King Spawn #38 // Review

The head of the company just contracted someone to get rid of a certain problem. He’s saying the freelancer added-in to a package for just another 20,000 per day. The ink is still drying on that contract when the problem in question arrives at the man’s office. He’s got an offer for the gentleman: he can have his son back in exchange for half the company that he owns. It’s a strange proposition that’s going to become more complicated in King Spawn #38. Writer Todd McFarlane continues to carve his way into the background of Spawn in a fun issue that is brought to the page by artist Yıldıray Çınar.

The son is chained-up in the basement of a Mr. Simmons. Simmons isn’t going to have a great deal of patience for the main he has chained-up in his basement, but he’s got even less patience for the man who he’s essentially trying to extort money from. Simmons is taking a hell of a chance just by having the son locked-up un his basement. The fact that he’s going to ask one of the most powerful men in the city doesn’t look particularly good for him either.

McFarlane has a couple of fun ideas in the issue. Neither of them make Simmons seem particularly...likable. It’s not absolutely essential for Simmons to be an appealing character, but there really SHOULD be more to make him seem more like a nicer guy than most of the villains. There’s some excellent potential with man being held for ransom by someone looking to own half a company. There’s real dramatic potential in Simmons approaching the father of the man he has chained-up in his basement and demanding something ridiculous like half his company. McFarlane doesn’t really deliver on the beautiful strangeness of the potential wrapped-up in the premise, though.

Çınar has some beautiful panels in the course of the issue. There’s a lot that’s being explored in the run of the story that requires a kind of a nuanced sort of a dramatic potential be brought to the page in the visuals. Çınar creates a totally atmospheric world for Spawn that also feels more or les perfectly. It’s a very difficult and dark place that their work manages a whole lot of detaii. The complexity of the drama is written across the faces of every character. It’s delicate stuff.

There are allot of directions can go in for future issues. There’s a real sense of momentum towards something much bigger and it’s possible that King Spawn could suddenly start to get interesting in the course of the next six uissues or some from now. It’s going to be interesting to see if McFarlane is able to make some sort of a coherent statement about Simmons, Spawn and th nature of life in the presence of such powerful evil magical forces. McFarlane’s just might end up with something really interesting if McFarlane is able to continue to pul it together. 

Grade: B