Todd McFarlane's Spawn: The Animated Collection -Signature Edition

As a child, Spawn was one of the first superheroes I ever became interested in to the point I went out of my way yo buy and read the comics (even though I definitely should not have, seeing as this is NOT FOR KIDS!!!). Unfortunately, I got rid of most of them and it has been years since I caught up with the Spawn universe. Having read up online about what is going on with this forgotten but excellent franchise, and remaining confused as to what happened to Al Simmons in the recent comics, I decided to start from issue one(which goes for ridiculously cheap in local comic book stores), and got hooked. I picked up Spawn Origins Volume 1, the first volume of a superior reprint of the comic series in trade paperback form, and became even more hooked! With it, I decided to buy this, Spawn the Animated Collection, as I remembered it as being disturbing and wondered how the series "ended".So I then decided to read more of the Origins comics (plus issue 10), which are all shipping now, as my biggest gripe with this show is that HBO cancelled it right as things in the story were kicking on to full force. I would love to see a continuation of this, or for Todd McFarlane to FINALLY deliver on a Spawn movie/cartoon reboot (Don't bother seeing the PG-13 movie, it sucks.). But until then, we have the comics and this show, and good God, that is one hell of a body of work.This show, like the comic, follows the post mortem existence of Al Simmons, a former CIA assassin murdered by a former partner while on a mission. As he died, he was condemned to hell for all eternity; a concept that tore at Al solely because he would never see his beloved wife Wanda again. In his desperation to at least get to see her again, Al strikes a deal with Malebolgia, the ruler of the Eighth circle of Hell, so that he may return to earth in a new form if he will become a Hellspawn, a soul harvester for Hell. However, this deal as you imagine is not so clear cut, and Al painfully learns the consequences of his actions. In the twisted deal with Satan, Simmons, as Spawn, decides that he does not have to be Hell's puppet. This makes Spawn the target of the fury that the forces of Hell can bring, along with a Heaven who denounces his existence, and a cruel dark world full of animalistic thieves, murderers, rapists, etc.As simple of a plot as this seems, note I am omitting ALOT as to not spoil any major surprises. Generally, Spawn is a tale about how a man cursed by hell to be a catalyst for mass chaos instead uses his powers to fight the hell on earth rotten hearted evil humans bring in life. Hell responds by sending agents such as the Clown, a vile, creepy, disgusting overweight hobo clown with demonic power, to constantly ridicule Spawn's terrible situation, create problems by aiding his earthly enemies, and even by transforming into his demon form and trying to kill him on occasion. Hell also tortures his mind, mainly with the fact that life moved on without him after he died. Not only so, but Heaven goes to extreme measures to hunt him down, and the corrupt/criminal element on Earth which he causes more and more problems for becomes increasingly threatening to him or the people for whom he protects. Spawn, while being a creature from hell with extraordinarily strong powers, still has remnants of a heart, which still bounds him to his morals, even in his horrid situation.The most important thing I find that kills or makes a cartoon is how well it is animated. This is not essential for me always, as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, South Park, Beavis and Butthead, and even Samurai Jack were not the best drawn shows on television, but they worked because of their unique stylization and great story telling. However, for something like spawn or a Super Hero show in general, bad animation can kill it, especially if the comics are beautifully drawn. In the case of Spawn specifically, you will find that, while Todd McFarlane can go a bit overboard in exaggerating the expression of movement or size (especially in capes and with Spider Man's loose webbing before he did Spawn). This ruins it for some people, as there is no logical reason to do this, but for me it is the opposite: I love how his work is not subtle, but rather kicks you in the face with the style. It is also very well drawn too. The same rings true for this series in general, as you can definitely see McFarlane's influence in the animation efforts. Spawn has the huge cape, but in his case, there is a reason for it, as it moves with his suit as a symbiotic being attached to him. The objects in this show are so well drawn, and most noticeably, the scale of the show seems so realistic for a fictional cartoon. Characters come to life and action becomes intense when animation is this good. It is much better than Dragonball's animation (another show I like with not the best drawing), as it hardly had the evident scale issues or misdrawn portions DB had at times. The only thing some may take issue to is the heavy use of blacks and shadow in this show; to which I say it is Spawn, and if you ever read the book, you would get that it just helps create the brooding atmosphere of the comic.The voice acting is great on all ends, as you may recognize Spawn's voice as Keith David, the voice of Goliath from Disney's Gargoyle. THIS is how I always pictures Spawn sounding, though oddly enough, it was his voice during flashbacks as Al Simmons too, which I always thought maybe should have been different, but that is knit-picking. The voice cast also includes a great performance from Richard Drysart as Colgiostro, an old man with mysterious knowledge of Spawn's predicament, with John Rafter Lee as the devious Jason Wynn, Al's former CIA superior, Dominique Jennings playing a very believable Wanda Blake, Al's wife, and so many others. However, Micheal Nicolosi's performance as the menacing Clown is esspecially excellent, and similar to Keith David as Spawn, exactly how you would imagine this evil creature to sound like: extremely disturbed and disturbing, an agent of Hellish chaos, a murder and violence fetishist, a menace, and a putrid evil. It blows my mind how good it is. The music is great too, and at times of great suspense or mental horror, it adds to the emotions it intends to bring out of the viewer.However, there are few (and I mean few) negatives. For one, this story is not 100% accurate with the comic, and I will leave it at that. Some characters are newly introduced, and some events happen before they are supposed to, after, or not at all. However, this is a minor issue in my opinion, as it still remains the most true representation of the comic in video, and some of the changes, I feel, were improvements. With Todd McFarlane producing this series, and even giving an introduction to every episode in a Rod Serling-esque fashion, you know it is at least accurate enough, far beyond what the movie achieved. Also... once again... it just ends. No finale, no answers, it just ends on a cliffhanger. So, it you are troubled by that, just read the comics from issue one or don't bother with this show. Yet, if you can look past this small issue, you will find a crown jewel of Super Hero animation as good as Batman the Animated Series from the 90's was, but more adult with a unique depth and feeling to it's animation style and subject matter.Believe me, for ten dollars, even though it ends abruptly, this will be one of the best purchases you could make to add to your DVD collection. And while I originally wanted to give this a 4.5 because of the minor issues, it truly deserves 5 stars still for being a shining example of what dramatic and intense adult animation should be, even if it does get somewhat immature at times, shows nudity, and has some foul mouthed dialogue. It isn't the "bad words" or "naked ladies", or even the "kick ass" blood and gore" that makes this a good show, it is how damn well it is done with regards to what Spawn is supposed to be, a dark Superhero tale with elements of Psychological thrill thrown in.5/5; I recomend you get this today or watch it somehow as soon as possible! If you are like me, you will be hooked and disappointed when it ends. I also recommend the comic series if you want to see what was not included in the show's limited run.

