Mercenary Al Simmons (Keith David) returns to earth five years after his death having made a deal with one of the lords of Hell, Malebolgia (who never appears on screen). Under the conditions of his deal his mind is broken into fragments with missing memories and his form is rotten and burned beneath his garb as Malebolgia's Spawn. Now Al wanders skid row tormented by the knowledge his wife is now married to his best friend, and now finds himself at the center of power struggles of Heaven, Hell, the criminal, underworld, and his former superiors.
During the late 90s HBO experimented with original animated programming with three original series under their short lived HBO animation label. The experiment's results were mixed. Austin Powers: The Animated Series was cancelled before production could be completed on a single episode due to Mike Myers' prima donna behavior that disillusioned HBO with the project, and while Ralph Bakshi's Spicy City gain enough viewership to greenlight a second season, HBO's desire to replace Bakshi's writing staff lead to creative clashes that ultimately lead to the series' cancellation. Spawn was the most successful of the three, lasting a respectable three seasons and tapping into the cultural zeitgeist that made Spawn so prolific in the 90s. The series was certainly groundbreaking for the time and its influence can be felt in projects that followed despite the series being rather rough around the edges.
The first season of Spawn is the strongest as it follows Al's adjustment to a world that has passed him by and he no longer belongs to. As he lives in the abandoned areas of squalor with the cities homeless becoming their reluctant protector, we see him tempted by hell's emissary Clown/Violator who's basically an amalgam of everything wretched with humanity. He delights in tormenting Al with flashes of his death inter cut with scenes of his wife having sex with his best friend and and while Clown is certainly a source of macabre humor throughout the show, there's also a threatening element to him that makes him an effective antagonist especially throughout the first season.
The first season also ties into a season long arc involving child murderer Billy Kincaid who is being manipulated by Clown to drive Al to a point where he'll be forced to use his demonic powers and descend into a dark path. The scenes with Billy are effectively disturbing, and the show doesn't hold back from diving into the ugliness. But despite the show's willingness to plunge into the darkest depths of humanity, there are lights trying to fight back against the darkness. Sam and Twitch are easily my favorite of the supporting cast as they're two of the only honest cops in the city willing to take on the city's criminal element as well as the hellish minions who exert their control. Sam's brashness and muscle are well balanced out by Twitch's intellect and calm collectiveness making them an endearing set of side characters who keep the series from becoming overbearingly dark.
The show unfortunately becomes less focused in later seasons as it struggles to balance new elements with the ones established in the first season. New plot threads involving emissaries of Heaven, Al's former boss Jason Wynn working deals with Hell, and police corruption in Sam and Twitch's department are all vying for attention and Al doesn't evolve much beyond the first season until the end of the third season in what's establishment for a fourth season that never happened. The second and third season are still compelling and have individual moments of greatness to them, but unlike the first season there's no central plot thread tying them together like the Billy Kincaid plot that kept the show moving.
Spawn is a flawed series, but it does have a lot going for it. From its beautiful and stylishly dark animation that brings life to the dilapidated streets and hellish artwork, to the unapologetically intense material that isn't afraid to be dark and sleazy Spawn was a groundbreaking series especially in an era when animation for adults consisted of Simpsons and South Park. The series has trouble finding its footing and doesn't know how to effectively balance competing plot threads (especially after its first season) but it's a respectable attempt an animated adult series that tries to go against established formula.
