The Complete HellSpawn by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve Niles, and Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith
Title: The Complete HellSpawn.
Author: Brian Michael Bendis and Steve Niles.
Artist: Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith.
Genre: Fiction, graphic novel, horror, fantasy, crime.
Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Publication Date: 2000-2003.
Summary: Once the U.S. Government's best operative and most decorated soldier, Al Simmons was murdered by his own men and sent to Hell. There, he agreed to lead Hell's army in the upcoming Armageddon in exchange for the chance to be with his beloved wife, Wanda. The flawed agreement sent Simmons to Earth five years later to find his widow happily married to his best friend, with a child Al was unable to give her. Stripped of his life and identity, he is now known as Spawn and lives in the shadows of the New York City alleys, where he struggles to understand his twisted circumstances. His mind seeks revenge, his heart has been betrayed, his body has powers he can't control, and his alliances are beyond his understanding.
My rating: 8.5/10
♥ "Alright, ok. So, you're born. You're born a little baby boy or girl.. or clown. And you're born into this world and.. and all of your days, before you even know what the hell is going on, you see that you have these giant omniscient creatures hovering over you. Watching over you. Making sure that you're.. that you're ok.
Your parents. Your parents are watching over you. But you don't know who or what they are.. 'cuz you're a baby. But you know that these creatures.. these.. these giant creatures care about you and protect you from all the pain and the bad. Right? Oh! And you like it, right? It feels good. Someone's watching out for you. You're safe.
But then what happens? You grow up. You become.. what's the word? You become aware. You start putting two and two together. And the first two and two you put together is that your parents are just a couple of.. a couple of.. whatevers? Just people. They're just as scared and confused and lost in the world as you. No smarter. No better. They drink and smoke. They cheat and lie, or in my case: they pul rabbits out of their ass for a dollar. The thing is you grow up and you realize that these omniscient creatures that watched over you and protected you are, for lack of a better word - useless, right?
Oh, but there's no time to fret about it, because at that moment they sit you down and go: 'Don't worry about anything.. because God is here!' And you ask: 'God?' And they say: 'God is this humongous being in the sky who is sitting on a cloud and.. and watching over you and everything is going to be alright.' And you say: 'Whew, because for a second there I was really worried. Thank God, God's around. Because without God, I'd be totally screwed.'
So, you get it? It.. it.. it's like this mass hypnosis. It's a con. We.. we so badly need something to replace the omniscien creatures our parents were for us that was watching over us when we were babies. And we have it - God. It's God. Everyone's big ass imaginary friend."
~~Hellspawn: The Clown, Part II
♥ Reality is a funny thing. It comes and it goes. Like a fleeting memory that escapes your grasp. Even by definition reality is tenuous at best. "The state of being true. One that is real." How can this be reality? What is true to one, is not necessarily true to another. Especially in the cut-throat world of faith, gods and retribution. When the reality decides to bend, faith, hope and the truth are the first to go out the window. Take this for instance. A priest wakes up in the morning and finds a young girl has been admitted to the church hospital. Later that day, the priest receives a call about a symbol. Ten minutes before the call, the priest's palms start to bleed from what appear to be nail holes. Whose reality is this? And what reality is this?
~~Hellspawn: Call Her Hel