Series Overview
Spawn: The Animated Series was many things to me. It was the first
exposure to adult animation and one of the earliest exposures to the
character itself.
As I mentioned elsewhere on this site, the toy line was my first
interest in Spawn. The toys were also the biggest on the shelves and
they were always the most grotesque and violent things I�d ever seen
next to the other figures at my local Kmart. I never thought about
buying one of them; my mom was always adamant about not letting me have
anything overly violent (I guess that back fired�I made this site!). I
saw the Spawn / Batman comic from Image at Meijer one day while we were
out grocery shopping. My sister bought it for me as a birthday present a
year later, but, again, I wasn�t allowed to read it. Just the fact that
Spawn was thrown into a comic with my favorite super hero, Batman, was
enough to get me interested in the character.
I finally read the comic a year later. Spawn wasn�t like I thought he
was; he was a bit of a brash newbie, coming off more teenager than
adult. It was just the way the comic was written though. Batman shared
more of Spawn�s real qualities than Spawn did himself.
When I first saw the animated series, it was out of order. I�d seen
�Side B� of the first season before I ever saw Side A and I was
immediately confused; bit, at the same time I was intrigued. It was
Spawn after all, someone I�d waited to see in action for awhile. Here he
was: sitting on top of a cross as daylight came up, illuminating him.
His massive cloak creeping in the wind and Spawn moodily playing with a
ring on his finger�this was the first time I saw Spawn. First time I
heard him.
It wasn�t until a few years later that I actually saw the entire series,
start to finish, in proper order. Even then I had wanted to do a website
for Spawn, but it wasn�t feasible. I didn�t have the skills, time or
knowledge of how to even go about doing a solo site (I�d been working
with �The Flash� on The World�s Finest, but it was a joint effort all
the way). After doing an initial teaser image on The World�s Finest main
page that a Spawn website would be coming that summer, we pulled the
plug and the project was scrapped.
Earlier this year I finally purchased the Spawn �Ultimate Collection� on
DVD and watched it again for the first time in two years. I began
realizing how much I wanted to a website for it again. Now that I was
maintaining The World�s Finest by myself, I had the know-how to do it,
but I didn�t have the time. Finally I settled on a specific time when
I�d start working on Spawn. And now�well bam. Here it is.
Those of you who are actually still reading this are probably wondering
what the hell they just clicked on. This isn�t much of a series
summary�not yet anyway. This is just me blathering about how I came
about to love the character of Spawn, his world and the animated series
that it spawned (Pun? Definitely intended).
Todd McFarlane�s Spawn was the anti-cartoon. It was pen, paper and
colored drawings moving, so you could classify it as a cartoon, but it�s
really classified more as just �animation.� A cartoon is something that
children would watch on Saturday mornings in their pajamas. This was
quite obviously not a cartoon.
From the get go, Spawn is violent. To this day those opening minutes are
a perfect example of what the animated series would become. It took its
audience and hit them over the head with foul language, explicit
violence and a fair helping of nudity, all in the first episode. If you
didn�t know what you were expecting when you walked into Spawn, then you
understood by the end of the first half-hour. Like the misconception
that comic books are only for children, those that thought of animation
for children probably had their heads blown after this.
The animated series offered so much in its scant eighteen episodes, but
it really did entertain along the way. Each season had a different tone,
with the first being direct in violence but ending with a tear jerker
ending; season two had exciting chases and another heart warming ending
and the third season just flat out kicked ass.
Between the great characters and their interactions, great music and
great stories, this show never failed to please me. As both an animation
fan and a fan of Spawn, this series compliments both with great detail.
The closer the release of the next animated Spawn comes, the more
excited I get. The highest compliment I can give this series, its
writers, directors, editors and everyone else who worked on it is that
it left me wanting more.
It�s not to say the show didn�t have its flaws. Some of the early
animation and music didn�t swing well with me, but it really leveled out
over the seasons. Those were really my only qualms with it; I�m sure
others will find it too violent or too morbid in spots, but having read
so much about Spawn�s character, it just comes with his territory. The
character in itself is a bit morbid, after all.
If you haven�t seen the series, at the very least pick up the first
season; true it�s not the best, but you really can�t just jump into this
show. It�s not for the faint of heart, but once you settle inside you�ll
see that it has a lot going that makes it tick. I�ve seen the entire
series almost five times now and I still pick up things that I hadn�t
before. It�s a smartly written show that really gets more and more
profound as time goes on.
Obviously I want others to be exposed to this series; otherwise I
wouldn�t have invested so much time into this website. So take a look
around and if you like what you see, go pick up a DVD or two. In the end
I hope you can find some enjoyment in both the series and this website.
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