Violator), and Cogliostro (Cog), an apparently homeless old man who knows more about Simmons (whom both call Spawn) and his situation than even he knows.

After many fights involving minions of Heaven and Hell, criminals of Earth, and common street scum, Spawn eventually kills Malebolgia but refuses the throne of Hell. Upon returning to Earth, Spawn discovers he has new powers but must quickly learn to use them, engaging in battles against Clown, a dark god named Urizen, Jason Wynn, and even himself. Recently, a new character named Mammon has surfaced, and although he was previously thought to be a background character it has become evident that Mammon is much more important. 1

The series has spun off several other comic titles (Angela, Curse of the Spawn, Hellspawn, Spawn: The Undead, Sam & Twitch and CY-GOR), a Japanese Manga (Shadows of Spawn) which is being translated into English, a feature film, an HBO animated series, several video games for various platforms, and hundreds of exquisitely-detailed action figures from McFarlane Toys.

Powers

Original

Spawn himself is quite dense, weighing four hundred pounds, and is composed completely of necroplasm. This gives him super strength and durability.

Spawn wears a living symbiotic costume. Its cape, spikes, chains, and skulls are all part of one organism that will protect Spawn even if he is unconscious. Violator once said the suits feed on souls, though later on the costume began to feed on maggots and insects.

Spawn has vast magical powers. In the issues before issue #50, Spawn had a limited power supply or "9999". Each time Spawn used his energy, the counter would drain. Because of this reason, he relied primarily on his costume's natural abilities in fights. Other than the counter, the only limit was Spawn's imagination. Though he always tried not to expend a lot of magic, he has been shown using it for a variety of effects including resurrecting the dead, firing blasts of necroplasmic energy, teleportation, shapeshifting, and curing the sick.

Spawn still retains the military training and weapons expertise from his days as a soldier and thus frequently used guns as an alternative to his magic.

After Issue 50

Currently, Spawn's power is endless. There was even a brief period after issue #100 where Spawn was practically a god. At the time no one was able to harm him in any way. Spawn has altered his physical appearance at times, and his body is a living weapon. His suit even "matures", by morphing into different variations. The most notable changes being the "Third Age" suit, in which his power was at its highest, nearly making him on par with God. He is able to transform any part of his suit and/or body into whatever he sees fit for the current situation. The only human characteristics Spawn retains now are his emotion and the ability to feel pain...he does not grow tired, feel fatigue, or even need to breathe. Should Spawn be injured while in battle, his suit is the one to feel the blow, as a result, if his suit is severely injured, Spawn may be rendered helpless. Other abilities now include super speed, super strength that enables him to throw around skyscrapers, hellblasts that can topple ancient gods and said to be strong enough to burn down the gates of Heaven, matter alteration and transmutation, incredible regeneration, unbreakable chains, control over nature, and even the ability to stop time dead in its tracks. He is also able to use mental powers to subdue enemies, once cornering Jason Wynn, and "ripping" all the skin from his body. At least, that is what Jason's mind thought. Al Simmons carries on his fearless warrior attitude, having beaten sky fathers and beings seemingly far above sky fathers, never letting an opponent's scope or power intimidate him. Spawn may or may not also be possessing his original corpse, restored to full human appearance, and the armor he wears is shown at times morphing into normal clothes, or from human attire into his armor, in a manner similar to the Marvel Comics character Venom.

Greenworld

Spawn has also been granted the powers of the "Greenworld". While these powers are not directly described, they appear to give Spawn control over all the elements and other aspects of the natural world. Spawn was first endowed with this gift during his battle with "The Heap". He was swallowed by the Earth and introduced to the 3rd party in the war of Heaven and Hell, the Greenworld. It was explained to him that the Greenworld did not care for the war of Heaven and Hell, but were growing increasingly agitated by the destruction brought about. They inflicted on him the pains of the Earth, and when he returned Spawn became "aware" of the world. Spawn did not utilize his powers however, other than listening to the Earth, until he was impaled on a Holy Spear by the dark god Urizen (named after the tyrannical creator-figure in the personal mythology of Romantic poet–artist William Blake). Urizen was wreaking havoc on the world, and the Greenworld imbued him with a "gift" which, after recovering thanks to "Angela", Spawn uses to contain Urizen. Spawn splits the ground open and imprisons Urizen within the Earth.

