Gunslinger Spawn #2

Gunslinger Spawn #2

Image Comics 2021

Written by Todd McFarlane

Pencilled by Brett Booth

Inked by Adelso Corona

Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse

Lettered by Tom Orzechowski

Vampires. Guns. And Blood!!!

But whose blood will be spilled first?!? Gunslinger stumbles across a vicious vampire cult’s plot to kill Al Simmons…who Gunslinger needs alive if he is ever to return back to 1859.

I don’t know too much about the Gunslinger and I actually prefer it this way. I want to learn alongside Taylor what there is to know. There is just something about that style of storytelling that keeps the mystery and intrigue factors coming at us. There are moments within the story that are beautifully done, I mean nothing beats the whole water closet discussion, that really help define where the story is going and it’s great to see this kind of attention to detail within the writing. Honestly I haven’t read any Spawn in at least a decade and here we are with a new Spawn character straight out of the past who is interesting, fresh, new and overall is unlike anything you’d expect him to be and I think that is what really excited me. I’m excited by the new, the unknown and exploring someone from a bygone age that’s thrown into the present and wants nothing more than to leave and go back home all the mishegas around be damned.

I am loving 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 are presented exceptionally well. The character development we see 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 magnificent job in continuing to flesh out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we want to see, know and learn.

I’m really rather impressed with the way that this is being structured and how we see the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I’m also liking the way that the layers are opening up new avenues to be explored. The Angels, Taylor’s father and so much more happen within these pages and they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

I’m in love with the interiors here. Brett’s style is on full display and his phenomenal linework with its varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of work in the attention to detail is extraordinary. Also I think there’s something different about the work. It feels like it’s evolved into something even tighter than we’ve seen from him and it's really stupendous. You’d never know that a penciller and an inker were involved. It really has the complete look like one person did this all. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments and also work within the composition of the panels brings out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masterful eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a stellar eye for how colour works.

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I’m completely and utterly fascinated by what we see here. The story is amazingly well told and the characterisation is uncluttered and strong while these interiors are simply bloody amazing to see. This is the entire package of a world that should be familiar but isn’t it’s exciting new and different it captures that little kid inside you who thinks new comics day is the best day ever.