Spawnography

Hey there Hellspawn! We're back with another two issues of the 2000s edgiest Spawn spinoff, Hellspawn. Chatrooms are buzzing about the existence of Spawn and George and Pierce will dive deeper into Brian Michael Bendis and Ashley Wood's darker interpratation of the world of Rat City. But how does this fit into the the grand anarrative of the war between Heaven and Hell? Why don't these angels looks like the ones we've seen before? And who is Mike Moran? Is he really Miracleman? (And who the hell is Miracleman anyway?

This week's recommendations are to identify something in your life that is holding you back and trim it out. A little less existentially, George and Pierce both have some t-shrit recs for you. Pierce recommends you check out screenprinter extraordinaire Zach Merrill's ACTION TEES. Zach makes really incredible comic book inspired pieces of art and hand screen prints limited runs of those designs. Follow him ASAP to stay informed about the next drop. George is a fan of Meth Syndicate for some weird kooky designs.

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

Summer of Hellspawn continues! And with it, another heavy trigger warning for discussions of selfharm and racism.

This week, Brian Michael Bendis and Ashley Wood get a little assist from the legend Bill Sienkiewicz as the creative team dives deeper into the depths of depravity. They finish up the fight against Clown and then investigate the insidious ways that evil persists in our every day lives through pundits with platforms who seek to divide everyday people. Is this just a darker take on the "Spawn Across America" arc? Not quite. Does it improve upon it? George and Pierce will get into it.

This week's recommendations are to drink some water, to read David Pepose and Davide Tinto's new Speed Racer book from Mad Cave Studios (issue number 1 drops on July 30!) and for anyone in New York or visiting New York to visit the wonderful comic shop/record store Vinyl Fantasy in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

The Summer of Hellspawn is here! For the next two months, we will be covering the entirety of Hellspawn by Brian Michael Bendis, Ashley Wood, Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith before returning to our regular Spawn coverage.

Before we go any further, we do was to issue a pretty heavy trigger warning for this book and a lighter trigger warning for our discussions of it. If you are affected by depictions and discussions of self-harm, sexual violence and violence against women, you may want to skip these episodes. Hellspawn is definitely more of an R-rated book compared to the main Spawn title's more PG-13 approach.

In this episode, George and Pierce will talk quite a bit about the career and ongoing legacy of Brian Michael Bendis, how Ashley Wood has become a fan favorite Spawn artist, what we mean when we talk about "vibes comics" and how Hellspawn represents a new direction for a character that maybe needed a bit of redefinition 10 years into his existence.

This week's recommendations are to listen to John Prine, to get outside and move your body and also to play Final Fantasy 9.

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

Overtkill's back and he's better than ever! For Spawnie this year, Overtkill's here!

(^Obviously, that should be sung to the tune of the Hess truck jingle)

But Overtkill is back and he's brought along a new writer for a couple of issues, horror aficionado, Steve Niles. You might be familiar with his work on 30 Days of Night, Batman and Kick-Ass but George and Pierce will dig into how well his work fits into the Spawn universe. We'll also take a brief look back at Curse of the Spawn #23 and #24 and how those issues fit into this era. Along the way, diversions include Jonathan Hickman's Imperial, daring to ask the question 'is Jesus Christ the Original Hellspawn?' and the first three Metallica albums. Plus, we got a letter!

This week's recommendations are A Night of Revelry by Havivah Saltz, a lesbian fairytale comic about a knight and a jester falling in love, West Hollywood Monster Squad by Sina Grace & Bradley Clayton, in which a group of high schoolers get more than they bargained for when the drag show they're attending is attacked by monsters. And also the lovely new record from London post-rock collective, Caroline called Caroline 2.

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

This week, we've got a trio of stories that aim to refocus the main Spawn title after the events of the #100 milestone. Who and what is Spawn after the death of Malebolgia? What does he stand for? What is his place in the world? Is his humanity just a distant memory? This definitely feels like a retread of similar stories - namely, the "Spawn Across America" arc some 70 issues ago - but with Holguin on board, the stories do have a bit of a different feel. As always, George and Pierce will get into it and along the way, they'll discuss Holguin's exploration of hopelessness in the world of Spawn, fetid fascinations with fascism in fiction and outside of it as well as where The Town Called Malice finds itself post-Urizen.