Other Powers

Spawn has an ability to "feel" or "sense" misery. He is aware, even subconsciously when someone is attacked or murdered. Spawn typically travels in the shadows, even "flying" on occasion. He is often described as notoriously difficult to spot, often only caught out of the corner of one's eye as just a streak of red (his cape). Recently, Spawn has taken every other HellSpawn into himself and with the help of a young Spawn (Christopher), he is able to summon them for aid.

Weaknesses

Almost unstoppable. Spawn is unable to die outside of a patch of alley known as "The Deadzone" unless beheaded by a weapon of heaven. The "Deadzone" is the small patch of Earth that is Heaven's domain. In that small stretch of alley, Spawn has no power... thus making him an ordinary person. Spawn has, however, used this area to perform an exorcism, but the few times he has ventured there, the results were nearly fatal.

Appearance

• Skin: originally african-american, now pitch black
• Eye Color: green (glowing green)
• Costume: Black Armor (usually all over, but sometimes the head piece is removed) with "M" shaped white stripe on chest and backside, red cloak, skull emblems, and chains. After having his memory wiped by Mammon, who has been revealed as the true owner of the Hellspawn's suit, the suit has morphed again, taking on a more organic appearance.

Characters

Current Characters

• Spawn/Al Simmons - Main character
• Sam Burke - Detective, partner of Twitch
• Twitch Williams - Detective, partner of Sam
• Wanda Fitzgerald - Al Simmons's ex-wife
• Terry Fitzgerald - Wanda's husband/Al Simmons' former best friend
• Cyan Fitzgerald - Wanda and Terry's daughter
• Jake and Katie Fitzgerald - Wanda and Terry's miracle twins
• Mammon - A Forgotten One. Recently revealed to be the creator of the necroplasmic armor worn by the Hellspawn.
• Man of Miracles - A Mystery man that offers guidance to Spawn. A retcon of Cogliostro
• Zera - The queen of the Seraphim.
• Kali - Goddess who battles against Spawn
• Thamuz - A demonic Master of Torture who has vowed to unravel the secrets kept by Spawn.
• The Disciple - Heaven's greatest warrior, and predecessor to The Redeemer
• The Forgotten Ones - Angelic creatures who did not choose sides in the Biblical Fall, and were banished by God.
• Christopher - Spawn's heart in his human form

Other characters

• Kumiko Kitomura - Grandaughter of Hiroshi Kitomura. Killed by gang-slavers while trying to protect her grandfather and was sent to Hell to join Malebolgia's army. Now assists Spawn in preventing the Apocalypse.
• Hiroshi Kitomura - Grandfather of Kumiko and a follower of the Way of the Samurai. Was killed while trying to protect Kumiko and joined her in Hell. He is also an ally of Spawn.
• Nyx - A witch that helped Al Simmons regain his Hellspawn powers, only to betray him so that she could journey to Hell to save the lost soul of a friend.
• Cogliostro/Cain - Former Spawn`s mentor and guide/current master of the eighth circle of Hell
• Clown/Violator - A tormentor of Spawn, pushing him to use his powers for the benefit of Hell
• The Redeemer - A holy opposite to the Hellspawn, created by the Star Chamber.
• The Heap - A character culled from McFarlane's buyout of Eclipse Comics, the original Heap was a Golden-Age character that inspired both Swamp Thing and Man-Thing. McFarlane's character is similar but unrelated, only using the naming rights he purchased.
• Jason Wynn - Former CIA director/Al Simmons' former superior that give the order to kill him
• Tiffany - A warrior-angel that replaced Angela in the hunt for Spawn. A member of an angelic host known as the Amazon Warriors.
• The Curse - Religious obsessive killer
• Vandalizer - A brother-demon to the Violator
• Cygor - Genetic/cybernetic hybrid human-gorilla
• Jessica Priest - Former CIA agent/Al Simmons' killer
• Chapel - Former CIA agent/Helped to kill Al Simmons. Retconned after Rob Liefeld left Image Comics.
• Billy Kincaid - A serial-killer who preyed upon children. Killed by Spawn, he went on to serve as a lackey of Malebolgia
• The Freak - An escapee from a mental asylum with multiple personalities.

