Writer: Sean Lewis
Artist: Javi Fernandez
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: May 24, 2023
Price: $2.99
I’ve written about the current Spawn Universe comics before, so I wanted to give an update. There are four ongoing Spawn comics right now: Spawn, King Spawn, Gunslinger Spawn and The Scorched. The main Spawn title is up to issue #341, King Spawn is on issue #22, Gunslinger Spawn issue #20, and issue #18 of The Scorched is due out next week. I was buying all four titles but I’ve recently cut back to King Spawn and Gunslinger Spawn. Gunslinger is a lot of fun but King Spawn is my favourite.
I just dropped a video review of King Spawn #22 which released on May 24th 2023. Here is my written review of the comic.
Review
King Spawn #22 opens with an eye-opening single-page image of Spawn throwing a number of brains and a pack of dogs charging after them. What an opening! It sure got my attention. The brains are human brains that have been used in dark experiments by the evil Exodus Foundation. We still aren’t quite sure what the mysterious Exodus Foundation has been doing with these brains, but Spawn is on the warpath to find out.
Detective Sam Burke from Sam & Twitch fame has been kidnapped by members of the Exodus Foundation and Spawn has tracked them down. This is who he is throwing the grey matter at, leading the dogs to attack the Exodus kidnappers. In the carnage, Sam frees himself and thanks Spawn for his help. We see one of the Exodus employees sprinting away from the attacking dogs. Sam calmly picks up his gun and shoots the fleeing woman through her leg.
Spawn convinces her to show them where the Exodus Foundation is working on the brains and they enter a warehouse nearby. The woman, who we learn is known as Lady Madeleine, reveals a hidden stairway leading down to a very gruesome basement. Sam grimaces at the smell that assaults their senses and we see what appear to be body parts strewn around the room. Fortunately the large room is poorly lit, so the scene isn’t as horrific on the reader’s eyes as it would be.
Madeleine boasts about the number of brains the Exodus Foundation has procured so far and Spawn slams her into a workbench. She doesn’t get up. The final page shows a character we briefly met in a past issue of Spawn. She is hooked up to some kind of monitoring device in the basement and Spawn senses that she is the key to the whole Exodus Foundation mystery. To be continued.
Summary
Sean Lewis has brought back the horror to King Spawn and this issue doesn’t hold back. We learn more about the Exodus Foundation’s shocking plan and witness some gruesome scenes in a warehouse basement. Javi Fernandez’s art is as impressive as usual and really complements this dark and gritty story. The issue ends on a cliffhanger leaving the reader hungry for the next installment. Recommended.
SCORE: 7.5 out of 10
Wakizashi's Reviews 
Man, it’s been 2 years already? time flipping flies!
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I know right? I’ve been thinking the same thing! It’s true what they say about time seeming to speed up as you get older.
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whooosh!
On a post related note, it is nice to see someone enjoying some comics. My spiderman journey isn’t going so hot, Lashaan seems to be having some real problems with most of the batman comics and I haven’t seen anything by Paul Bowler for quite some time.
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It is nice to have some good new comics to read. But I am very selective in what I choose to buy, so maybe I’m stacking the odds in my favour? If I was reviewing everything that came out, I’m sure there would be a lot more negative reviews than positive ones. For me, Image and DC offer the most entertaining comics at the moment. It’s disappointing to admit that there is NOTHING coming out from Marvel that I would class as an essential read. Not at the moment anyway.
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Is Macfarlane still involved in/doing these? Or has he passed the torch?
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McFarlane is writing Gunslinger Spawn and it has been a fun series so far. It feels like he is really enjoying it. Brett Booth on art is killing it, too!
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What a great issue this was. Only read my comics yesterday as I’ve felt a bit unwell this week, but fine now. I really like Sam and Twitch, I think they sound get their own book in this Spawn’s Universe.
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I’d love to see a Sam & Twitch comic book. There used to be one back in 2000-2003. Brian Michael Bendis was writing it. I haven’t read it though.
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That’s right, yeah, I haven’t read that either. One to track down methinks. I’ve been watching the Spawn animated series for the first time, only ever seen bits of it before. It’s been on the Sci-Fi Channel here in the UK. It’s pretty good.
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Hey Wak,
when you asked me on my blog what I thought about WotC’s move with regards to the Lord of the Rings set, someone anonymous replied to me. It didn’t sound like you and I was wondering if you had any idea where the comment might have come from? It was so completely out of the blue and I’m curious.
If you have no idea, no worries.
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No idea, mate. The strange thing was that when I first read that reply it had your name but not your avatar, so I knew it wasn’t you. Maybe a staff member of WotC? Or an A.I. Bot programmed to seek out any mention of those new cards.
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Really?!? Hmmmm, I don’t like that at all. I shall have to investigate some more.
Wouldn’t surprise me if it was a bot by WotC. They are so woke they banned a card from ’95 because it had the name “gypsy” in the card title, sigh…
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They sold their corporate soul for ESG scores.
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Very few companies end up profiting out of that. I just wonder why they’re so blind to that fact…
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I’m guessing they receive some kind of “special funding” for doing it.
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Blast that Prz Biden and his damned veto….
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Figured it out. Somebody hadn’t signed in to wp but it still recorded their email address, so I know who it was.
Ain’t technology wonderful?
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Haha! Nice one. There’s no such thing as anonymity on the interwebz!
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Unless you go into incognito mode, and use a vpn, there are usually traces of the “you” you are publicly online.
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I can’t remember if you can comment on a WP post without giving your email address or signing in via Google. Do you know?
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It all depends on how the site you are commenting on is set up.
I have it setup so you don’t have to fill in anything to comment, even though that isn’t obvious. All the boxes are optional.
But because of cookies and tracking, if you’re signed into your gmail account, a wp site is going to auto-fill that I believe, which is how I saw that when I drilled down on the comment in my little info area.
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Ok thanks for the heads up!
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and just left 2 fake comments so you can investigate to see what info you can find…
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I feel a bit like we are playing spy games. This is my disguise while I check your comments.🥸
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This is how you learn the guts of the system you’re using. See something weird, investigate, learn how it works. I’ve been here since 16 and didn’t know about that anonymous comments could have their email captured. But now I do 😀
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