Killadelphia Volume 6

Killadelphia #31-35

by Rodney Barnes, Jason Shawn Alexander (creator)

Enter SPAWN and SAVAGE DRAGON! 
The forces of Heaven and Hell clash on the battleground that is Philly and weaves into the tapestry of a larger universe when TODD McFARLANE and ERIK LARSEN’s greatest creations cross over into the pages of KILLADELPHIA!
Now SeeSaw must face his greatest threat, and all the power he’s gained and magic he’s learned will be put to the test as he faces off against comics’ greatest anti-hero—Spawn! Meanwhile, our heroes' ongoing fight for survival against Toussaint Louverture and his Haitian guardians becomes even more desperate as Savage Dragon becomes involved in this battle for the soul of Philadelphia! The sold-out, Eisner Award-nominated series continues! From RODNEY BARNES, the writer behind such hit shows as Marvel’s Runaways and HBO’s Winning Time, and JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER, the artist who redefined SPAWN.  Collects KILLADELPHIA #31-35 and also features the inclusion of a backup story featuring Hell’s baddest Johnny Gatlin.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Vampires, Horror, Comics

184 pages, Paperback

Published December 24, 2024

About the author

Rodney L Barnes has had the privilege to accomplish so much in a short time on Earth. At the age of forty-two and surviving a major traumatic brain injury, writing and publishing the book, My Miracle outlines and talks about experiences he had undergone that might contribute to the events in your life. From past to present, he had learned how to accept what life has to offer, not struggle with life. He was raised on the principles of ordinary life, take nothing for granted! Rodney now clearly understands those principles of living because of his development. Through events of his life, the accident, coma, and relearning life at twenty-one years of age, he has to give all these accomplishments to the Lord Jesus Christ. Rodney is praying for his book to get into the hands of people who need a source of comfort, strength, or knowledge to learn more how strong and powerful Jesus Christ is and can be. Visit him at Facebook.com/mymiraclethemovie and together, we all can help each other understand the meaning of life.

Reviews

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if this once amazing book has "jumped the shark"...but with Spawn...Savage Dragon...Blacula in stories..I fear the worst.

[Memphis Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised to see this volume getting bad reviews.

Yes, the founding fathers and their whole business are out of the picture. The Sangers and Ms. Hawes are kinda sitting it out too. However, Seesaw and Anansi take center stage and I found their stories extremely compelling and relateable.

Yes, some of it, especially at the start, is battle scenes with Spawn showing up for some reason. I didn’t love it, although I liked Anansi’s role in the battles.

But most of this book is a meditation on death, life, innocence, joy vs. despair, father-son relationships, faith, and the basic human condition in which we find ourselves. Honestly I read a lot of it with tears in my eyes.

I’d say hang in there through the initial battles and the guest star and the whole rest of it is more than worth it!

[Rick Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Killadelphia started with the intriguing premise of the vampiric former American presidents attempting to lead a vampire uprising in Philadelphia, and soon began to flesh out a diverse and intriguing array of characters and historical figures with its subsequent couple volumes. The story grew ever more ambitious, with writer Rodney Barnes focusing on some of the more insidious aspects of American history that has often been sugarcoated from a contemporary historical analysis. But recent volumes have led the story to really grow into rather bizarre proportions, almost as if there is a need to continually "one up" the previous arcs. Perhaps one could even consider the more recent issues of the series to have undergone a "Marvelization", where the stakes need to be continually elevated with increasingly less interesting villains.

That is pretty much the case here as we follow a truly unholy crossover of Killadelphia with Todd McFarlane's Spawn and Eric Larsen's Savage Dragon. Told from the perspective of the vampire protagonist SeeSaw who manages to bend universes to bring in some of Image Comics' all time greats to defend Philadelphia from the depths of Hell itself. The story is utterly nonsensical but one might divine some childlike nostalgic entertainment out of it, particularly for fans of classic '90s Image works. It probably helps that long time Spawn artist Jason Shawn Alexander is helming the art duties, and the book does look great. But unless you're cool with the strange deviation from the original premise, Killadelphia,Vol. 6 is an easy skip.

[Thom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where did the story go? Why are these random other monsters and properties being injected into the plotline? It feels like random scene after random scene and the plot is fully lost now.

[Xroldx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Killadelphia doesn't need Spawn or Savage Dragon to be a good book. This volume is a low in these series.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good graphic novel.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The jump the shark volume. Series implosion.

[Stuart Yellop · Rating 1 out of 5]

If the blurb is right, this is the last collected edition of 'Killadelphia'. Yet, with this volume, Rodney Barnes squanders his premise. The series began with a conspiracy: vampiric former presidents are trying to capture Philadelphia. Mr. Barnes used the plot to explore the state of race-relations in the United States.

By the end of Volume 5, Spawn appears. I remember saying to a friend, also a fan of the series, the introduction of a classic hero could go one of two ways. Either Mr. Barnes would use Spawn to tie two worlds together, or he would give the readers rehashed Image Comics action. Alas, he chose the latter.

Honestly, he could have saved his time and ended the series with the previous volume. Nothing of consequence happens herein. Spawn fights the god Anansi, then the legions of Hell. Savage Dragon arrives for no reason and has a chat with his dead father. Oh, and Blacula turns up. Without warning. To no effect.

'Killadelphia' was one of the greatest comic discoveries I've made. I love and admire the first three volumes and would recommend them to anyone. As the series continued, however, the returns were only diminishing. Fans should skip this and try something new. Their money ought to go to more deserving pockets.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[Phdrseuss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to read to pass the time away.