THE DEADLY DUO vol.2 #1

Release date : Jun 1. 1995 IMAGE COMICS
SPAWN:BLOODFEUD	OPERATION:KNIGHTSTRIKE

SUMMARY
SPAWN made a appearance. Story: Kill-Cat is excited by the sight of a light signal being lit in the air dedicated to him, finally feeling respected by the city of Detroit in the same way that Batman is in Gotham City. He notices the image change suddenly into that of a duck and feels insulted, running off to investigate. Kill-Cat is annoyed to learn that the light had merely been created by the Kid Avenger and a homeless person was doing hand shadows for their entertainment. The Kid Avenger has been trying out more new things in this time period and has gotten drunk for the first time. He throws up at the same time that Kill-Cat notices he had been watching an attractive young woman taking a bath. A man teleports into this woman’s bathroom and shoots her dead with an energy beam that blasts out into the alleyway. The Deadly Duo run into battle but the Kid Avenger needs to stop to throw up again, leaving Kill-Cat to be defeated by the killer who then teleports away. The police arrive on the scene too late but take the Deadly Duo with them back to their precinct to answer some questions. They identify the killer as being Adam Krascher who is stood in the building with several officers. It is pointed out that this man has been in the precinct for the past few hours and that the Deadly Duo must be mistaken. The heroes decide to take up the investigation themselves and explore a clue mentioned by the villain as he mentioned going to “Spawn Alley.” Fusion is the name of the killer and he has been an announced as a guest on The Jerry Rivers Show that is being recorded in New York City. The Deadly Duo fly out to the city and Kill-Cat poses as Spawn and becomes another guest on the talk show. He is unaware that Fusion is capable of becoming two separate entities and one of them attends the show whilst the other goes to carry out his next assignment; assassinating Spawn in his alleyway home. The Kid Avenger joins with his partner to battle Fusion and their fight takes them outside where Spawn is locked in combat with Fusion’s double. The two villains merge into a single entity which makes him more powerful. The Kid Avenger uses a fire extinguisher to power down Fusion before Kill-Cat delivers a knockout punch. The Deadly Duo talk with Spawn but let slip that Kill-Cat, whilst dressed as Spawn, told the nation that he worse women’s underwear. Spawn is enraged by this lie and punches Kill-Cat and shuts down any notion that he would like to join the Deadly Duo.

ニューヨークでThe Deadly Duo（Kill-cat and the Kid Avenger）の二人は自分自身を複製することができるスーパー・ヴィラン Fusionを追っていた。 Fusionの分身がテレビのトークショーに現れている一方で、彼の実体は偶然にもAl:Spawnと対峙していた。 The Deadly DuoはFusionの分身に翻弄されるが、Al:Spawnと協力し合い、Fusionの実体と対決する。

Fake SPAWN prepared by the TV station

Genuine SPAWN 本物のSPAWN

Alan Wiliamson Kill-Cat	Mark Osborn The Kid Avenger	Adam Krascher Fusion
Fusion Fake SPAWN	Al Simmons SPAWN

元は”The Savage Dragon”に登場したThe Deadly Duoが主役になった派生作品。SPAWNはその関連からこの作品に登場することとなった。

「SPAWNが登場している!」という情報は持っていたが、どのアメコミ・ショップにも売ってなかったもの。海外購入リストの第一候補になっていた。海外サイトでのたった数行のまとめを見て内容が分かった気になっていたが、The Deadly Duoが”The Savage Dragon”に登場していたキャラクターであり、それ故に日本で販売されるほどの人気がなかったのだということはやがて知ることとなった。とはいえこれを初めて手にした時はSpawnのコミックス・コレクターの仲間入りができたと感じたものです。ただの賑やかしではなくきちんとストーリーにSPAWNが関わっていて読んで楽しい一冊。Fusionが化けたSPAWNはBlack Spider-manかVenomみたい。一コマだけの登場のものではなくこういうものを収集したいですね。