The long-awaited crossover between Spawn and Batman has finally arrived!
After two decades, the Dark Knight and the Hellspawn reunite to take on a foe that aims to use the two heroes for their own nefarious purpose. Can Batman and Spawn work together to stop this threat? Or will they kill each other in the process?
Discounting the previous crossover, this crossover is a fresh start to the Hell Spawn and Caped Crusader’s encounter with one another. It’s safe to say this a far more realized crossover since Mcfarlane has taken over writing duties and surprisingly sticks the landing with some of the commonalities and concepts that are introduced in this book. Given that this focused on the current iteration of Spawn who has become king, I was left curious about Batman. Is this New 52? Is this post Rebirth? Are the events of Spawn/ Batman addressed? Or is this something else? It doesn’t matter because Batman is Batman, which gives the book an evergreen vibe that is perfect to pick up at any time.
Although this book definitely fits in line with the modern landscape of Spawn’s continuity, whether you care or not, the book reads well, or at least well enough as crossovers go. Despite some flaws, (such as timeframe, and some lingering plot threads) this is easily the best crossover of the Spawn/Batman crossovers by a mile. The characterization of Batman is much better than seen in the previous Mcfarlane crossover (which was written by Frank Miller), who is wise to fight and reason when need be. And the use of some rogues from a previous New 52 tale provides an interesting setup for potential stories down the line should there ever be any after this standalone book.
Greg Capullo does the art for this long-awaited book, and it is arguably the best work he has produced yet. One of the key factors to Capullo’s linework looking the best it’s been is due to Mcfarlane’s & Jonathan Glapion inks, Tom Napolitano’s letting, and Dave McCaig’s color work, which give a weight to his pencils and layouts that is full and powerful. Given that Capullo has had a tenure on both Spawn and Batman respectively, he’s able to give readers a culmination of strong layouts and action scenes which coupled with Mcfarlane’s exceptional writing for a long-awaited crossover, it’s worth buying for new comic book day.
Newsdesk