By Title: Spawn #282
Publisher: Image Comics
Writers: Todd McFarlane, Darragh Savage
Artists: Jason Shawn Alexander
Story Rating: 9
Art Rating: 8
Color Rating: 8
Overall Rating: 8.3
The Cyan retrieval arc has come to a close in the latest installment of Spawn. A clash of powerful beings takes place at the source of the death toll in the city of Tokyo, Japan. Al Simmons, Spawn, and the Pale Face Man battle outside the experimental factory responsible for the synthetic drug built on the souls of the innocent. In Spawn’s attempt to rescue Cyan a mortal will emerge more powerful than the likes the world has ever known.
Todd McFarlane and Darragh Savage finish this story arc in a dramatic fashion that pushes the scope of horror, tragedy, and power. Cyan trapped inside the abandoned factory escapes her captivity as the battle rages on outside. During her escape overwhelmed with the death of her friends, Yoko and her foster family, Cyan sinks to despair. In an act of impulse and anger she discovers the synthetic drug prone to giving deadly side effects to those exposed to the unstable substance.
Cyan takes the powerful drug and becomes a force of darkness more deadly than the legions of evil ever could harness. With her divine power she kills the Pale Face Man and saves her uncle from destruction. Afterward when the dust clears Cyan disappears into the night.
The comic offers suspense, action, and fast paced scenario built around emotional turmoil. The comic does its job in developing the pain of Cyan throughout the previous issues to reach a boiling point affecting the course of the conclusion.
The artwork within this comic keeps the notion of dark gritty ink and colors supported with sporadic pencil work. Dark ink increases the atmosphere to carry a dark tone with the hidden layer of unpredictability. Therefore, the images portrayed in this comic are only befitting as the events reflect the horrors suffered by Cyan.
Spawn’s cape red in color but flowing in motion creates the visual of life outside the human body. The limbs of the Pale Face Man bring out a reaction as his body twists and turns morphing in different postures, alluring yet terrifying.
The brightest colors within this issue come in the form of red, yellow, orange, green and purple. Red either displays the clothing to some colors or highlights the death of someone through their very blood. Other colors highlight the danger or energy a character can wield as the story moves forward.
After these several comics fall in succession everyone has shared the specific style to gain an emotional reaction through pain, death, or an uncomfortable nature. Jason Shawn Alexander has succeeded in providing content that may be too impossible to stomach for a less desensitized individual.
The conclusion has a high and low point for the story arc. Cyan goes through a personal transformation but everything is taken care of off scene. The audience should’ve been shown the last few days as Cyan tried to take hold of her increased power that rivaled even Spawn himself.
The high point came from Cyan when she eliminated the Pale Face Man and his organization in a single act of her great power. The lack of explanation behind the voices within her drags the conclusion back to a low point, which could’ve been a unique route to explore as she ran off into the world before returning to Al off scene.
What will the future hold for these two individuals of power? What will the dark avenger face in the never-ending war against evil? Find out as Image Comics continues the legacy of Al Simmons as Spawn takes his warpath to the streets and the depths of Hell.
