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Hellspawn #1-16
Hell Spawn: A Coleção Completa
AA
Hardcover
First published August 4, 2010
11 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
Brian Michael Bendis
4,119 books2,574 followersA comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.
Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.
Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.
Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.
Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.
Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.
He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.
Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.
Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.
Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.
Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.
Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.
He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 17, 2018
I’ve always been a hardcore Spawn fan, owning the majority of the series in single issue comic form, so naturally when I found the first issue of this digging through long boxes I snatched it up immediately.
Upon reading it was instantly creeped out. Wood’s art style is incredibly unnerving it feels intentionally erratic - which not only fits the character, but fits this storyline near perfectly. The storyline and dialogue ties together in the same vein.
I ordered this full collection and wow is it gorgeous! It’s nice when a series can be collected in one quality hardback but not come off as overwhelming.
As much as I love the main story arc, even through its flaws, I tend to feel that HellSpawn ends up being my favorite form of the character. Gritty, violent, and disturbing... this is how Spawn should be.
Upon reading it was instantly creeped out. Wood’s art style is incredibly unnerving it feels intentionally erratic - which not only fits the character, but fits this storyline near perfectly. The storyline and dialogue ties together in the same vein.
I ordered this full collection and wow is it gorgeous! It’s nice when a series can be collected in one quality hardback but not come off as overwhelming.
As much as I love the main story arc, even through its flaws, I tend to feel that HellSpawn ends up being my favorite form of the character. Gritty, violent, and disturbing... this is how Spawn should be.
October 5, 2024
Saw this sitting (prominently) on my (non-resident, adult) kid's bookshelf, was curious, and, when I picked it up, it had the look and feel of something that could be epic (or at least worthwhile) based, at least in part, on the hefty price point (from more than a decade ago).
The problem, of course, was that once I sat down, opened it, and got started, even if didn't really get it and couldn't completely follow the story line (sure, I understand the protagonist's situation ... I've read some Spawn over the years, and I recall seeing both an animated and live action movie, so I've got the basic landscape), ... it's sufficiently compelling that I keep turning the pages, and the storyline keeps morphing before I get bored, and the next thing I know, ... it's over, I'm at the end, and I thought the author did a pretty good job wrapping it up, so I'm feeling a little bit better about the overall experience/enterprise.
It's not one of the best or most enjoyable graphic novels I've ever read, but it's (very) far from the worst. Do I see myself rushing off to see where the more recent Spawn story lines and authors and artists are going? No, probably not.
But that's almost certainly a reflection on me rather than the book. And, remember, my generation didn't grow up with Spawn - he didn't make his first appearance until my (adult) attention was elsewhere ... and a fair number of years after the (for me, glorious) 1980's rebirth of the comic book market and the explosion in (quality) adult graphic novels, riding a wave including Watchmen, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Marvels, Kingdom Come, V for Vendetta, Maus, and, of course, Gaiman's original Sandman run. But, as they say, I digresss.
The problem, of course, was that once I sat down, opened it, and got started, even if didn't really get it and couldn't completely follow the story line (sure, I understand the protagonist's situation ... I've read some Spawn over the years, and I recall seeing both an animated and live action movie, so I've got the basic landscape), ... it's sufficiently compelling that I keep turning the pages, and the storyline keeps morphing before I get bored, and the next thing I know, ... it's over, I'm at the end, and I thought the author did a pretty good job wrapping it up, so I'm feeling a little bit better about the overall experience/enterprise.
It's not one of the best or most enjoyable graphic novels I've ever read, but it's (very) far from the worst. Do I see myself rushing off to see where the more recent Spawn story lines and authors and artists are going? No, probably not.
But that's almost certainly a reflection on me rather than the book. And, remember, my generation didn't grow up with Spawn - he didn't make his first appearance until my (adult) attention was elsewhere ... and a fair number of years after the (for me, glorious) 1980's rebirth of the comic book market and the explosion in (quality) adult graphic novels, riding a wave including Watchmen, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Marvels, Kingdom Come, V for Vendetta, Maus, and, of course, Gaiman's original Sandman run. But, as they say, I digresss.
