Re-Reviewed: Spawn was made before it could be done right

Launching a new comic book company is no easy task in any era but that’s exactly what Image Comics did in 1992, achieving great success with Spawn.

While Image Comics have had more than a few big hits and major characters over the years, Spawn was the company’s biggest breakout star. The story of a former soldier now in the service of Hell has captured fans imaginations since the character debuted.

Naturally, this success led to a live action feature film in 1997. While it was a historic film in some ways, the special effects did little to make up for a weak, uneven story. The irony is that a modern adaptation could do much better but has had problems getting out of the starting blocks.

Spawn claws his way out of Hell

Image Comics was founded by some of the most respected creators in comics of the last 40 years. Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino all wanted to start a company that served as a creator-owned alternative to Marvel or DC.

The seventh member of that group was Todd McFarlane. He had risen to fame with Marvel Comics, and was best known for his work on Spider-Man. At the point he helped found Image, McFarlane was a superstar artist and storyteller.

His contribution to their starting slate of comics was Spawn, which made its debut on comic stands in May 1992. Spawn was a character McFarlane originally created in high school, then fine-tuned for his Image debut.

While Spawn’s comic book popularity has waned since the 1990s, the comics continue to be published. McFarlane may have stopped inking the title with Issue #70, but it has become the longest running independent comic series of all time.

Spawn heads to the silver screen

Given the incredible popularity of the character, it was no surprise that a live-action film featuring Spawn made its way to movie theaters in 1997. Starring Michael Jai White, Spawn was one of the first major superhero films to have a African American lead actor.

Unfortunately, it didn’t make the Batman 1989-sized splash at the box office producers were hoping for. The best thing one could say about the movie was that it didn’t lose money at the box office, which isn’t really something that leads to sequels.

For the most part, critics hated it. Well, except for Roger Ebert who actually gave it 3.5 stars out of four. That was a bit of surprise when you consider that the vast majority of the reviewers reviled it. Fans weren’t exactly happy with the movie, either.

It was a festival of special effects with little substance to back it all up. The origin story of Spawn was relatively faithful to the comics but beyond that there was nothing there. The script lacked any kind of a soul, which is saying a lot about a story featuring the leader of Hell’s armies.

This movie wasn’t even in the territory of being so bad it’s good. It was just bad. And it hasn’t gotten better with age. Though it does have a few fans, Spawn hasn’t achieved cult classic status and has been largely lost to cinematic history.

There future of Spawn is… confusing

If there were sequels planned for the 1997 Spawn movie, they were quickly abandoned after it underperformed at the box office. But there was always hope for a new movie featuring the McFarlane-created character.

In 2015, McFarlane started talking about a rebooted Spawn film being in the works. After the success of R-Rated comic films in recent years, development on that film at Blumhouse was restarted in 2019. Jamie Foxx is still reputedly attached to star alongside Jeremy Renner.

It’s hard to say what the response to a new film would be. There will inevitably be fans who welcome the movie but it will be hard for it to connect with wider audiences – an issue the 1997 film faced. Just because other R-Rated comic book films have worked doesn’t mean Spawn will.

Deadpool was a success thanks to the comedy and heart built into it. Joker, on the other hand, was a deep drama that was nominated for multiple Academy Awards with Joaquin Phoenix winning for playing the titular character. Just being R-Rated isn’t enough to make an impact, anymore.

The problem with the Spawn movie wasn’t the amount of blood and violence. It was made in an era of comic book filmmaking that all too often lacked a desire to tell a good story. If the reboot does happen, hopefully this era of comic book filmmaking can give the story more respect.

Were you a fan of Spawn? Would you like to see a reboot featuring the character? Let us know in the comments below!