Spawn #9
- Date: March 1993
- Publisher: Image Comics
- Cover Price: $1.95
- 2013 Price Range: $1.00 - $7.00
- Stats: 24 color pages plus Jim Lee poster, Image info, letters page, fan art and house ads
- Writer: Neil Gaiman
- Artist: Todd McFarlane
- Colors: Steve Oliff, Reuben Rude and Olyoptics
- Notable Notes: 1st appearances of Angela, Cogliostro and Medieval Spawn!
Who Owns The Rights To Angela?
In case you didn't know, there have been some big fights over who owns the rights to the character Angela: Neil Gaiman or Todd McFarlane. (Answer: they both own half now.) Anyway, when I heard that Angela was going to be appearing in an upcoming Marvel comic it got me thinking about this issue - so I dug it out and had a read. It was actually quite good, and probably my favorite issue of Spawn!
Synopsis:
This issue begins in the middle ages, with a weeping woman on a dirt road. As a noble knight approaches (who is actually a young Hellspawn!) she explains that an ogre attacked her and has carried off her little sister. The Spawn / Knight agrees to help her so they trot off in search of the beast's cave. The dialogue is cleverly and suspiciously interweaved with text from a manual for how to defeat young Hellspawn - and if that isn't a hint as to what's going on then I don't know what is! Anyway, when they finally arrive at the cave the woman has quite a surprise for the knight as she turns into Angela the Spawn hunter and quickly gives him a sound thumping! Jump forward 800 years and we see a modern version of Angela as she hunts Mr. Simmons - the current Spawn. Spawn, however, is distracted while talking to an old homeless man called Cagliostro who seems to know quite a bit about him and his powers. It is during this conversation that Angela shows up and initiates a battle. It turns out that the former Mr. Simmons has a trick up his sleeve that Angela has never seen before! Woohoo!
My 2 Cents:
- I'll admit that I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan, and tend to like most of his stories, but I truly thought this story was great! I think it was much better than the ones written by McFarlane himself. Too bad Gaiman didn't write more issues of Spawn!
- The art is very typical early '90s McFarlane work. I think it is good - and if you are a fan of that then you'll probably love it.
- I found myself really enjoying the story and the characters in this one. I think Angela is a great antagonist for Spawn, and the dialogue in here was much better than usual. I think having guest writers was probably McFarlane's greatest idea!
How I Rate This Issue:
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(This is a revised version of a post which was originally published on comic-prospector.com on Mar 23rd, 2013.)
