Comic Reviews by Walt

Endgame part 2

Writers: Todd McFarlane, Brian Holguin
Pencils: Whilce Portacio
Digital Inks: Todd McFarlane
Color: Jin Han
Lettering: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Todd McFarlane
Cover Artists: Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Greg Capullo
Publisher: Image Comics

The Violator, investigating the green beam last issue deals with what he found at its source, showing the truth to the name “Violator.” Meanwhile, the newly-awakened comatose man has a name, and begins to learn about his surroundings. As this is going on, others scurry into action now that this patient is awake…and the patient finds that he has a friend he was unaware of, as something shows up promising harm.

I have no idea who the character on the last page is. I have a slight suspicion, but will have to wait for the next issue. The visual style in this issue is quite good…I like it in context of the story, though it probably wouldn’t be as pleasing on a more “clean” or less “gritty” type of story–it wouldn’t work well with Superman, for example, in my mind.

The story is a bit take-it-or-leave-it…I think I’m more engaged for the simple fact of wondering if the major change wrought last issue will actually stick, and curious at the potential if it does, and what that would mean for the series.

Something about this whole “Endgame” thing feels like a soft reboot, and I’m rather curious at how quickly I might engage with the series as this is the first time I’ve ever bought two consecutive issues, let alone on the day of release.

The main weakness I see is that there’s very little given in-story/contextually to let someone know who someone is–“the patient”‘s name is Jim, but there are no captions for other character (only a couple for locations), and so there is the feeling of being a bit lost, wondering who is important and why or when.

If you’re looking for an entry point to Spawn, this issue coupled with the previous seems as good as any as a point to start–there’s definitely a feeling of a new beginning that would probably justify a new #1, even (making this a new #2).

Story: 7/10
Art: 8.5/10
Whole: 7.5/10

Filed under: Comic Reviews 2008, Image, Spawn | Tagged: Brian Holguin, Comic Reviews 2008, Endgame, Greg Capullo, Image Comics, Jin Han, Spawn, Spawn: Endgame, Todd McFarlane, Tom Orzechowski, Whilce Portacio |