Hellspawn #1

Hellspawn #1

by Brian Michael Bendis, Ashley Wood (Illustrator)

THE Once the U.S. Government's best operative and most decorated soldier, Al Simmons was murdered by his own men and sent to Hell. There, he agreed to lead Hell's army in the upcoming Armageddon in exchange for the chance to be with his beloved wife, Wanda. The flawed agreement sent Simmons to Earth five years later to find his widow happily married to his best friend, with a child Al was unable to give her. Stripped of his life and identity, he is now known as Spawn and lives in the shadows of the New York City alleys where he struggles to understand his twisted circumstances. His mind seeks revenge, his heart has been betrayed, his body has powers he can't control and his alliances are beyond his understanding. THIS A shape-shifting being with his own agenda, who appears as a clown in order to mask his identity as the Violator -- a demon of Hell. He is meant to serve as a guide to the Earth-bound Hellspawn, but does he guide or misguide Spawn?

Genres: Comics

26 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2000

About the author

A 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.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea what I just read but I liked it!
Having no idea of the backstory to Spawn I was pretty confused as to who people were and why Hellspawn was on earth. His interaction with the Clown didn't really give me many clues but I liked the characters. As creepy as Clown was, I liked his idea of Karma, his revelations in the porn theatre were dark and disturbingly sad and I felt no sympathy for his victim.
The art was amazing, dark and disturbing and it completely fitted the story.
I'm hoping the next issue will clue me in a bit more to the world building and backstory.

[RachelvlehcaR · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a 3.5 star rating

I found the art really neat. Dark and twisted, a beauty to it. The story goes by really quick. Way too quickly.