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Spawn: New Beginnings #1
Spawn: New Beginnings, Volume 1
A bold new chapter in SPAWN begins here! Jim Downing is the new Spawn, but he's also an internationally known faith healer and media darling. How long can these dual lives continue before the world finds out the truth? And watch out for the Clown and his alliance with Bludd, the vampire master -- they have plans of their own for Jim as well...
160 pages, Paperback
First published July 6, 2011
4 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Todd McFarlane
1,870 books444 followersTodd McFarlane is a Canadian comic book artist, writer, toy manufacturer/designer, and media entrepreneur who is best known as the creator of the epic occult fantasy series Spawn.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was one of America's most popular heroes in the 1990's and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.
In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio.
In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by Curt Schilling.
McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was one of America's most popular heroes in the 1990's and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.
In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio.
In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by Curt Schilling.
McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 24, 2020
I couldn't even finish this. It says it is a jumping on point, that's lie number 1. The 2nd issue is while the art is interesting it doesn't fit well here with the story. The writer here has a huge issue with exposition and over-relying on spelling out every single thing instead of letting the art play to the dialogue. Overall, this is a gigantic pile of shit if I'm being honest. Dull, lifeless, boring, and super silly.
November 23, 2016
Remember how Spawn actually started getting better? Yeah, forget about that.. it's going downhill in this volume.. fast.
Basically here, with the new Spawn everything is like reheated food. No. It's like eating food that someone ate and spat out. And now you're eating whatever someone spits.
Lots of repetitive shit back from when Al Simmons was Spawn. EVEN ARGUMENTS WITH FUCKING TWITCH. Twitch having Spawn at gunpoint and ALL OF THAT SHIT. Everything is EXACTLY the same. Besides the artwork which here I like it better, maybe that's why the 2nd star. I liked the whole dark thing but with a more serious tone to human's anatomy.
Oh well. It sucks but yeah... once again, I wouldn't recommend this, unless you're my enemy.
Basically here, with the new Spawn everything is like reheated food. No. It's like eating food that someone ate and spat out. And now you're eating whatever someone spits.
Lots of repetitive shit back from when Al Simmons was Spawn. EVEN ARGUMENTS WITH FUCKING TWITCH. Twitch having Spawn at gunpoint and ALL OF THAT SHIT. Everything is EXACTLY the same. Besides the artwork which here I like it better, maybe that's why the 2nd star. I liked the whole dark thing but with a more serious tone to human's anatomy.
Oh well. It sucks but yeah... once again, I wouldn't recommend this, unless you're my enemy.
November 7, 2023
You can tell McFarlane is back involved with Spawn again. The book moves at a snail's pace and is filled with exposition, now from broadcasters to make it look less like it is. I'm not sure why this is called "New Beginnings" when this new Spawn has been around for 15 issues.
I'm not a fan of Szymon Kudranski's art. He needs to take out stock in black markers the way he uses it. It's keeping me from telling characters apart. He seems to be using it as a crutch to hide details even though there seems to be a decent artist hidden behind all of the black.
I'm not a fan of Szymon Kudranski's art. He needs to take out stock in black markers the way he uses it. It's keeping me from telling characters apart. He seems to be using it as a crutch to hide details even though there seems to be a decent artist hidden behind all of the black.
January 23, 2020
It really did not pull me in. Although the name suggests this might be a good spot to jump in even for someone who never read Spawn, it was not true for me. All elements of the world seem merely to be hinted on but it felt too little if I have no idea what is going on. Some of the scenes and skills of Spawn were cool, but not enough to warrant a better score in my view. What I liked though quite a lot was the noir-style of the drawing.
December 25, 2021
As others have commented, there are some interesting art decisions here, but the story and the dialogues land with a THUD! so heavy, it is a chore to read some passages. I rarely say this for comics, but a more streamlined, action-oriented instead of exposition-heavy take would have been much better for this property.
July 5, 2019
Good art, new spawn, Jim downing, has ability to cure. Doesn’t know his past and clown and vamps are testing and scared of his power
April 9, 2014
You eventually exhaust yourself of foes or tasks for your character especially if they fight both the God and the Devil simultaneously and create a new Earth within the same arc. Spawn is a series that I originally thought was mature when I was younger and far more naive. I quickly realized that Spawn is simply a badly written book there is nothing new or innovative in it that we haven't seen elsewhere. Actually there is something-it's plot is so convoluted and complicated that you scarcely remember it was about a brutal CIA agent turned supernatural demon-creature that fights angels and demons. So perhaps a new character and direction might help it? WRONG!
Once again we are thrust into supernatural powers and symbiotes and to stack on top of all that BS now there are secret organizations that are either from the government, Vatican or vampires...wait what? Yes as you can see you'll be confused from the get-go. So new Spawn can heal people is that they new spin? He's more sociable and has a publicist and this no longer feels like an action comic book but a satire...of itself. I guess one can read it and have some laughs about the mind-boggling events going but it's just a chore to get through. The art is okay but Krudanski never really renders a great action sequence I can't even remember a single one.
Once again we are thrust into supernatural powers and symbiotes and to stack on top of all that BS now there are secret organizations that are either from the government, Vatican or vampires...wait what? Yes as you can see you'll be confused from the get-go. So new Spawn can heal people is that they new spin? He's more sociable and has a publicist and this no longer feels like an action comic book but a satire...of itself. I guess one can read it and have some laughs about the mind-boggling events going but it's just a chore to get through. The art is okay but Krudanski never really renders a great action sequence I can't even remember a single one.
January 23, 2013
"Great new direction for Spawn. Serious story and masterful noir-ish art, I like this series better than those where Simmons was Spawn. Count me to follow this team on volumes to come."
August 26, 2016
DNF'd. I just couldn't do it. This series is not for me. It was well written and everything, it just lacked the spark for me to invest my time.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews