Spawn #346 // Review
There they are looking goofy as hell: the Gunslinger, the armored guy named Medieval and a dark angel wielding some giant piece of scrap metal the he’d made in shop class. They’ve just made it through Heaven’s line in the wasteland. The Gunslinger spots something on the horizon.It isn’t a warrior from heaven. That much is for certain. There’s more of them. Before long they’re surrounded. They’re soldiers with flaming skulls for heads. This is only the beginning for Spawn #346. Writer Rory McConville continues a story with the aid of Todd McFarlane. It’s a story that’s been notably...long. Artist Carlo Barbieri commits the story to the page with the aid of colorist Jay David Ramos.
They were surrounded. The opposing army had been tracking them for quite some time. Might have been waiting for them to get tired from marching through the wasteland. A few of them made it out to report back to Spawn. No sign of Gunslinger of Medieval, though. Things don’t look good for Spawn and company. If they’re going to be able to make it through, they’re going to have to come up with a really, really good strategy. It isn’t going to be easy.
McConville’s script is okay. There’s some action. There’s a little bit of drama. Other than that, it’s a whole lot of people standing around looking grim. It works in its own way. There’s a lot going on on the dramatic political end of the issue, but it scarcely seems engaging as it’s all lost to the fog of a war that doesn’t hit the page in a particularly compelling way. The pacing that leads from one scene to the next seems satisfying enough, but it lacks the kind of impact that it might have if the war between heaven and hell didn’t seem so...dull.
Barbieri doesn’t seem to find a firm footing from which to frame the total collapse of some powerful heroes at the opening of the issue. The strange soldiers with the flaming heads really should have been more of a revelation if they were just going to casually slap around some of the more prominent characters in the Spawniverse. There ARE a few moments of physical impact from the action and while the drama isn’t always terribly interesting, Barbieri DOES lend it mood, resonance and weight with some pretty intense moments of reflection by the lead characters.
The 346th issue of the series feels...exhausted. Everyone is overcome by the relentlessness of it all. There is an overwhelming feeling of fatigue hanging heavily over nearly every panel in the issue. There certainly IS an interesting story in the current issue of Spawn, but it seems to be immersed in a heavy, heavy layer of plot machinery moving around in a massive ensemble of characters who aren’t really given enough time to really do much of anything to define themselves as individuals. It’s a big, amorphous mass of art waiting for the next big fight.