September 27, 2025
One of my favorite spawn reads. It does for Spawn what I think Detective Comics is for Batman. It doesn’t worry about forwarding some large world changing plot but it has smaller stories with beginnings middles and ends. It’s a Spawn story not THE Spawn story. Also the art is phenomenal.
February 4, 2017
Artwork was fantastic, thought the Clown storyline was good. The Hellworld story had a lot of potential but I felt it missed the mark.
July 27, 2022
Supposedly a more sophisticated take on “Spawn” that only delivers when it comes to the art; the rest is pre-teen angst posing as profundity.
Ashley Wood’s art is evocative, splitting the difference between Dave McKean and Bill Sienkiewicz. Unfortunately, he’s far better at covers and splash pages than storytelling, so if the script calls for two characters having a conversation, Wood tends to draw one panel of each character and then copies and pastes them over and over again across multiple pages to get the job done. Ben Templesmith, who eventually takes over for Wood, does not use this particular trick. Despite some minor problems, however, the two of them create a very nice, even artistic-looking comic.
It’s the writing that’s the problem.
Ashley Wood’s art is evocative, splitting the difference between Dave McKean and Bill Sienkiewicz. Unfortunately, he’s far better at covers and splash pages than storytelling, so if the script calls for two characters having a conversation, Wood tends to draw one panel of each character and then copies and pastes them over and over again across multiple pages to get the job done. Ben Templesmith, who eventually takes over for Wood, does not use this particular trick. Despite some minor problems, however, the two of them create a very nice, even artistic-looking comic.
It’s the writing that’s the problem.
November 18, 2013
I never really read comics when I was younger- although I did have one issue of Spawn when I was 10ish. I recently became interested in comics/graphic novels after seeing the new Dredd movie, and this has been one of my favorites. The art is amazing, the story is cool (although there are a few loose ends- hence the missing star) and the format is excellent.
Just a good story, well told and you don't need to know much about Spawn in order to understand it.
Just a good story, well told and you don't need to know much about Spawn in order to understand it.
May 22, 2020
The best thing about the Hellspawn series is definitely the art by the iconic Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith. The stories on the other hand are what I found were lacking for me. I wanted them to be so much better than they were. I feel that the horror should be a bi-product of the story and not the other way around. The strongest stories are the last four issues of the Hellworld story but even then, this story feels like its been done before.
July 12, 2016
Sophisticated artwork and writing.
Each page is dark and the atmosphere is sullen but every page is more brilliant than the other. I love how Ashley Wood draws the hellspawn. Every spawn-fan should read this series.
Each page is dark and the atmosphere is sullen but every page is more brilliant than the other. I love how Ashley Wood draws the hellspawn. Every spawn-fan should read this series.
July 10, 2025
Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith sure can draw a meancing picture splattered with style and wickedness, but even it doesn't save Hellspawn as a graphic novel.
Perhaps more established Spawn-fans get more out of it (though the back blurp does promise to win over new fans), but I could hardly make any sense of the story. Sure, much of it has to do with the fact that I found myself zoned out of it after the first third bombarded me with cringeworthy "grittiness" and "darkness": there's the n-word, rape, abuse, suicide, religious cults and everything one can think of to prove others that they are so very cool and dark. Worst of all is, it doesn't really make sense. There's, apparently, multiple shorter plots there with demons, agents of some evilry and queen's of Hell, but none of it is coherent enough to make sense of. Spawn as a "character" is barely there until the last stretch of the story.
And most unfortunate thing of all? Even the mostly beautiful illustrations falter every now and then. While in places it works stylisticly that parts of the illustrations are simply drawn as a contrast to the highly detailed splash pages, in other places the characters look like Canadians from South Park or cave paintings. Add in the nearly incomprehensible story and despite all my efforts, I couldn't enjoy my time with Hellspawn.
And it is a damned shame - the cover and the first few pages make a promise of something great akin to Frank Miller's Batman run but unfortunately, it is a promise it cannot keep for long.
Perhaps more established Spawn-fans get more out of it (though the back blurp does promise to win over new fans), but I could hardly make any sense of the story. Sure, much of it has to do with the fact that I found myself zoned out of it after the first third bombarded me with cringeworthy "grittiness" and "darkness": there's the n-word, rape, abuse, suicide, religious cults and everything one can think of to prove others that they are so very cool and dark. Worst of all is, it doesn't really make sense. There's, apparently, multiple shorter plots there with demons, agents of some evilry and queen's of Hell, but none of it is coherent enough to make sense of. Spawn as a "character" is barely there until the last stretch of the story.
