SPAWN #184

下段のクロスオーバー作品等を参照しても本編に戻れるようにしてあります。月内に刊行されたサブタイトルは順番にリンクしています。

SUMMARY :
The end of an era. When Al Simmons was murdered, he made a deal with the demon Malebolgia and became a Hellspawn so that he could return from the grave. Now he faces death once again and this time there is nothing that can save him from the jaws of Hell.

IMAGE COMICS.com
McFarlane.com

Previously in Spawn:
Al Simmons was a hit man for the US government until until his C.O. Jason Wyn, betrayed him and a mysterious assassin ended Al’s life. At the moment of death, Al was offered a deal by the demon Malebolgia and returned to Earth as Spawn, a creature with supernatural powers born in Hell.

As Armageddon consumed the world, Spawn turned against his masters, destroying all life on Earth. While God and Satan continue their endless conflict in a parallel universe, Spawn has re-created the world and resurrected the human race in what has become known as the White Light. The portals to Heaven and Hell are closed, leaving humanity free from the influence of angels and demons. Or so he believes…

After a reunion with his brother, Richard, Al’s long-buried memories have re-surfaced. It seems that the mysterious Mammon has been manipulating the Simmons bloodline for generations. As Mammon draws the threads of his plot together, Spawn is attacked by a Vrykolakas, ancient precursor of the vampire. It bites infects him and Al falls into a fever dream, where he battles against the will of his increasingly powerful symbiotic costume. When the costume tries to force him to kill his beloved Wanda, Al is literally torn apart as he rejects the costume.

On the island of Limbo, somewhere between Earth and the Afterlife, Al and Wanda are re-united with Al’s companion, the Wiccan, Nyx and Cyan, who have been led here by a vision. At last , Mammon unveils the plan he has been hatching. For centuries he was the herald of Hell on Earth, searching out candidates to become Hellspawn. But all the while he was planning to breed the ultimate Hellspawn, who would rule the Earth at his side. It was he who brought the bloodlines of Al Simmons and Wanda Blake together to create an unholy child – the child that Al and Wanda believed had been miscarried before birth.

That child did not die. She was raised Mammon and Vrkolakas. Her name is Morana and now, on her eighteen birthday, she has taken her birthright, bonding with the costume and acquiring the power of Spawn. This is a Spawn more ruthless than any we have seen and she bears no love for Al and Wanda. As she is about to kill them, Cyan has another vision of the far future, where she meets a wise old woman, who is chronicling the history of Spawn. She shows Cyan the only possible way to stop Morana. As she wakes from her vision, Cyan tells Al that he must summon the Legion, the souls of those who died at the same hour as Al Simmons.

As the Legion erupts from Al’s subconscious mind and prepares to do battle with Morana, Cyan tells Nyx that the old woman has warned her, that the Legion is doomed to fail.

Sharing	Name	Sharing	Name
Title	The End
Dedicated to	Rod Underhill	MANAGING EDITOR	Jennifer Cassidy, Tyler Jeffers
STORY	David Hine, Todd McFarlane	SPAWN EDITORS	Brian Haberlin, Todd McFarlane
BREAKDOWNS	Greg Capullo	EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SPAWN.COM	Tyler Jeffers
PENCILS	Brian Haberlin	MANAGER OF INT’L PUBLISHING FOR TMP	Suzy Thomas
INKS	Brian Haberlin	PUBLISHER FOR IMAGE COMICS	Eric Stephenson
COLOR	Andy Troy
LETTERING	Tom Orzechowski
PRODUCTION	Francis Takenaga Diana Sanson
COVER	Brian Haberlin, Geirrod Van Dyke
		SPAWN CREATED BY TODD McFARLANE

Cyan Blakeが出会った老女が綴っていたのは「Book of the dead」というもの。Hellspawnの歴史、特にAl Simmonsについての歴史が綴られているという。なお、老女が記載をしている際に最期に筆者として自分の名前を記しているが、ここに書かれた名前はCyan Blakeだった。

Morana see SPAWN #162.