Spawn/Batman by Frank Miller

“Another night creature glides through Manhattan’s concrete canyons, on a quest of his own. He is a dead man brought to wretched life—a slave of hell who seeks redemption.”

— Frank Miller, Spawn/Batman

       Call me insane, but I’m on a mission here. If there’s one comic book legend that I vow to know inside and out, it’s going to have to be Frank Miller. Although Frank Miller has created some the most iconic comic book stories in the industry, he has also made some of the most atrocious garbage that you could wish to never come across. After all, what else would you call The Dark Knight Strikes Again, if not cow manure? Author of The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, Frank Miller teams up with none other than Todd McFarlane to bring fans a publisher crossover story fancied by any fan: Spawn/Batman. Per usual, Frank Miller doesn’t spare this one-shot comic story the ludicrous plot ideas. In this adventure, Batman encounters a giant mechanical robot and is prompted to follow the clues back to New York City where he faces the mysterious and mystical, yet suspicious, Spawn. As the plot thickens, Batman and Spawn are forced to team-up in order to chase an antagonist that uses homeless individuals to create giant killer machines. Oh, and there’s also a nuke involved.

“If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s dead punk that won’t shut up.”

— Frank Miller, Spawn/Batman

       There’s nothing special about the story. It’s quite simple and very easy to follow. What you have to understand is that there’s two ways this 50 page comic will go. You’re either going to blindly giggle your way through Batman and Spawn’s run-in, and roll on the floor laughing at the final panel. Or, you’ll cringe that the overconfident narration and that complete and utter destruction of Batman and Spawn’s personas. Although it’s quite exciting to see two characters who are very unlikely to ever see each on the big screen or in any long and ongoing series, Spawn/Batman is a hell of a treat for readers. Illustrated by the creator of Spawn himself, Batman gets a dramatic change of heart and looks. However, it’s not a big surprise that they’ve brought some intense sharp characteristics to Batman. All to put him on the same level as Spawn and his razor-sharp and sublime costume. Sharp teeth, pointy shoulder blades, wild shadow-like cape. You name it. Not only does Batman get an interesting design on artwork front, Frank Miller doesn’t miss his chance to mess with the beloved Dark Knight’s personality. Punk. Slob. Stupid. We’ve got ourselves a natural high-school teenage bully who can’t help himself from name-calling. Personally, I couldn’t stop laughing. But I also hated Frank Miller for being on top of himself and making his wish come true; making Batman a bully like he was always meant to be. Ah-hum. I’ll never be able to believe such an analysis, even if it came from some 100 year old Harvard researcher.

“What do you say we just bury the hatchet?”

— Frank Miller, Spawn/Batman

          The best part of this one-shot story is the last panel. Unexpected, hilarious and so wrong. It quickly takes away the ability to take Spawn/Batman seriously. At first, I face-palmed. Then, I giggled. Only after a minute into it that I settled down and calmly placed the comic back on my shelf. The experience made me understand that I shouldn’t waste any effort in trying to understand why this was created or how a person could spare a moment of their lives in creating this. Spawn/Batman is an extremely short piece of comedy, and nothing more. The simple fact that I was able to acknowledge that gave me the strength to rate it as an acceptable story. If it wasn’t for pity, this..thing.. could’ve easily stooped down to The Dark Knight Strikes Again level. On a lighter tone, I’ll still give some credit to Todd McFarlane and his part in creating Spawn/Batman. The artwork was quite fascinating and wasn’t bad at all. I especially enjoyed the giant page-sized panels where he gave each of our characters a nice poster-worthy pose. Those definitely managed to capture those “they’re so cool” moments and showcase McFarlane’s talents. If anything, this comic book leaves a heavy anvil on my conscious. Imagine all the amazing thing a writer could come up with if they had the opportunity to play with Batman and Spawn in the same comic. Oh well. Maybe some other day.

          Have you heard that Todd McFarlane has finally finished a script for a new R-rated Spawn movie? Sounds like we’ve got ourselves a new anti-hero who will try to reach as much success as the newly released Deadpool. What’s your thoughts on a new Spawn movie? Have you seen the original movie, from way back in 1997?

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MY OVERALL RATING: ★★★☆☆/