Shadows of Spawn

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Recently released on American shores are three graphic novel compilations of the Spawn Manga which, known as Shadows of Spawn. This manga series takes several elements of the original comic, but puts a very different spin on the Spawn mythos.

[edit] Background

Al Simmons is not the star of the Spawn Manga, in fact, Simmons himself has yet to appear in it. The star of the series is a young man named Ken Kurosawa, a Japanese-American, who is a street thug who hires himself out for money in order to care for his younger sister, who was very sickly before the time of his death. He was known by the nickname double K. After promising his sister to be with her for her birthday, Ken is murdered by his latest clients after he ends his contract with them. Seven years later, Ken is brought back as a Hellspawn. (It is heavily implied that Ken returned to Earth at the exact same time as did Al Simmons, as many events in the manga seem to directly take off from events in the original comic book.) Like Al Simmons, Kurosawa initially has no memories of his previous life, and is confronted in short order (almost immediately after awakening on Earth as a Hellspawn, in fact) by the Clown. Clown briefly leaves the manga, replaced by a fairie-like creature calling herself Beelzebub. He returns as the Violator, however he is much smaller, as one of his arms is cut off from his body while the primary body is trapped for a time in Clown form, and becomes the entire body of a smaller version of himself, imbued with a reduced amount of his full power.

The new Spawn, living in California, holes up in an abandoned church. He discovers his sister has overcome her sickliness and is slowly becoming a major star in Hollywood as a teen actress. His greatest desire since his rebirth is to protect her. Ironically, she is now the target of many supernatural creatures because of that very desire.

[edit] The Story

The Manga also introduces three other Spawns who are also active, and who have been on Earth for some time. The first is actually a Spawn introduced in the McFarlane toyline, Zombie Spawn, who has been "alive" for about five hundred years, doing his best to resist Malebolgia and give as much grief as possible to the lord of the eighth circle of Hell. A female spawn from the 19th century is also introduced, as is a creature which may or may not be a wolf, resurrected and transformed into a 'werewolf' Spawn. Unlike Kurosawa and Simmons, these Spawns do not wear the now iconic armor which is associated with the character, though the female pirate spawn and the werewolf spawn both have markings on their face which are the same as those on the cowl of the Spawn mask. The Zombie Spawn does not wear any version of the markings or armor at all.

There are several references to the Al Simmons incarnation of the character, who is implied to be active simultaneously with Kurosawa. There are, however, no references to the 'Youngbloods' a group of heroes that Image comics produced, and which Simmons was mistakenly believed to be by at least three to six people in the beginnings of the American comic. Simmons himself, however, has not appeared in any way in the manga yet, although Malbolgia has been shown. A new angel is introduced in the Manga as well: Mikaela, who appeared to be designed in homage to Angela.

To date, only three volumes have been released thus far of the manga, and it is unknown how far along the series actually got. However, if Kurosawa, Mangler (the were-wolf Spawn), Cheveyo (the zombie Spawn), and Caleb (the female pirate Spawn) are still active in the Manga into the present day, it can be assumed that the Manga is not intended to have any direct relationship with the normal comic continuity. However, if the three of them should appear in the future in the American comic, then it is likely that they (and any future Hellspawn intended to appear in future volumes of the translated Manga) likely never returned to Earth again after being pulled back to Hell.

One other key difference between the original comic and the manga version of Spawn, was that the Hellspawns in the Manga are said to not die off completely and return to Hell, as was supposedly going to happen to Simmons at first, but rather they would be recharged and sent back to Earth, potentially losing more and more of themselves as each time happened, supposedly growing ever stronger, but also becoming just flat out evil, or else simply losing touch with that which made them originally wish to return to life to begin with. Cheveyo is the eldest active Spawn out of the four in the Manga, and Simmons himself, as he is five hundred years old. This is another key difference, because in the American book, A Spawn is only born once every four hundred years and they lose power eventually, but none of them are supposed to be able to live the full four hundred years between each birth, let alone a century past it. Since Kurosawa is brought back to Earth seven years after his death, he apparently is 'born' as a Spawn literally simultaneously with Al Simmons, as, again, events in the American comic book, at least partially, had an effect on a character in the manga (namely Clown/Violator), and thus the Spawn manga may be viewed to be an alternate universe that has unofficial, but still partially visible ties to the original material.