Broken Frontier

The old gods learn about Spawn’s actions while away in some mysterious hell the Godslayer and his lady love have a tragic reunion.

The first issue of Spawn: Godslayer has something for everybody. With a tragic romance, a pitiable anti-hero, and plot threads set up to clearly intersect in the near future there is nothing missing from this book. It begins with the old gods meeting about the murder of one of their own then veers off into two separate stories. One story is of Bairn/Spawn and Neva dealing with the aftermath of Bairn’s actions from the Godslayer one-shot and the other is of a sad and lonely man forced to do the unthinkable as the god known as the Winter King moves towards his town.

Brian Holguin has created a world here anyone who is a fan of fantasy, Spawn, or mythology would like. Spawn’s mission—to rid the world of the "old gods," is an appealing one that sets up many moral conundrums for our hero, one of which is clearly discussed in this issue. The other story elements present here are also moving. The standard Spawn tale of a man making a deal with the devil only to end up tricked is here and, dare I say, is more severe than Al Simmons’ situation. Furthermore, the character, Urel of Harvost, a mortal who seemingly has nothing to do with Spawn, brings an interesting and poignant third point of view to the comic. All in all, Holguin is telling a story that is not only entertaining, but thick with meaning and message.

Phillip Tan’s art is the perfect fit for this story. Just as a reminder, I don’t use that word very often because it is seldom appropriate. Tan’s work here though, could not be better. It is dark and moody. At times it can be painful to look at—when illustrating hell this appropriate. The sadness, the worry, the fear, the anger is etched on every face as if these characters were photographed. And the splash pages are like small works of classical art detailing the hell of the life these people live, gods and mortals alike. The bold colors don’t hurt the descriptions either. Francis Takenaga is a master of blending to illustrate moods and scenes. The darkness of the story is captured in every shade of gray or blue hue or black shadow. Though it is an amazing story, the art is what makes it beautiful.

Spawn: Godslayer #1 is an amazingly presented tale of loss, fear, and suffering. It will not make you happy, but some of the greatest stories ever told are tragedies.