Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
slade the sniper
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Re: Grail

Post by slade the sniper »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:50 pm Image

Hahahahahahaha- metal dick.
I never noticed this before....and now I can't unsee it.

As for the tiny bios for some of the older Image characters, these titles would help you out:
Wildstorm Universe ’97 #1, #2, #3
WildCATS Sourcebook #1 ’93 and #2 ‘94
Wildstorm Universe Sourcebook ‘95

-STS
Jabroniville
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Pilgrim

Post by Jabroniville »

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PILGRIM (Maritza S. Blackbird)
Created By:
Whilce Portacio
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.s #2 (Oct. 1992)
Role: Gun Girl, Soldier
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Venom (Symbiote-User)
'90s Ratio: 8/10 (paramilitary gun girl; symbiote powers; Combat Bikini)
Group Affiliations: Wetworks, Team 7
PL 7 (109)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+11)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Soldier) 4 (+5)
Insight 4 (+6)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 6 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Equipment 6 (Guns & Stuff), Improved Critical (Unarmed), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Team Mental Link"
Communication (Mental) 3 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Symbiote Carriers) [12]

"Invisibility" Concealment (Visuals) 2 [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Guns +8 (+4-6 Ranged Damage, DC 19-21)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +6, Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Being Extreme and Looking Cool)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 16 / Defenses: 8 (109)

-Pilgrim is the Token Chick of the first Wetworks team, and is of course the one prone to fanservice, showing off her shiny, metallic body in any number of sexy panels. To be fair, at least a couple of the other guys go shirtless, too, but Wetworks is not above the "Male Gaze", like most of Image at the time. The swimsuit issues actually seem to make her the NAKEDEST of the women at Image, as if the shiny skin made it "count less" (to be fair, other shiny nudists like the Silver Surfer are even nakeder, but they don't have quite the detail shown in the bum region).

-Pilgrim is said to have no formal weapons training, but it's believed that her father, an ex-CIA operative, taught her. She is descended from the Were Nation, and is believed to be the one who can save their species. This makes one of the only Native American superheroes previously without a link to animal powers or Shamanism... a werewolf.

-Pilgrim had the power to go invisible, which is of course INCREDIBLY broken in M&M and even more so in real life, but is only a 4-point power here. She's probably more keyed towards accuracy than the others, as the Token Chick, so I swapped All-Out Attack for Accurate Attack- it's pretty much a given that most women in early Image Comics were slender, sexy martial artists instead of super-strong ass-kickers.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Blackbird

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

BLACKBIRD (Nathan Blackbird)
Created By:
Whilce Portacio
First Appearance: Wetworks #18 (July 1996)
Role: Werewolf
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Any number of werewolf characters
'90s Ratio: 7/10 (werewolf)
Group Affiliations: Wetworks

-Blackbird is the werewolf brother of Pilgrim, and joined the team much later. He grew tired of Armand Waering's manipulation of the squad, and turned on him- the man revealed that he was the FATHER of the Blackbird siblings, but Blackbird didn't stop, and a cave-in crushed Armand, as well as Dozer & Claymore of Wetworks. This made Blackbird the new chief of their tribe, and so he left the team.

-Blackbird had Werewolf powers to some degree, making him a Wetworks guy WITHOUT a Symbiote. Unlike other Werewolves in the setting, he could act rationally while in wolf form. I'm not really sure about any of his power levels or capabilities.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Woodclaw
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ballistic! Buzzcut! Killjoy! Strykeforce! Wetworks!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Oh god!
Pilgrim was the grab bag of powers of the Wetworks. As mentioned before, her symbiote gave her invisibility powers, which turned out to be of transdimensional nature.
Shortly after discovering them, Pilgrim ran into a dimensional doppleganger that was on a misdion to kill every other version of herself in the multiverse, because this would give her the ability to jump between parallel worlds at will. Pilgrim apparently killed her double off panel, but this particular sub-plot never went anywhere.
Of course this was way before we discovered she was a latent werewolf.
"You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.”

WareHouse W (main build thread for M&M)
Ian Turner
Posts: 220
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ballistic! Buzzcut! Killjoy! Strykeforce! Wetworks!)

Post by Ian Turner »

Woodclaw wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:41 pm Pilgrim ran into a dimensional doppleganger that was on a mission to kill every other version of herself in the multiverse, because this would give her the ability to jump between parallel worlds at will.
Which... she was already doing, by hopping to other dimensions to kill other versions of herself?

