Review: The Scorched #2

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Publisher: Image Comics

Writers:  Sean Lewis, Todd McFarlane

Artists: Stephen Segovia, Bjorn Barends, Todd McFarlane

Letters: AndWorld Designs

Colors: Arif Prianto

Reviewed by: Carl Bryan

Summary

“War.  it’s the force that gives our lives meaning.” – Colonel Kruschev 
 

The Scorched #2 – The second ALL-NEW issue of TODD McFARLANE’s superhero team book! There’s a threat so big that no single hero can stop it, and the formation of this new supergroup is the only thing standing in its way. Members will include SPAWN, REDEEMER, GUNSLINGER, MEDIEVAL SPAWN, and SHE-SPAWN, with many more heroes waiting in the wings!

The Scorched have landed in Russia, and they are on the hunt! What horrific experiments have taken place behind the façade of an old military base? And what have those experiments created?

Casualties happen as we start to assemble the true Scorched “team”.

Positives

Sean Lewis along with Todd McFarlane scrub out a really intriguing script that compliments all that is going on in the Spawn and King Spawn books.  Albeit, the Gunslinger comic is shaping up to be the best of the new entries, his presence in this book rounds out a wonderful array of heroes/villains/anti-heroes that McFarlane’s imagination has provided through the years.

The best part of issue #2 is the manila folder graphics at the conclusion that provide a synopsis of each “hero” that includes Haunt, Cy-gor, and Overt-Kill among others.  

Haunt is arguably one of the characters I cannot get enough of as it started independent of the Spawn books, but a thread of Daniel Kilgore’s origin crossing with Al Simmons has provided McFarlane enough traction to get Haunt into the fray.  

One item in the writing of Lewis and McFarlane is that they are seamless in the books.  Those necroplasm-dipped bullets we hear about in Gunslinger Spawn were foreshadowed to this battle moment in this book.  If you are following all the books, that just makes it all that much richer as the timeline is not chopped up as we see with other companies!

It’s the little things Mr. McFarlane and we take notice.  

Finally, the homage to Venom in terms of Kruschev’s newfound identity after vaccinating himself from The Plague’s blood is awesome.  The only thing better would be to have McFarlane provide the pencils as his webbing and symbiote drawings are the best in the business!

Positives 2.0

Sean Lewis is juggling a lot and he is doing pretty well!  The art and lettering are solid in that the story does flow.  I do want sharper pens and depictions as the Spawn books are known for.  That symbiote needs to drip sharper!

Negatives

This issue provides a lot of battle and not much in terms of advancing the story.  The dialogue exchanges are a bit odd as everyone has to get in a word here and there for it to seem like a team book.  So both Lewis and McFarlane have to find that particular rhythm to know when particular characters are best at speaking and when they should be reserved.

Spawn seems to be turning into a “Batman” type character as he assembles his “Robins”.  All of these Spawns existed before him so what makes him “the one” to lead them.  I mean, Jessica (She-Spawn) is basically responsible for converting him into Spawn.  

Love the teamwork, but the dialogue needs to be a bit richer!

Verdict

The Scorched #2 –  McFarlane needs to allow Lewis to run a bit more.  I would love it if he would stick to the art on this book as that is where he prospers most in Spawn.  He simply cannot do it all, but we are all richer for what he has done and that is created an independent universe that was not Kryptonian inspired nor one that started with a radioactive spider!  

 

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