Awesome adult cartoon!

Well after suffering the old collection of the show for years and I was never really able to sit through the whole thing due to the format on the old discs due to the combination of it not being broken up by episode and the horrible flipdisc format they used on the media, I really missed this show and heard about how great a treatment it got in the 10th Anniversary set, I thought the price was pretty agreeable and decided to pick it up. The picture is improved big time and the new proper 5.1 sound mix is really good too, it really brings out the creep factor that I think was always intended in the shows sound design it gave it a lot more of a mood then I was ever used to it having, but in a positive way. I watched this show as it aired on HBO and then watched the VHS recordings I'd made then moved on to the old DVD set and this 10th anniversary edition is quite definitive so far as the quality of the picture, sound and packaging is concerned. I still thought they skimped a little on special features, it could have stood to have commentary on every episode, there are only 18 and as it stands there are only four commentary tracks on each season premier episode and then the final episode. They did include a whole bonus disc that had some neat stuff and I think some other stuff just to have on the back of the packaging as a special feature.It's been a while since I can recall a DVD collection of episodic television that was this well rounded for optimum ease of viewing, you can watch by episode or choose to play all they also have the entire DVD broken down in a separate menu by sections in the story. Selecting an episode from the one-at-a-time menu prompts you to another menu that features a brief synopsis of the episode which is nice for tracking down a particular episode you wanted to see, I wish more DVD sets of TV shows had this included in them.The packaging and disc artwork are just beautiful everything I liked about the show and it's style that was based on the first 20 issues of the comic book. The only thing I didn't like about the packaging was the clips that hold the discs, they are a real pain to get the disc off of and then a couple of them snapped under the slightest pressure. I've never seen insets like this before and I have a lot of DVD's, I don't know why they didn't just go with a more standard form makes me worry that someday my discs will just be floating around the case unsecured.This is a very dark both in content and artistic style show that moves very slowly at whats often a really sludgy pace. For a cartoon about a comic book super hero there really isn't much action and after the first three or four episodes it really doesn't follow the comic books at all and instead segues off into it's own contained story line apart from the comics. I don't really consider this to be a bad thing in any way I just thought I'd mention it for anyone reading who hasn't seen the show. Each episode is directed in a gothic horror style, like a monster movie where the monster is never seen all the way. I think throughout the whole course of the show you never once get a good look at Spawn, he's always obscured in a shadow or by his cloak. It's an interesting way to go about it, it's also beautifully voice acted by all involved Keith David is incredible as Spawn and everyone else is really well realized as well.