Spawn’s Universe #1, a larger than usual sized comic book, brings together a raft of talent at Image.

Scripted by Todd McFarlane, Spawn’s Universe features several stories, with art by Jim Cheung, Brett Booth, Stephen Segovia, and Marcio Takara. Inks are credited to Adelso Corona and Todd McFarlane, with colours by FCO Plascencia, Andrew Dalhousie, and Peter Steigerwald. Lettering is credited to Tom Orzechowski and Andworld Design.

The book serves as a jump-off point for three new Spawn-related titles, including a Gunslinger Spawn and a new team book.

It’s the best of what readers love about Spawn: the sprawling graphics with epic poses and grandiose gestures. The pronouncements via the omnipresent narrator, telling us the inner workings of the scenes and describing their highest dramatic potential. The large drawings and double-page spreads covered with writhing figures, caught in mid-punch. The larger-than-life villains and heroes, shown as almost God-like, using weapons of mass awesomeness and devastating power.

Page after page of dramatic dialogue, captions aplenty, dramatic lighting, effective scenes of mayhem.

If you’re a Spawn fan, there’s lots here to love, all covered in brilliant light and shadow. The story beats are well calculated to stimulate your eyes and heart!

Image, Spawn’s Universe #1, $5.99 for 62 pages of content. Rated Teen

By Alan Spinney

After a career of graphic design, art direction and copywriting, I still have a passion for words and pictures. I love it when a comic book comes together; the story is tight, and the drawings lead me forward. Art with words... the toughest storytelling technique to get right. Was this comic book worth your money? Let's see!!