And most unfortunate thing of all? Even the mostly beautiful illustrations falter every now and then. While in places it works stylisticly that parts of the illustrations are simply drawn as a contrast to the highly detailed splash pages, in other places the characters look like Canadians from South Park or cave paintings. Add in the nearly incomprehensible story and despite all my efforts, I couldn't enjoy my time with Hellspawn.
And it is a damned shame - the cover and the first few pages make a promise of something great akin to Frank Miller's Batman run but unfortunately, it is a promise it cannot keep for long.
December 25, 2017
Spawn è uno di quei personaggi a cui un adolescente di inizio anni '90 che leggeva comicbooks è affezionato nonostante con l'età si renda conto di avere avuto dei gusti davvero di merda. Ma era il periodo ed eravamo giovani, quindi suppongo non ci sia nulla di cui vergognarsi.
Queste storie, d'altro canto, scritte da Brian Michael Bendis e Steve Niles e disegnate da Ashley Wood e Ben Templesmith (assieme alla serie di Sam and Twitch scritta da Bendis e la saga di David Hine sulla serie regolare), quindi autori comunque capaci e con una propria voce, sono probabilmente le storie migliori mai realizzate di Spawn. Serve un po' di conoscenza della continuity del personaggio, ma appunto, di meglio non è mai stato fatto.
Per i fan di lunga data, ma non solo: qui davvero non c'è nulla di cui vergognarsi.
Queste storie, d'altro canto, scritte da Brian Michael Bendis e Steve Niles e disegnate da Ashley Wood e Ben Templesmith (assieme alla serie di Sam and Twitch scritta da Bendis e la saga di David Hine sulla serie regolare), quindi autori comunque capaci e con una propria voce, sono probabilmente le storie migliori mai realizzate di Spawn. Serve un po' di conoscenza della continuity del personaggio, ma appunto, di meglio non è mai stato fatto.
Per i fan di lunga data, ma non solo: qui davvero non c'è nulla di cui vergognarsi.
November 27, 2017
Personal response
I thought it was a good book, lots of beating you over the head with the themes though. Lots of death for the faith and rebirth at your lowest point. It had a very mature feel I would definitely read it again. It had a very nice story that flowed and still kept the feel of this is happening over a long period of time and was told in the style of oneshots without losing the story flow.
Recommendation
I would not recommend this to people who aren't high schoolers.
I thought it was a good book, lots of beating you over the head with the themes though. Lots of death for the faith and rebirth at your lowest point. It had a very mature feel I would definitely read it again. It had a very nice story that flowed and still kept the feel of this is happening over a long period of time and was told in the style of oneshots without losing the story flow.
Recommendation
I would not recommend this to people who aren't high schoolers.
September 5, 2020
A little slow of a startup but the action definitely gets there when spawn actually shows up. The artwork can be a bit too dark at times but I really liked the style of the book overall. A lot of Twists that I didn’t see coming.
December 10, 2022
A more "sophisticated" take at spawn regarding themes and art. It's still not an extremely deep narrative, but it's better than the majority of the 300+ issues of Spawn (outside a few climatic arcs).
November 28, 2023
Just the regular Spawn title with worse art and now there's an occasional f bomb without the asterisks. Surprisingly, the Steve Niles story was more coherent than the Bendis issues. Still, none of it was all that interesting and is all skippable.
September 20, 2018
El arte es excepcional, sin él se perdería la profundidad y oscuridad de esta obra.
October 3, 2019
Cupo, disturbante, angosciante. Imperdibile.
May 30, 2020
It reads like a cough syrup-induced dream. The art and the writing complement each other beautifully and for the first time ever I feel like Spawn was done justice.
March 16, 2014
I really wanted to rate this higher, I really did. I'm a big fan of Spawn i'm reading Spawn Origins and am up to Vol 8 of the hardcover edition, and i'm loving it. Few hits and misses, but that's for those books not these.
