The Spawn of Spawn
An open letter to Todd McFarlane about the return of his Hero from Hell.
For all Hellspawns, a time comes when the stage is set. All sides have been chosen, the world and its rules ahve been defined, and the real war, in all its apocalyptic horror, is finally ready to begin.
Dear Todd:
First of all, please excuse my first-name familiarity, since we have never met - and it's likely we never will. Actually, I realize that you will probably never read this letter, since your contempt for writers is well-established. However, I have to take this "open letter" approach because I have to discuss the second season of Todd McFarlane's Spawn, your HBO series. Discussing that series means discussing you, or at least the face you put on in public. It also means discussing it with the people who read this letter, since animation fans are one of the reasons for your success.
You probably wouldn't think much of me, given my left-handed review of the original HBO series that was printed in TOON. I tried to be honest about my conflicted feelings about you and your work. (If you want to read the article, TOON editor Michael Swanagan will be glad to sell you a copy. Buy it; Michael needs the money, and you can take comfort that I won't see a penny of it.) I stated my disgust and dismay at the violence, gore and sadism of the work, but I pointed out that the production was well-done and effective. I wouldn't have watched the six taped episodes many times over the last year if I didn't think so. I said in my review, and I say again, that this production was a worthy, thorough piece of work.
I've just seen the June issue of Cinefantastique Magazine, with an article by Patrick Legare speaking about the next six episodes. Congratulations on getting this second series into production, as well as a third series to air in late 1998, and a fourth series being written. I also understand that the videotape of the six original shows is the highest-selling original HBO production ever put on tape.
But, Todd, I think you're making mistakes that even talent can't forgive. Much as you may dislike it, this despised writer has to point out some problems.
Where's the Apocalyptic War?
First, the article quotes you as saying that the supernatural element behind the six shows is greatly reduced, emphasizing the urban avenger elements of the story. "It's not about demons," you said, "it's not about superpowers. It's just about a man's internal struggle to figure out life in an obviously fantastic, Hollywood-ish kind of way."
Viewing from the cheap seats, the only kind I can afford, it sounds like you don't recognize Spawn's greatest strength as a character. That struggle is clearly pictured by Clown pulling for Hell, Angelica as Heaven's hellish avenger. It's the struggle you are talking about, made clear by the supernatural elements you want to get rid of.
But this didn't impress you in that article, as you identified the antagonists Spawn would face in the future. "The David Berkowitzs and the fucking Charlie Mansons - to me, those are the demonsŠJeffrey Dahmer, that's a demon. Spawn is basically out to eradicate the demons." But your character Cogliostro - who, although the series didn't explain it, is the previous Hellspawn - tells the late Mr. Simmons that he can't simply kill bad guys. Their souls only make Hell stronger and corrupts Spawn further. That supernatural, moral element lifted the show above a gorefest. Are you now turning your back on it?
Funny, too, that the ad on the back of the DC comic Jack Kirby's Fourth World shows your grim avenger - someone who could never be published in a kid's comic book - and the ad line, "The war between Heaven and Hell continues." Did you forget to tell HBO's publicity that you didn't care about Heaven and Hell any more?
Hatred of writers can go too far.
As reported in Cinefantastique, Alan McElroy, who wrote the scripts for the first series, left the show. You hired six writers to handle the second season episodes. Your quote in the magazine says, "I fired all six of those fucking writers. They just didn't get it. They didn't get the drama, and they didn't get the character. They just took a lot of convenient ways out of it that were presented in the first six, just kind of repeating formula. It drove me bats."
Every comic book fan knows by now that you don't like writers and consider them unnecessary in your comics. But you don't insult people you hired in public. It may not be emotionally satisfying to say the regular polite statements about "creative differences" and "best wishes for future work." But they aren't lies, and they aren't "bullshit", as you would probably call them. They are veils, gently softening details that are uncomfortable for other people to see - details which aren't really an outsider's business anyway. What's more, that kind of outburst suggests you have trouble working with writers. You want your writers to write Spawn in a certain way? You have to tell them what you want. If they "didn't get" the drama or the character, maybe you didn't explain it to them clearly. If you can't, if you just get angry - especially angry in public - good writers won't work for you, and the money men may not trust you on future projects.
You'll have less nastiness? Can you afford it?
You have spoken about how you want to move Spawn from beyond being a "fad" to being something more substantial and solid in American culture. You have decided to reduce the violence and overt sexual content, and concentrate on the interpersonal relationships. As a person who abhors sadism - and the basis of all horror is sadism, no matter how sweetly Anne Rice might speak - I approve.
The sadism was one of the strongest elements in your first Spawn series. It's refined to a ruddy gloss. A bad guy pulls a weapon on somebody, verbally threatening them with cynical wit, enjoying the fear he creates. The victim pleads for his or her life, in a closeup on beading sweat or a staring eyeball. The killer smirks and pulls the trigger. Grotesque blood effects, severed limbs, burned flesh, cries of pain. Ms. Rice is probably envious.
I don't think I'm being cynical when I say that most of those "unrated" tapes of Spawn were bought by young adolescent males with empty eyes, for whom those horrid moments are the only element of human life in their pathetic existence. They are the beings whose ranks produced the guy you despise as "Jeffrey Fucking Dahmer." I think you know it, too, which may be why why you decided to cut back.
The article mentions that Spawn will be heavily involved with Cyan, the six-year-old daughter of his widow. He will also meet Granny Blake, his blind grandmother, who imagines Spawn to be an angel from Heaven. This sounds like an interesting, human and complex direction for Spawn's story. At least to me.
But I don't wield a switchblade, dress in gang colors or beat up homosexuals. I'm not the mass audience that bought your tapes. Will you stick to your guns when they wander away to the next recommendation of Gorezone Magazine? Or will you do a Jerry Springer and resume appealing to the worst in the human soul? A hint appeared when I rented the commercially-available, "unrated" tape of the episodes. At the end, in your live interview, you smirk that kids will watch the R-rated version despite the ratings, and you hope they think the violence and gore is "cool." That was the saddest thing you could have said.
Believe it or not, I wish you the best.
Despite my doubts and worries, I admire your work. You have taken television animation to a new horizon. And yet, you realize your achievement is limited. In the article you say, "The public eye is a place where fads are made and broken really fast, so the big minefield that I've got to go through is can I get Spawn past the initial field, which is usually fad."
But for Spawn to be more than a fad, you have to face what for you must be hard facts. You have to understand your character's appeal to all your different audiences - from Animation Nerds like me to death-loving thugs - and find a way to reconcile all their desires. You have to admit you need writers, and learn to work with them within the bounds of Hollywood politeness. And if you want to be true to your vision - a less violent, more emotionally solid Spawn - you may have to lose mass popularity and big royalty checks. You might have to lose the Spawn animated series to save the soul of your artistic vision.
"You've got to understand the world you're in," as Cogliostro told Spawn. I hope I've given you new understanding of your world. Todd, your real war, in all its apocalyptic horror, is waiting at your next production meeting.
Thomas E. Reed is a television engineer in Orlando, Florida. He observes that they took the episode introductions out of the commercially-sold Spawn compilation, in favor of a new interview with Todd MacFarlane at the end of the tape. It doesn't matter. Tom insists that MacFarlane still sounds like Rain Man. The column is over, it's definitely, definitely over. Contact him at tomreed@sundial.net.before it's time for Judge Wapner.
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