Deceased

While death is rarely final in Spawn Continuity, some characters are more dead than others.

• Malebolgia - Former master of the eighth circle of Hell.
• Angela - An angelic bounty-hunter sent against Spawn who later befriended him.

Appearances in other media

• Spawn has starred in several video games, notably Namco's 2003 action adventure Spawn: Armageddon (Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube). His other video games include Spawn the Eternal (1998) for the Sony PlayStation which was poorly received, and Spawn: In the Demon's Hand (2000) for the Sega Dreamcast which did moderately well.
• Spawn appears as a special guest character in the Xbox version of the 2003 video game Soul Calibur II.
• In 1997, a film adaptation starring Michael Jai White and John Leguizamo was released.
• Spawn made his animated debut in the critically acclaimed HBO miniseries Todd McFarlane's Spawn. Spawn was voiced by Keith David, who also voiced Goliath on the animated series Gargoyles. The series won two Emmy's (one in 1998 and another in 1999). A new animated series, which will be a reboot of sorts, is currently in the works.
• Heavy Metal band Iced Earth released the Spawn-based concept album The Dark Saga in 1996, with cover art by Greg Capullo and Todd McFarlane (although only McFarlane is credited). Due to legal issues, Iced Earth could not use the names of the characters in the songs.
• In Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure by Nippon ichi a puppet that is sent to Cornelia called Nightspawn or DarkKnight greatly resembles Spawn.
• In a particular Powerpuff girls episode Buttercup is reading a comic of a superhero named Spore. (Who was an obvious parody of Spawn) The only differinces were his cape was green, his costume was slightly altered, and instead of chains he used razor wire.

Shadows of Spawn

Recently released on American shores are two graphic novel comilations of the Spawn Manga which is known as Shadows of Spawn. This manga series takes several elements of the original comic, but puts different twists on the story. Al Simmons is not the star of the Spawn Manga, in fact, Simmons himself has yet to appear in it. The star of the series is a young man named Ken Kurosawa, a Japanese-American, who is a street thug who hires himself out for money in order to care for his younger sister, who was very sickly before the time of his death. He was known by the nickname double K. After promising his sister to be with her for her birthday, Ken is murdered by his latest clients after he ends his contract with them. Seven years later, Ken is brought back as a Hellspawn. (It is heavily implied that Ken returned to Earth at the exact same time as did Al Simmons, as many events in the manga seem to directly take off from events in the original comic book.) Like Al Simmons, Kurosawa initially has no memories of his previous life, and is confronted in short order (almost immediately after awakening on Earth as a Hellspawn, in fact) by the Clown. Clown briefly leaves the manga, replaced by a fairie-like creature calling herself Beelzebub. He returns as the Violator, however he is much smaller, as one of his arms is cut off from his body while the primary body is trapped for a time in Clown form, and becomes the entire body of a smaller version of himself, imbued with a reduced amount of his full power.

The new Spawn, living in California, holes up in an abandoned church. He discovers his sister has overcome her sickliness and is slowly becoming a major star in hollywood as a teen actress. His greatest desire since his rebirth is to protect her. Ironically, she is now the target of many supernatural creatures because of that very desire.

The Manga also introduces three other Spawns who are also active, and who have been on Earth for some time. The first is actually a Spawn introduced in the McFarlane toyline, Zombie Spawn, who has been "alive" for about five hundred years, doing his best to resist Malebolgia and give him as much hell (no pun intended) as possible to the lord of the eigth circle of Hell. A female spawn from the 19th century is also introduced, as is a creature which may or may not be a wolf, resurrected and transformed into a 'werewolf' Spawn. Unlike Kurosawa and Simmons, these Spawns do not wear the now iconic armor which is associated with the character, though the female priate spawn and the werewolf spawn both have markings on their face which are the same as those on the cowl of the Spawn mask. The Zombie Spawn does not wear any version of the markings or armor at all.