Reminds me of that Azazel plot in X-Men. "I'm trapped in Hell! But if I teleport out and knock up a bunch of women, some of the spawn might have teleportation powers like me, and by using them, weaken the barriers that keep me trapped in Hell! Or... I could teleport out and not do any of that, and just *NOT GO BACK.*"

Ah. comics. Where else can someone invent world-changing technology worth *billions*, and use it to knock off banks... :)
Jabroniville
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Claymore

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

CLAYMORE (Clayton H. Maure)
Created By:
Whilce Portacio
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.s #2 (Oct. 1992)
Role: Gun Guy, Soldier, Power Mimic
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Venom (Symbiote-User)
'90s Ratio: 8/10 (paramilitary gun guy; symbiote powers)
Group Affiliations: Wetworks, Team 7
PL 7 (138), PL 8 (138) if Copying
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+11)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Soldier) 7 (+8)
Expertise (Artillery/Demolitions) 6 (+7)
Intimidation 5 (+7)
Perception 4 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Equipment 6 (Guns & Stuff), Improved Critical (Guns), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Team Mental Link"
Communication (Mental) 3 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Symbiote Carriers) [12]
Regeneration 2 [2]

"Nexus of the Symbiotes" Variable 5 (Flaws: Limited to Powers of Other Symbiotes) [30]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Guns +8 (+4-6 Ranged Damage, DC 19-21)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +6 (+8 if Copying Dozer), Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Being Extreme and Looking Cool)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 44 / Defenses: 8 (138)

-Clayton Maure (lol, really?) is the "Artillery/Demolitions" member of Wetworks, being a powerhouse who focused on rapid-fire weaponry. More of a follower than a leader, he left command for others and did what he was told. He's another Shirtless Bad-Ass, but wears a BANDANA to stand out. You had to be a badass if you wore a bandana in the 1990s, you see. Claymore is the "Nexus of all sybmiotes", and is able to access and combine all the team powers- this should make him FAR superior to the others, but I guess his lack of focus on leadership is a reason why not.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24690
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Jester

Post by Jabroniville »

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JESTER (Cord Dexter LeMoyne)
Created By:
Whilce Portacio
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.s #2 (Oct. 1992)
Role: Gun Guy, Soldier, The Crazy Guy
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Venom (Symbiote-User)
'90s Ratio: 8/10 (paramilitary gun guy; symbiote powers)
Group Affiliations: Wetworks, Team 7
PL 7 (157)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA -- AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+11)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Soldier) 4 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+7)
Perception 4 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+5)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Equipment 6 (Guns & Stuff), Improved Critical (Guns), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Team Mental Link"
Communication (Mental) 3 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Symbiote Carriers) [12]
Regeneration 2 [2]

"Clinically Dead"
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 6 [6]
Shapeshift 5 [40]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Guns +8 (+4-6 Ranged Damage, DC 19-21)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +6, Fortitude --, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Being Extreme and Looking Cool)
Responsibility (Reckless & Self-Destructive)- Jester is angry, argumentative and prone to taking insane risks, to the point where his Symbiote replaced his entire body.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 90 / Defenses: 7 (157)

-Jester is the "Team Lunatic"- a crazy, self-destructive, borderline-suicidal guy whose "time in the field is exceeded by time in the brig", so the bio says. He's an effective assassin (... like a sniper?), but his prison record and "disregard for the chain of command" mark him as a troublemaker. However, his Symbiote, reading his risk-taking as literally suicidal, assumed that Jester simply didn't need his body- and so the Symbiote replaced it. Now clinically "dead" (a Construct, I guess), Jester and the team realized that the Symbiotes were indeed permanently affecting them. This allowed him Body-Transformation abilities, turning his arms into guns, literally TURNING INTO A GUN so Pilgrim could shoot him (that's some Megatron shit right there, yo), and even turning into a Werewolf to fight the Were Nation on equal footing.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Mother One

Post by Jabroniville »

