Spawn #175 Review

Full of action and a powerful twist, Spawn 175 is a treat to read.

Spawn has been really hit and miss since artist Philip Tan left the book after issue 164 and ventured on to do Spawn: Godslayer. I really liked the Armageddon storyline that led up to Tan's departure and wasn't prepared for the book's drop in grade after he left. The last ten issues haven't been bad, they've just been easy to ignore. It's tough to settle for the current quality of the book when you've had a taste of how excellent Hine's writing can be when he's on his game.



Spawn 174 was a return to top form for David Hine and a fun read. Issue 175 continues that trend, concluding the two-part Gunslinger Spawn arc. The gun-toting western-themed Spawn is going on a rampage and plans on killing an entire town unless a fugitive can stop him. It's an exciting and action-packed issue that concludes with a great twist tying the arc back to present-day Spawn.

The art in this issue by Bing Cansino and Geirrod Van Dyke is amazing. The two showcase a very thick-brushed painted feel with amazing flow and detail not often found in your average comic. The action looks great and there is quite a bit of beautifully rendered gore and explosions. I'm a huge fan of comic artists who excel at the painted style and these two have done an excellent job over the past two issues.

The two-part Gunslinger Spawn arc proved to be a great stand-alone Spawn storyline. It was able to deal with issues in the Spawn Universe but didn't require its readers to have any knowledge of the current Spawn status quo. Hopefully this arc opened the door to some new Spawn readers and that the quality of this arc is carried on in Spawn 176 and forward.

One Sentence Review: Great issue and a fitting conclusion to an excellent arc.

Spawn #176 hits comic shops in March and will feature the return of regular Spawn artist Brian Haberlin.

Cheers.

Subscribe in a reader