A few years ago, shortly after breaking the record for longest running indie comics, Todd McFarlane decided it was time to expand the Spawn universe once again, announcing a number of new ongoing series set in the shared world. For more than four years, they have explored new corners of the mythos, representing one of the best shared worlds outside of the two great powers. Not only do they exist, but they’re also really good. Focusing on The Scorched and King Spawn, there were also Monolith, Bloodletter, Rat City, two Gunslinger Spawn books, a new Sam & Twitch series, and more.
This isn’t the first time MacFarlane’s corner has grown in the image world, but I think it’s the longest-running one. There have been other spin-offs, and there’s definitely an argument that a shared world still exists, at least among Image’s founders (even back when some of the characters played important roles in each other’s books’ internal storylines), but the last such concerted effort was about 25 years ago. Hellspawn, Saigo, the first Sam & Twitch that helped elevate the early career of Brian Michael Bendis…
and one of my favorites, Spawn: The Dark Ages.
“That night exploded in a violent storm of red and black.”
Spawn: Dark Ages by Brian Holguin, Liam McCormack Sharpe, Brian Haberlin, Richard Starkings and Comiccraft’s Oscar Gongora, along with various other collaborators, began a new Spawn continuation series that stretched back in time over 14 issues. Lord Iain Covenant is a more brutal spawn, but with a familiar setting of being caught up in a war, taking leadership in Cogliostro, and facing angels and wise outfits.
The book began as a brutal, dark, and oppressive story about a lord who returns from a crusade cursed as one of Malebolgia’s hell-spawns to find his land under the heel of the shoe of the person he left behind to protect his land. During the first two arcs, the idea of questioning the role of heaven and hell, personal responsibility, and the choices we make was set up. Is the latter the problem, or is it fate? Gods and demons together. Through it all, there’s an interesting change of voice from Holguin’s narration, a change of perspective, and a kind of idea that these stories might be dramatized a little bit. A series of unreliable narrators.
The final chapter of Spawn: Dark Ages by Holguin and Sharpe was called “Children’s Crusade” and furthered the book’s storytelling and design aesthetic. It was first assembled as a stage play reenacting the incident, telling the story of a young woman’s village being murdered and the army of children she raises to confront the killer. It ties into Cogliostro’s ongoing story in the book and the main title of Spawn, but here is the real star of Sharp’s stunning artwork. Previous issues emphasized visuals, and this arc saw more experimentation. Also included is an issue featuring guest art by Angel Medina and Jonathan Glapion. Given the cold weather in the UK, I was a bit skeptical about my clothing choices. Mark Nicholas joins the team to add more sepia tones, adding to Sharp’s unique frame and giving it a storybook quality.
However, my only complaint is that in later issues, the letters were a little too fanciful for my taste. The curly ascender of the font is a little distracting. I know I’m generally a fan of unique narration boxes and speech bubbles, but this one went a little too far. It would have been nice to just have narration, but it’s also used for dialogue. It continued past the arc, and with the addition of a new creative team, it became a bit less special for this arc (and it took far too long to remove the dialogue style near the end of the book).
“He was a completely strange man, like the Black Knight in a children’s ghost story. Sad, doomed, haunted.”
The first 14 issues of Spawn: Dark Ages by Holguin, Sharpe, Medina, Haberlin, Nicholas, Starkings & Comiccraft took familiar elements of Spawn lore and set them in a harsher time. They combined story elements such as crusades, knighthood, divine destiny, and pagan lore to create interesting stories. Meanwhile, Sharp himself continued to advance and experiment with his artwork in incredible ways.
After the series ended, Steve Niles and Nat Jones would continue the series for 14 more issues. A new limited series of Spawn: The Dark Ages by Sharp and Andworld Design began a few weeks ago. As far as I know, it’s currently unrelated to the original series, featuring another Spawn and depicting events some 700 years before that, but the first issue was still a great new addition to the Spawn universe. And it’s also a great showcase of how far Sharpe’s storytelling has come, given his excellent art in the original series. Both are definitely worth your time.
Classic Comics Compendium: Spawn – Dark Ages
Spawn: Dark Ages
Screenplay: Brian Holguin
Artist: Liam McCormack Sharpe with Angel Medina & Jonathan Glapion (#12)
Colorists: Brian Haberlin (#1-9), Haberlin Studio (#10), Mark Nicholas (#11-14), Dan Kemp & Josh Myers (#1-4), Andy Troy & David Kemp (#5-8), Althea Roseger (#9)
Author: Richard Starkings & Comiccraft’s Oscar Gongora with Wes Abbot (#7)
Publisher: Image Comics (original version)
Release date: March 1999 – April 2000
Collectible in Spawn: The Dark Ages – The Complete Collection
Read the past works of the classic manga encyclopedia!
Check out other recent review articles on The Beat.
Something like this:
Like loading…