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MOTHER ONE (Rachel Rhodes)
Created By:
Whilce Portacio
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.s #2 (Oct. 1992)
Role: Gun Guy, Soldier, Captain Exposition
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Venom (Symbiote-User)
'90s Ratio: 8/10 (paramilitary gun girl; symbiote powers)
Group Affiliations: Wetworks, The S.H.O.C.s, Cyberdata
PL 7 (117)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+11)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Soldier) 7 (+9)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 4 (+7)
Stealth 3 (+7)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Equipment 6 (Guns & Stuff), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Team Mental Link"
Communication (Mental) 3 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Symbiote Carriers) [12]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Guns +8 (+4-6 Ranged Damage, DC 19-21)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +6, Fortitude +7, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Being Extreme and Looking Cool)
Responsibility (Inhuman)- Mother One is more cybernetic than the other Wetworks members, and has lost pieces of her memory, and even her soul at one point (leaving it in the Land of the Dead when she temporarily died). She has also been transformed into a vampire in a more recent story, and struggles with that aspect of herself.
Relationship (Grail)- The two were romantically inclined at one point- she was one of the only people who could touch his energy-form.
Responsibility (Armand Waering)- Mother One was recruited and memory-wiped by Waering at one point, turning her into a loyal agent in his war against Vampires and global genocide.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 12 / Defenses: 8 (117)

-Mother One is an odd character in Wetworks- she's an FBI negotiator and field tactician... who somehow ran afoul of Team 7's bosses before they did and gained a Symbiote before all of them, and thus became a kind of aloof, mysterious aide to the heroes. Her backstory includes being given cybernetics and serving Cyberdata in the 1970s. Working for the CIA, she strengthened American interests around the world, but was badly injured and opened a vial containing a symbiote, saving her life. She allied with Armand Waering, who also gave her cybernetics and wiped many of her memories, turning her into his agent "Against global genocide". And so she teamed up with Wetworks and lead them to Waering and helped him in his war against the Vampire Nation.

-Over the years, she hooked up with Grail, in part because her cybernetic limbs allowed her to touch him in his energy-state. However, after the book was cancelled, she died under mysterious circumstances and was brought back by more cybernetics- this left her somewhat "incomplete" for a time, as part of her soul was still trapped in the Land of the Dead, and the heroes had to go retrieve it, or she would die a final time. Finally, she was bitten by a vampire, turning her human parts into one of their kind- she went on a killing spree in the vampire caves, but was subdued by Wetworks- she's said to still struggle with vampirism.

-As far as I can tell, Mother One doesn't have any unique powers, but I guess she was the one to figure out the team could communicate telepathically with each other. Her CIA background gives her a few more interpersonal skills than the others, too.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ballistic! Buzzcut! Killjoy! Strykeforce! Wetworks!)

Post by Jabroniville »

And that’s finally it for Wetworks! There was a reason i was dreading that one. Lots of same-y builds and characters I didn’t know the first thing about, and weren’t made clear by bios.

Next up: Image’s biggest solo character by far until Invincible came out!
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Spawn

Post by Jabroniville »

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"Big in the '90s, Spawn Spawn Spawn!"
Created by a guy named McFarlane!
Had his own show on HBO!
Did the plot make sense? NO NO NO!"
-Robot Chicken sketch of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"


SPAWN (Al Simmons)
Created By:
Todd McFarlane
First Appearance: Spawn #1 (May 1992)
Role: Super-Edgelord, Hellspawn
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Venom (costume), Dr. Strange (cape), Ghost Rider (chains, hell-stuff)
'90s Ratio: 10/10 (hell-spawned, cape-wearing, brooding edgelord who constantly talks about his pain and self-pity)
Group Affiliations: None
PL 13 (223)
STRENGTH
13 STAMINA 13 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Soldier) 8 (+10)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 10 (+12)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 5 (+8)
Stealth 3 (+8)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 2 (+7)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Equipment 3 (Guns & Stuff), Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Move-By Attack, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Startle, Takedown 2, Ultimate Toughness Test

Powers:
"Hellspawn"
Immunity 11 (Aging, Life Support) [11]
Regeneration 10 (Feats: Regrows Limbs) [11]
Power-Lifting 2 (800 tons) [2]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]

Senses 4 (Emotion Awareness- Ranged 2, Radius) (Flaws: Limited to Negative Emotions) [2]
Senses 4 (Death Awareness- Ranged 2, Radius) [4]
"Shapeshifting Powers" Morph 1 (Monstrous Form) (Feats: Metamorph) [6]

Necroplasmic Blast 12 (24) -- [25]
  • AE: "Cape/Uniform Weapons" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Extended Range 4, Improved Critical 2) (Extras: Penetrating 6) (13)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Generated Weaponry +12 (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Necroplasmic Blast +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +13, Fortitude +13, Will +8

Complications:
Relationship (Wanda- Ex-Wife)- Wanda has since remarried to Al's old friend Terry.
Responsibility (Necroplasm)- If Spawn uses too much Necroplasm, he will return to Hell.
Enemy (Violator, Malebolgia)- Various enemies from Hell seek to force Spawn to be one of their elite soldiers against the forces of Heaven.
Enemy (Mammon)- When his other foes are dead, Al is beset by the demon Mammon, above them all.

