Spawn #172 - Image

I have to say, I really like the new direction that Spawn has been taking. I think David Hine has been doing a great job with the stories, and I really like the pencils of Brian Haberlin. I wasn't sure at first. But, the more issues he does, the more awesome I think he is. This one's purpose is mainly to fill us in on the back-story behind Al and his brothers. Brothers? Who knew? Here we are almost 200 issues in to this series, and we just find out that he had 2 brothers. Al was the middle child. Marc was the oldest, and Richie was the youngest. Come to find out, the devil . . or as he called himself back then, Mr. Malefick . . . has been involved in Al's life for a very long time. Actually since Al was like 6 or 7. He inserted himself in to the Simmons household, as a friend of their mothers, that would always show up, and stay over, when their father was out of town. From there, he gradually influenced their actions. He pushed Richie in to drugs. And he pushed Al into being the uncaring, unfeeling person that he became when he joined the service. And then he pushed Richie and Al in to killing a drug dealer, thereby sealing the deal with their souls. We haven't got the full extent of the story yet. I think there's going to be some more next issue. But the whole thing stems from the "hell-house" that the Ab & Zab made with the Sin-eaters. Spawn found a preacher in one room facing his sin, the death of a drug dealer. It turns out that it's his brother, and all these memories came flooding back in to him. We also find out this issue, that Al's mother and father have been trapped in their house. Actually Malefick cast a spell over them and they can never leave. She can walk out in to her yard, and see the outside world, but no one can see or hear her. Her picket fence marks the boundary of her world. Now . . . . totally off subject . . . did anyone catch the episode of Numbers last night on CBS? It was the one about the rare comic book. The creator of the comic book, to me, seemed like a take on Jack Kirby. And the antagonist in the story . . . a rich creator who sold his character to TV and the movies . . . came across, to me, to be modeled after . . . . well . . . . I'll let you draw the inference. But I, as well as I'm sure many fans, picked up on that parallel real fast. I could be wrong. But it was a really good episode. And I think it actually shed a good light on collectors. I don't feel that it diminished our hobby at all. Which is usually the case in these types of stories.