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Gunslinger Spawn #1
Gunslinger Spawn #1
Introducing the launch of the second new monthly title spinning out of the SPAWN UNIVERSE, with one of the most popular characters in the entire SPAWN mythology! This book contains three separate GUNSLINGER stories, each taking a look at his journey through time—from the wild, wild west to the 21st century. Will his 200-year-old past come back to haunt him as he navigates the strange world of 2021? Get ready for the past and present to collide in this new ongoing title!
57 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2021
7 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Todd McFarlane
1,777Ìýbooks430ÌýfollowersTodd 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 6, 2022
Bloody hell this was very good stories
October 27, 2023
Obviously with these creators the comic looks amazing.
Lots of promise.
Lots of promise.
March 14, 2022
Gunslinger Spawn is just smoking and blistering with visual menace and mystique. I am so hoping the ongoing story is worthy. The only fair thing to do in that regard is to give the character and plot time to breathe and evolve. Fingers crossed.
February 21, 2022
Great art! Fun so far. I’ll read more of these.
March 2, 2022
This was a major, major surprise for me that came out of nowhere!
Quite simply, Spawn Universe and this are great new jumping on points for the Spawn comics, even if you've never really read any Spawn before now.
This story is like being dropped in the deep end of something but it is a complete blast and genuinely surprised with how engaging it can be in its better moments.
The main character (who I'm calling GS) is a time-lost Gunslinger Spawn (as the name simply describes, ala the toy lines of our youth) who is in our present. He in turn encounters a young man who of course gets a bit accidentally drawn into the ongoing conflict that GS is caught up in - a battle between angels, demons and any number of things in between.
Absolutely one of the things I did love about Spawn in it's heyday was that even though it drew heavily from Christian mythology and iconography, it didn't outright try and toe lines in any fashion and just lovingly tore it all to shreds. It took ideas and spun them and played with them and provoked but always in a way that was entertaining.
That trend continues in this book - GS has to face down in the first two issues with Angels (of a sort) and the way his powers work is revealed to be more than a tad different than the Spawn we've known all these years. Unlike Al Simmons' prehensile cape and seemingly (at times) limitless wells of power, GS is more like the Spawn of the first days, the one that could hurt AND be hurted, that had limited reserves of power and couldn't just let his emotion get the better of him and be an exploding cannon. This Spawn has a fresh new character AND hands down the winner is the way the writers have portrayed his time-lost brain contending with the present. I genuinely had some laughing out loud while reading the few of those and it felt real, it felt like what might actually happen - which is funny in a comic that's wall to wall supernatural, that the best beats are Spawns human confusion (without being outright goofy) and his new young friend/guide in his moments where he has to deal with what he is suddenly facing in this horror-scape.
No books set in or around Spawn have been on my pull list in the past decade at least. Back when Spawn was first created, I loved the comic, I loved the animated series and I even liked the movie.
But the book meandered a lot after a point, I fell a bit out of comics and when I got back in, it felt like a lot was going on and trying to dive back into the heavily loaded world of Al Simmons when it was literally heaven-and-hell war underway with all kinds of stuff happening that I had missed... it was like coming in at Season 7-8 of a show I stopped watching at the end of season 1. Crafting this new break-point where we get a sort of fresh start with new characters, new stakes and new rules we learn as we go is a good move by Todd McFarlane and team and honestly it seems to have come off better than most big company attempts at line-wide reboots - I'm sure it helps to be smaller but it shows it can be done well.
I have not read the rest and am planning on reading the post-Spawn Universe books, i.e, King Spawn, The Scorched and Spawn, but I will not expect them all to be winners. Overall I enjoyed the book a lot, Philip Tans art suited it well and gave it it's own look, plus his action sequences are not brilliant but solid enough. There's still a remarkable feel of the 90's Image Comics art to it but slightly evolved. Clearly Todd McFarlane is still capable of good stuff and I look forward to more of this book for now.
Quite simply, Spawn Universe and this are great new jumping on points for the Spawn comics, even if you've never really read any Spawn before now.