This week's recommendations are to check out the comics of Scott Bustillo and Rodney Rodis' Bustillo Publishing. Their books are rooted in the world of Tokusatsu. With a spotlight on Kaiju, alien heroes, and demi-gods, their stories blend mythology and science fiction into high-octane adventures. We would also love for you to check out Aquaman: Yo-Ho-Hold Onto Your Hook by Josh Trujillo with artists Niky Lelapi, Andrew Drilon, and Bradley Clayton. It launches in July on DC Universe Infinite. Lastly, we'd like to highlight Chris Gethard's Laughing Together, a new initiative from Wellness Together that aims to expand and innovate the mental health movement through increasing awareness, advocacy, and access via student-based workshops and professional development programs. You can find out more here.

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

Time to take a detour into a weird little artifact in Spawn publishing history, "Spawn: Simony." Originally published in French by the company that put out the main Spawn comics in France, it eventually got an English translation. Is this exactly where it fits in continuity? Uh, sure! Is this some underrated gem? Uh, probably not! But your humble Spawnographers will do their duty while also talking about the similarities to Robocop and the Fifth Element, reminiscing about DC Comics in the EB Games era and which X-Men are queer.

This week's recommendations are to carve out some time for your friends and check in on them amidst everything going on in the world and on a lighter note, Dynamite Entertainment's Captain Planet by enemy of the pod, David Pepose and Emmanuel Casallos. Get it at your local comic shop!

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

And we are back to our regularly scheduled Spawn programming! Thanks again to Todd McFarlane for joining us last episode!

This episode we say goodbye to Greg Capullo and hello to new series regular artist, Angel Medina. Spawn hangs out with Granny Blake to decompress after the recent events of the comic and we get acquainted with the beginnings of this new era of Spawn. We'll get into some personal religious traumas, tried to start a rap beef with Drake - you know, the usual.

This week, we have two recommendations. Number one is to listen to music that pumps you up and makes you feel something. For George lately, that's Author & Punisher and HEALTH. Number two is to make the thing you want to make the best way you can make it and/or collaborate with other human beings to make your ideas a reality. Make art. This is and always will be an anti-AI podcast.

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

We've covered 100 issues of Spawn and now we get to talk to the man himself, Todd McFarlane! We had a great conversation about Todd's approach to the book, how the book evolved over those first 100 issues, the secrets behind the Harry Houdini arc and a little bit of what Todd might have done differently.

Many thanks to Todd for joining us and his team for helping set up this opportunity. This week's recommendation is a simple one, read some Spawn!

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

We have made it to a milestone! Issue 100! This marks the culmination of the first era of Spawn and it is a doozy! Will Al confront Malebolgia? What's going on with Wanda and Terry? Can Spawn find redemption? All of this and more awaits and George and Pierce dig into the issue. Plus we talk about some of our favorite comics fights and how this milestone issue stacks up against the past ones.

This week's recommendations are to find something to care about enough that you actually take steps to do it as well as 2 documentaries - the 2004 Against Me! documentary "We're Never Going Home" (which is thankfully available on YouTube) and the 1999 documentary by Chris Smith called "American Movie."

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!

Who hired Ab and Zab to unleash Urizen? How can an army of angels be stopped from attacking Earth? How did Al recover from his seeming defeat at Urizen's hands? Should Angela be played on the big screen by the singer of Castle Rat? What's Cyan got to do with this and what's the deal with Wanda's pregnancy? George & Pierce will get into al this and more in the penultimate episode before number 100! Plus stay tuned for a fun little announcement at the end of the episode.

This week's recommendations are to go have an ice cream cone and to check out Seth Rogen's stellar new show The Studio.

Thanks to Freesound for being a great resource for our intro atmosphere and sound effects. Thanks to Blake Whitlow for the always useful Spawn Reading Order.

Thank YOU for listening!