At first the story was amazing, the art extraordinary, as a whole it was fantastic. But then, as it went on past the halfway mark, I began to notice something. The writing was beginning to get lazy. Not fully, just here and there. Where one sentence structures were suppose to carry the images of that page. They were, shallow. Followed by fantastic words, then shallow again. It was inconsistent. normally this wouldn't bug me down to a three stars because there is still the beautiful art to be taken into account. However, that too was beginning to be lazy. As though they were tired of drawing these fantastic shapes that went from panel to panel. Towards the end of the book it went from one great image to several slight doodles, to some more great images to even more doodle looking panels. had we been introduced to that in the earlier chapters maybe it wouldn't bug me so much but they didn't. they set it up to a beautiful and original look on Spawn and then grew lazy with their own concept.
I loved it, and that's because I do enjoy Spawn completely. There were just far too many misses for me to forgive.
If you're a big fan of Spawn you'll love it, it makes for a good introduction as well. Introduces things from the original comics but doesn't linger all too long so you don't feel lost if you haven't reached those moments yet. Treats the reader well, takes you for an enjoyable ride. Just the consistency for the first half is nowhere to be found in the second half. At least that's how it was for me.
At first the story was amazing, the art extraordinary, as a whole it was fantastic. But then, as it went on past the halfway mark, I began to notice something. The writing was beginning to get lazy. Not fully, just here and there. Where one sentence structures were suppose to carry the images of that page. They were, shallow. Followed by fantastic words, then shallow again. It was inconsistent. normally this wouldn't bug me down to a three stars because there is still the beautiful art to be taken into account. However, that too was beginning to be lazy. As though they were tired of drawing these fantastic shapes that went from panel to panel. Towards the end of the book it went from one great image to several slight doodles, to some more great images to even more doodle looking panels. had we been introduced to that in the earlier chapters maybe it wouldn't bug me so much but they didn't. they set it up to a beautiful and original look on Spawn and then grew lazy with their own concept.
I loved it, and that's because I do enjoy Spawn completely. There were just far too many misses for me to forgive.
If you're a big fan of Spawn you'll love it, it makes for a good introduction as well. Introduces things from the original comics but doesn't linger all too long so you don't feel lost if you haven't reached those moments yet. Treats the reader well, takes you for an enjoyable ride. Just the consistency for the first half is nowhere to be found in the second half. At least that's how it was for me.
April 3, 2012
Hellspawn complete collection, gorgeous looking book with an awesome cover. Excellent quality and includes all 16 issues. Pretty good art and story. My complaint for this collection is that everywhere i search for details on this book it states the following:
"Hellspawn series along with additional art and behind-the-scenes content, as well as a never-before-published back-up story written and illustrated by artist, Ashley Wood. Collects Hellspawn #1-16. at 500 pages"
I don't know if i got a bad copy but shame on the marketing department for stating at 500 pages at a higher price when the book has a max of 400 pages consisting of issues #1-16 and 20 pages of additional artwork/sketches. There are no behind-the-scenes contents nor is there a backup story (never before published).
If anyone can let me know if your copy includes the backup story and has close to 500 pages, please let me know. I'm 100 pages short....
"Hellspawn series along with additional art and behind-the-scenes content, as well as a never-before-published back-up story written and illustrated by artist, Ashley Wood. Collects Hellspawn #1-16. at 500 pages"
I don't know if i got a bad copy but shame on the marketing department for stating at 500 pages at a higher price when the book has a max of 400 pages consisting of issues #1-16 and 20 pages of additional artwork/sketches. There are no behind-the-scenes contents nor is there a backup story (never before published).
If anyone can let me know if your copy includes the backup story and has close to 500 pages, please let me know. I'm 100 pages short....
November 21, 2010
Dark, murky, visceral and lavish artwork both push the boundaries and contain what this story does. Two rock-star writers, Brian Michael Bendis and Steve Niles matched with two brilliant, superb artists, Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith, make this a pretty enjoyable piece of super-hero horror! The art alone is pretty amazing!
October 20, 2013
visually stunning, but with badly written and boring story.
April 21, 2015
3.5 stars. The story is a tad lacking but the art has a hellish whimsy to it that makes this a must own for Spawn fans.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews