Gunslinger Spawn #1

Gunslinger Spawn #1

Image Comics 2021

Written by Todd McFarlane with Ales Kot

Illustrated by Brett Booth with Thomas Nachlik, Philip Tan & Kevin Keane

Inked by Adleso Corona with Daniel Henriques

Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse with Nikos Koutsis, Marcelo Iozzoli

Marcelo Maiolo & FCO Plascencia

Lettered by Tom Orzechowski

Introducing the launch of the second new monthly title spinning out of the SPAWN UNIVERSE, with one of the most popular characters in the entire SPAWN mythology! This book contains three separate GUNSLINGER stories, each taking a look at his journey through time—from the wild, wild west to the 21st century. Will his 200-year-old past come back to haunt him as he navigates the strange world of 2021? Get ready for the past and present to collide in this new ongoing title!

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t read a Spawn book in years but the idea of a Gunslinger appealed to me and since I do work with Image I thought It would be a great place to jump back into the franchise. I’m glad I did too because if they are all going to be like this issue with multiple stories set in different stages of his career then I’m here for the long haul, heck even if it’s not he’s still an intriguing character and there’s enough here to wet the appetite for getting to know him better.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is impeccably rendered. The character development through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a phenomenal job in establishing their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the stories the more I want to see.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this structured and how the layers within the story emerge, grow and evolve. The layers, the rival factions, Taylor and those events of the past all do wonders in adding such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. These avenues that we see also add some great excitement factors as well. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately achieved.

The interiors here are phenomenal. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the level & quality in the attention to detail is extraordinarily well rendered. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is remarkably demonstrated. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of colour. Now all segments are equally as brilliant to see and each have their own strengths but what I just said can apply to each of these vignettes.

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While this is the second series to come out and this is a spin-off and yet you can read this is a stand alone entry point to the series without feeling the need to pick up anything else. That is something I greatly appreciate because it just makes me feel like I'm not being influenced or forced to get something else to understand or appreciate what is happening within these pages. The writing is sensational and the characterisation is pretty amazing while these interiors do a fabulous job in bringing all this to life in some truly gorgeous ways.