There are several references to the Al Simmons incarnation of the character, who is implied to be active simultaneously with Kurosawa. There are, however, no references to the 'Youngbloods' a group of heroes that Image comics produced, and which Simmons was mistakenly believed to be by at least three to six people in the beginnings of the American comic. Simmons himself however, has not appeared in any way in the manga yet, although Malbolgia has been shown. A new angel is introduced in the Manga as well: Mikaela, who appeared to be designed in homage to Angela.

To date, only two volumes have been released thus far of the manga, and it is unknown how far along the series actually got. However, if Kurosawa, Mangler (The were-wolf spawn), Cheveyo (The Zombie Spawn), and Caleb (the female priate Spawn) are still active in the Manga into the present day, it can be assumed that the Manga is not intended to have any direct relationship with the normal comic continuity. However, if the three of them should appear in the future in the American comic, then it is likely that they (and any future Hellspawn intended to appear in future volumes of the translated Manga) likely never returend to Earth again after being pulled back to Hell.

One other key difference between the original comic and the manga version of Spawn, was that the Hellspawns in the Manga are said to not die off completely and return to Hell, as was supposedly going to happen to Simmons at first, but rather they would be recharged and sent back to Earth, potentially losing more and more of themselves as each time happened, supposedly growing ever stronger, but also becoming just flat out evil, or else simply losing touch with that which made them originally wish to return to life to begin with. Cheveyo is the eldest active Spawn out of the four in the Manga, and Simmons himself, as he is five hundred years old. This is another key difference, because in the American book, A Spawn is only born once every four hundred years and they lose power eventually, but none of them are supposed to be able to live the full four hundred years between each birth, let alone a century past it. Since Kurosawa is brought back to Earth seven years after his death, he apparently is 'born' as a Spawn literally simultaneously with Al Simmons, as, again, events in the American comic book, at least partially, had an affect on a character in the manga (namely Clown/Violator.), and thus the Spawn manga may be viewed to be an alternate universe that has unofficial, but still partially visible ties to the original material.

Popularity

Spawn enjoyed a considerable amount of popularity in the 1990s, which was a notable feat for a non DC and non Marvel character. From 1994-95 on Spawn was very popular, and part of this was possibly due to the widespread popularity of McFarlane Toys, which expanded beyond specialty stores, and the toys were sold in major department stores as well as Toys R Us and Kaybee Toys. This gave the title a boost, and brought it to the attention of both younger audiences and older toy collectors who were exposed to the toys.

When this popularity ended is impossible to place, at least in regards to any one date. In general, Spawn's popularity peaked with the 1997 Spawn feature film. The character's popularity began to slowly decline after this, until he largely dropped off the "mainstream" radar in 1998-1999. The comic book's sales have been in steady decline, though it continues to be published today. Still, figures produced by McFarlane Toys continue to remain very popular, mostly due to their tremendous details.

Legal Dispute

In 1993, McFarlane contracted Neil Gaiman (as well as other recognized authors like Frank Miller and Dave Sim) to write one issue of his Spawn series. While doing so, Gaiman introduced the characters Cogliostro, Angela, and Medieval Spawn. All three characters continued to be featured prominently in the series after Gaiman's involvement, and had many tie-ins with McFarlane's toy company. Cogliostro had a prominent role in the live-action movie in 1997. McFarlane had agreed that Gaiman retained creator rights on the characters but later claimed that Gaiman's work had been work-for-hire and that McFarlane owned all of Gaiman's creations entirely. McFarlane had also refused to pay Gaiman for the volumes of Gaiman's work he republished and kept in print. In 2002, Gaiman filed suit and won a sizeable judgement against McFarlane and Image Comics.

External links

• Spawn.com - Official source of info on everything related to Spawn and other characters and products from Image
• Image Comics official website
• Toonopedia
• Namco - Spawn® Armageddon
• Craig Welch of Spawn fame

Sources

1. MAMMON APPEARS IN NEW SPAWN VIDEO GAME

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