Total: Abilities: 110 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 65 / Defenses: 12 (223)

Big in the '90s- Spawn, Spawn, Spawn!:
-The biggest solo star in Image Comics history, and a near-superstar in his own right, was Spawn- Todd McFarlane's contribution to Image. Spawn kind of got a "test-run" in Marvel when Todd wrote a Spider-Man issue featuring a scary-looking, brooding Morbius living in the sewers of New York City, being served by an army of deranged, mutated-looking hobos, and Todd took that idea right to Image. Spawn himself seems to be a combination of all the "Toyetic" things in McFarlane's six-shooter- he swiped Venom's costume and facial markings, threw on a big, flowing cape like Dr. Strange's, and gave him pointy gloves, a dessicated face, and made him from HELLLLLLLLL! It's the most edgelord-y, silly thing possible, but to '90s teens, this was mature, awesome, and kewl.

-Spawn, at least, was one of the few major black heroes of the time, and had a kick-ass origin story: He was Al Simmons, a CIA soldier who was murdered by his own bosses and sent to Hell for his misdeeds on Earth- desperate to see his wife just one more time, he sold his soul to Malebolgia, a Lord of Hell, in order to win back time on Earth. Returning as a literal Hellspawn, Al was horrified to learn that five years had passed- his beloved wife had remarried to an old friend of his, having a daughter named Cyan. Despondent, Al fled to the alleys of New York City, ruling over an army of deformed homeless people because that's just the darkest, most edgelord-y thing ever. There, he is is tormented by his Hellish guardian, a hideous clown who turns into the monstrous Violator- a constant "devil on the shoulder" source of dark comedy, and also physical threat. Spawn is also told that when he uses up all of his "Necroplasm" (which fuels his powers), he will return to Hell, and be expected to help lead their armies to storm the gates of Heaven.

-The comic was... dark. It was violent. Perversely hormorous at times (it tells a Christmas story, and on a panel mentioning Rudloph's red nose, features Spawn bloodying a guy's schnozz). Todd did his best to make every page as shaded in darkness as humanly possible. The villains were either putrid-looking deformed freaks or giant steroid monsters- Todd had started a toyline around the same time, and made everyone as "Toyetic" as possible. It was filled with dark, introspective narration, Spawn's miserable self-flagellation, and shots of him brutalizing the street criminals in NYC. It was kind of made for '90s males- insecure in their masculinity, they could revel in this miserable, mutated guy killing hapless gangsters and pedophiles or whatever.

Spawn Moves On:
-Spawn was actually a pretty big deal- the comic was a smash hit, though it experienced a sales slump around #25 and took a few years to recover. It was definitely Image's most popular title during its first 5-6 years. Todd's declared intention was to ensure that Spawn had the kind of name-value afforded heroes like Spider-Man and Batman- he said that he wanted it so "even your grandmother knows who Spawn is". Spawn got a movie almost immediately, back when that was VERY rare for superheroes- it was, however, not very good, and largely unmemorable aside from John Leguizamo being funny as the Clown/Violator. There was a LOT of CGI that is now exceptionally dated and terrible- a warning against over-relying on it. He got his own HBO TV series, which featured a lot of blood, edgelord use of the word "fuck", and enough nudity that I got in shit for watching it with my siblings when my mom came in and saw cartoon boobs, lol. The show was really a lot of nonsense, however, despite Keith David voicing the main character in his best "manly growl".

-In the comics, Spawn frequently fights Violator, kills crooks, and deals with the mentorship of Cogliostro. He is hunted by the "Warrior Angel" Angela, fights the cyborg mob-enforcer Overt-Kill, and deals with crime-boss Jason Wynn. There's a sense of Garth Ennis-style "Make the bad guys into perverse sickos, the kill them messily", as Spawn fights pedos, the KKK, and other lowlifes, but he also fights the forces of Heaven & Hell alike. His costume slowly evolved during fights with the Redeemer, giving him new powers. He ultimately revealed his identity to his old friend Terry. Finally, he and Angela invade Hell- she dies fighting Malebolgia, but Spawn takes his head in return. Todd, once the hottest artist in the industry, largely stepped away from the book to manage his creative empire, stepping in only rarely.