This story is like being dropped in the deep end of something but it is a complete blast and genuinely surprised with how engaging it can be in its better moments.
The main character (who I'm calling GS) is a time-lost Gunslinger Spawn (as the name simply describes, ala the toy lines of our youth) who is in our present. He in turn encounters a young man who of course gets a bit accidentally drawn into the ongoing conflict that GS is caught up in - a battle between angels, demons and any number of things in between.
Absolutely one of the things I did love about Spawn in it's heyday was that even though it drew heavily from Christian mythology and iconography, it didn't outright try and toe lines in any fashion and just lovingly tore it all to shreds. It took ideas and spun them and played with them and provoked but always in a way that was entertaining.
That trend continues in this book - GS has to face down in the first two issues with Angels (of a sort) and the way his powers work is revealed to be more than a tad different than the Spawn we've known all these years. Unlike Al Simmons' prehensile cape and seemingly (at times) limitless wells of power, GS is more like the Spawn of the first days, the one that could hurt AND be hurted, that had limited reserves of power and couldn't just let his emotion get the better of him and be an exploding cannon. This Spawn has a fresh new character AND hands down the winner is the way the writers have portrayed his time-lost brain contending with the present. I genuinely had some laughing out loud while reading the few of those and it felt real, it felt like what might actually happen - which is funny in a comic that's wall to wall supernatural, that the best beats are Spawns human confusion (without being outright goofy) and his new young friend/guide in his moments where he has to deal with what he is suddenly facing in this horror-scape.
No books set in or around Spawn have been on my pull list in the past decade at least. Back when Spawn was first created, I loved the comic, I loved the animated series and I even liked the movie.
But the book meandered a lot after a point, I fell a bit out of comics and when I got back in, it felt like a lot was going on and trying to dive back into the heavily loaded world of Al Simmons when it was literally heaven-and-hell war underway with all kinds of stuff happening that I had missed... it was like coming in at Season 7-8 of a show I stopped watching at the end of season 1. Crafting this new break-point where we get a sort of fresh start with new characters, new stakes and new rules we learn as we go is a good move by Todd McFarlane and team and honestly it seems to have come off better than most big company attempts at line-wide reboots - I'm sure it helps to be smaller but it shows it can be done well.
I have not read the rest and am planning on reading the post-Spawn Universe books, i.e, King Spawn, The Scorched and Spawn, but I will not expect them all to be winners. Overall I enjoyed the book a lot, Philip Tans art suited it well and gave it it's own look, plus his action sequences are not brilliant but solid enough. There's still a remarkable feel of the 90's Image Comics art to it but slightly evolved. Clearly Todd McFarlane is still capable of good stuff and I look forward to more of this book for now.
November 21, 2022
Really cool and fun read, loved spawn, this might be my first spawn comic I've only watched the original film back in the 90s and may have read stuff as a kid I don't remember but this was a cool starting point.
May 17, 2024
Never read spawn before, this was a free book from my LCS and I really enjoyed this. Kind of hard to understand some of it, but for the most part it was understandable for someone who never read any of the others and isn't familiar with it. The art was fantastic as well
November 10, 2021
Sooooo amazing!!
December 14, 2021
4.25 Stars. Really enjoyed this, all the new Spawn Universe stuff is pretty entertaining. I'm looking forward to the new Spawn team book, The Scorched coming out in January.
January 14, 2022
Great story and artwork
I recommend this to any spawn fan.
Artwork and story are both top notch.
Looking forward to reading the entire series.
I recommend this to any spawn fan.
Artwork and story are both top notch.
Looking forward to reading the entire series.
January 23, 2022
Pretty wicked looking Spawn, and a great story so far. It's been a while since I've read some Spawn and this title makes me wonder why I stopped.
February 21, 2022
A gunslinger Spawn is pretty damn cool. Stranded in mordern times, he has a lot to learn but yet still have to be on his guard. Heaven's forces seem to wanting him as per
March 3, 2022
This is a fun little story. The artwork is good and it has a cool style.
March 31, 2023
Really good read. Definitely going to read more from this series.
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