yaktheripper
Spawn was way ahead of it's time. I remember watching the original in the 90's on HBO and loving it. Here we are in 2014 and I'm rewatching it and just loving it...just loving it. Adult all the way, Spawn isn't for the kids. It's, of course, a Faustian tale and a superhero title but at it's core this is horror. The cartoon is very dark, chilling, and gritty. It's ultra-violent, suspenseful, animated beautifully, the voice-acting is precise and quietly subdued. It's as if all it's characters are speaking as shadows. Brilliant stuff here that outshines anything DC is doing currently and DC is the only one really doing anything worth a crud for American comic-book animation. Love Marvel but their animation is pathetic. If you're over 18 and want a good super-hero animation that lives and breathes in the dark...go buy Spawn. Mr. McFarland....please bring this back!
Criticman12
During the year when the live-action adaptation of, "Spawn", was released, HBO released an animated series based on the comic-book series that ran from 1997 to 1999. This is one of the greatest animated series ever made.The animation is excellent it make's the series look dark and edgy, the characters were great including Detectives Sam and Twitch, and the voice acting was good especially having Keith David provide the voice of the main character.Overall, if you didn't like the live-action movie or looking for a good show to watch, "Spawn: The Animated Series", is really worth watching.
dee.reid
I fondly remember that the 1997 animated series "Spawn" was one of the great forbidden fruits of my childhood 12 years ago. I was 12 in '97, not yet mature enough, according to my parents, to watch a fantasy/horror superhero show about a Hell-spawned demon looking to avenge his own murder at the hands of his former boss. The show was rife with dark subject matter that included Hell, demons and black magic, not to mention graphic violence and explicit sexuality/nudity.All of this might seem like poison to a 12-year-old boy's eyes, ears, and mind. But I couldn't help it. Sometimes I would sneak off into the basement, out of my parents' close supervision, to watch the glorious "Spawn" animated TV show that aired late at night on HBO, around the same time a bunch of soft-core porn shows were also being aired."Spawn" was adapted from the creator-owned Image Comics comic book created by Todd McFarlane. I remember that after Batman, Spider-Man (my favorite superhero) and the X-Men, Spawn was the next major superhero to have a significant impact on my childhood. Spawn, you could say, was the first mature-themed comic book superhero I ever encountered as a pre-teen. It allowed me to grow up pretty fast when I got the chance to watch the animated TV series. I was also pretty hyped to see the 1997 live-action movie in theaters, too, which was more like Spawn-lite - more of a watered-down introduction to the character for the masses, rather than being a straight-forward adaptation of the comics.The animated series is a lot more closer to McFarlane's original vision of the character. It's dark, violent, and more faithful to the comics from which he sprang to life from. The story follows the plight of Al Simmons, a former government assassin/mercenary who is betrayed and murdered by his former boss Jason Wynn. Simmons is sent to Hell, where he makes a deal with the demon Malebolgia to become leader of his demonic army to lead the conquest of Earth, and eventually, Heaven, leading to Armageddon, in exchange to be able to see wife Wanda one more time, who is now happily re-married to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald, and together they now have a young daughter named Cyan. Simmons is thus reborn as the demonic Hellspawn, a creature of almost limit-less supernatural abilities, which he uses to fight the legions of Hellish creatures and nearly every other manner of human scum on Earth including ruthless assassins, mob bosses, and serial killers; and he also forms sympathetic links with the homeless occupants of "Rat City," who he tentatively befriends and whom he also ends up protecting.He is also watched over on Earth by Malebolgia's lieutenant, The Clown, who of course has the ability to transform into the reptilian beast Violator. The forces of good are also in on the conspiracy, specifically the benevolent mentor Cogliostro, who teaches Spawn to use his powers for good instead of evil, and who also teaches him that it is possible to break free of his deal with Malebolgia. There's also some detective-noir in here as well, and light comic relief, in the form of detective pair Sam and Twitch.As I already stated earlier, "Spawn" is not for children; I know this from first-hand experience. In many ways, this is the definitive vision of the Spawn character. It's much more faithful to the tone of the comics; it's dark (there's very little light and when there is light, there is still a foreboding sense of darkness and dread), the music is appropriately grim and moody, and lastly, and most importantly, it also stresses the great dramatic possibilities of the character and the tug-of-war being played against him for possession of his soul. The 1997 movie was all right as an introduction, nothing more, since it had forsaken the darker elements of the story in favor of a larger commercial appeal.Spawn is unquestionably one of my favorite comic book superheroes of all time. The animated series is quite possibly the best animated series of all time based on a comic book superhero character. Spawn is truly a sympathetic character you can latch onto and not hate yourself for doing so: he's a Hell-spawned demon, a product of evil, who has been manipulated by circumstances into serving the forces of good (like other demonic superheroes such as Ghost Rider and Hellboy). It's this sort of great dramatic potential that I look for so much in comic book superheroes these days, ever since Spider-Man taught me that it is possible for comic book superheroes to truly grow up.10/10
TheEtherWalk
I love this show. It is so dark and so brilliant and so GOOD compared to the crap movie that i can't wait for the next season.Which season are they on? 6 I think. Let's recap. At the end of season 5, Jason Wynn has his face burned off by an enchanted mask, but escapes. Jade makes Spawn kill her so the bounty hunters will stop chasing them, and so she won't be sent to hell. The crooked police chief who shot Twitch is confronted in a subway by Twitch's partner, and afterwards he kills himself.There you have it; the genius that is Spawn.Things to watch for: -Terry becomes Lightbringer -Wynn returns -Tony Twist comes back?