Review: King Spawn #3
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Todd McFarlane, Sean Lewis
Artists: Â Javier Fernandez
Letters:Â AndWorld Design
Colors:
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
King Spawn #3 – A historical NEW ongoing SPAWN series has begun! The launch of this book, nearly three decades in the making, further expands the SPAWN UNIVERSE with a growing presence of Hell, Heaven, and Heroes here on Earth.
New fan-favorite creative team LEWIS & FERNANDEZ continue their dark trek into a world beginning to come undone at the seams. Enemies have begun to unite as the battle for the gates of Hell continues to escalate.
And Kincaid is back, but what does he want, and what role does he need Spawn to play in his creation of a new world?
Spawn locates Kincaid and the two finally face off. But was that his plan the entire time? Meanwhile, Jessica and Medieval continue their globetrotting hunt for superpowered terrorists! Â
Positives
King Spawn #3 continues the storylines that were ignited in Spawn issue #300. Taking the reins of the primary writing is one Sean Lewis. Lewis’s style is deep in this comic. He pays homage to the foundation that was laid by Todd McFarlane, but he puts a darker twist in his writing.
Paired with Javier Fernandez’s pencils, the comic is pretty graphic and is what Spawn readers have been craving. Al Simmon’s team is out to stop any and all creatures from Heaven and Hell as Al closed the portals to both. That’s a lot of bad creatures stuck on Earth right now, and none are worse than an amped-up Billy Kincaid.
Lewis provides a heroic Spawn and one in which we as readers are going to recognize as a hot button for all of us given Kincaid’s appearance in this comic. Killing children is a hot button, and when kids are involved, it apparently brings out the vengeance that all of us would feel if we had Spawn’s powers.
If you have been a long-time Spawn fan, you know what he did way back in the early 1990s to one Billy Kincaid who would lure children in with ice cream. You can’t unsee that comic image of what Spawn did to Kincaid…Google it! The confrontation between Spawn and Kincaid in this book is epic and as we expect…the blood runs like a river through these frames. 
Positives 2.0
McFarlane is a genius.  He has taken us back in time to the root of all human evil in bringing Kincaid back to life. The artistic renditions in this book are meticulous and it floats seamlessly back and forth with the regular Spawn series. Â
I like that Medieval Spawn and She-Spawn have a playground for their side stories as well. The best compliment I can give McFarlane for this book as well as the other Spawn Universe publications is that he lets people play with his toys! Some artists may be a bit possessive, but it appears that the Todd-Father literally has assembled an array of artists and authors that are singing from the same page of the hymn book!
The attention to detail that McFarlane has set the bar for with Spawn is high and each book thus far has delivered on pencilings as well as script. While there are lulls in McFarlane’s writing – arguably holdovers from the fact he has been in this business a while – the authors taking the rains such as Sean Lewis in this publication are simply awesome! Â
Accolades for World Record-Setting
2021 is the year of Spawn. Spawn’s Universe #1 kicked things off.  King Spawn #3  continues to deliver! This will give McFarlane hope of reaching a new generation of readers that missed out on the initial launch of the Spawn back in 1992.
October has also brought us Gunslinger Spawn #1. Finally, there will be a new #1 team book, which will band five characters together to fight against forces too big for any of them to take on alone.
That book is titled The Scorched. Spawn, Redeemer, Gunslinger, Medieval Spawn and She-Spawn begin the group’s adventures, but McFarlane promises a rotating cast of heroes over the coming months to keep the roster of heroes fresh. 
More Positives
This team of artists is top-notch. If you like your comics with immaculate detail, check out every page of this comic book. The penciling alone must have taken months. It is so fine pointed! But that’s just McFarlane and his team…no shortcuts!
Verdict
This is the #3 issue you want on your shelf right now. The artwork alone is worth every penny, but the storylines are rich.  The return of Kincaid is simply horrifying. I thought that Scott Snyder created some villains, but Billy Kincaid was terrible in the 1990s….and this new horrific version is a billion times worse.  Just when you thought a symbiote could kill something…those last few frames! Wow!
