Spawn #288

Image Comics

Written by Todd McFarlane

Art by Jason Shawn Alexander

Letters by Tom Orzechowski

Colors by Lee Loughridge

Al has returned to prison after his late night escapades and everyone in the prison is nervous and on edge. The officers are wondering how he escaped and why he returned. The people in Washington are concerned about the media finding out what is going on at the prison. No one can find the prison boss who was keeping Al and the prisoners know that the panic has increased and are planning accordingly.

Marc is doing his best to get someone to the prison to cover what is going on, but that is easier said than done when Al decides to reveal himself and take action. The prison descends into chaos. Chaos with Spawn at the center and chaos that seems to be covering Al’s true plans. With all of the CO’s trying to wrangle the prisoners and the inmates rioting in the yard, Al finds someone with the answers that he needs, but he might be too late for another presumed dead prisoner has escaped and has found Spawn’s quarry first.

McFarlane does a great job in this issue of building the tension in every scene until Spawn is ready to be unleashed. It’s an exercise it narrative restraint to allow for the background action and side characters to drive so much of the narrative. It’s also a testament to the writing that the narration is so focused on the events happening. It keeps the reader focused as well and drives the flow of the story.

Alexander has some excellent art in this issue and there are some truly disturbing and creepy visuals in many of the panels. They do a great job of hitting home the violence and danger of the situation. When Spawn finally emerges, all of those panels are great to look at and they almost move with the pace of the story.

Spawn #288

8.5

Overall

8.5/10

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