-So I've only read the early Spawn stuff, but I've heard from friends of friends that the "Spawn invades Hell and they learn what this is all about" stuff is actually pretty good- take that for what you will. Spawn is tempted by evil after fighting Heaven's agents for so long, but his willpower and interaction with the "Greenworld" (a more natural space between Heaven & Hell) softens him. The '90s excess still seems to be around, but as Spawn is the only book other than Savage Dragon still being published by Image, and still makes Todd money, there's obviously something there- a combination of marketing and giving the readers that are left what they want.

Later Spawn:
-With Malebolgia dead, Spawn learns that he has been given Hell's throne by the demon Mammon- initially refusing, he is convinced to take it by Cogliostro and decides to turn Hell into paradise. However, Cog reveals his true identity- he is the biblical Cain, the first denizen of Hell, who played the long game! He wanted to take over Hell, and wanted to use a Hellspawn to do it- he dethrones Al, but gives him his human form back as a parting gift. Al regains the suit but remains weaker due to his human form, and Mammon becomes the new big villain- he's a member of the Forgotten (an angelic order who took no sides between Heaven & Hell), and now the Forgotten hunt Al. He eventually gains a newer, more angelic suit after a thing in the Garden of Eden, then finds the Earth destroyed by the Four Horsemen, and battles both Satan AND God, destroying all of their armies- this stops Armageddon, but gets him killed by Satan & God, who then fight alone on Earth. Al returns to life with the power of one called "The Mother" and resurrects everyone with the knowledge of what happened, then closed the doors of Heaven, Hell and Earth- God & Satan were left trapped on their own little world.

-Al was given the option to return to human form again, but asked to remain a Hellspawn after learning that as a human, he'd beaten his wife- he figured he was always a monster, and deserved to be one. From there, the comic undergoes even more stories, as Mammon reappears, he allies with some girl named Nyx, and more. It turns out that his unborn daughter is meant to be the "Ultimate Hellspawn", and Mammon revives her and bonds her with the Spawn uniform- called Morana, she prepares to consume Al & Wanda's souls, but she is stopped by Cyan, who I guess can time travel now (I assume this makes more sense if you read all 300 issues and not just Wikipedia). Ultimately, Mammon & Morana are sealed away.

-Above all else, Spawn remains a fairly solid seller- it recent re-entered the Top 100 for the first time in ages, making it the longest-running independent comic book series of all time.

Spawn's Powers:
-Spawn is one of the most powerful Image characters, apparently not just being a low-level Scrapper-type character like I thought, but someone who can toss buildings around. Later issues added random things like "His costume is made up of thousands of souls", allowing him to access any number of skills or bits of knowledge). During his experience with the Greenworld he was given "Earth Control"-like powers, using them to bury one foe. When he ate a peice of fruit from the Tree of Life, he gained power godlike enough to banish an army of Hellspawn from the Earth, then destroy all the armies of Heaven & Hell at once.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:32 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Buzzcut! Killjoy! Strykeforce! Wetworks! Spawn!)

Post by Ares »

Spawn's strength there seems pretty nuts, and I have to imagine that isn't his normal strength levels. Spawn's powers were basically "magic with a fuel tank", where he could do anything he could imagine, but the bigger the effect he went for the more power it cost him. Of all of the Image characters, he's probably the one most worthy of just having a Variable power pool.

From what I'd read he was more of a Spider-Man type guy for the most part, but could use his powers to enhance his strength to the levels he needed, hence being able to throw a building at the giant dark god he fought once. So it's more like an Ultra-Boy style thing where he has to willfully channel his power into "epic strength". After all, Spawn once got into a fist fight with Overtkill and got his ass kicked to the point of near-death. So it clearly wasn't an "always on" thing.

Then again, the Spawn franchise went really off the rails and was always this convoluted mess of ideas. Which is a shame because Spawn had a lot of interesting ideas. The first storyarc actually had a neat bit where Malebolgia says that no matter what Spawn does, the devil wins.

A) Spawn doesn't use his powers to stop the evil around him, and thus does nothing to hinder Malebolgia's plans.
B) Spawn uses his powers to fight evil around him, thus sending evil souls to Hell and grow Malebolgia's army, and eventually use up his power and be sent back to Hell himself.
C) Spawn uses his powers, but eventually gives in to his own evil and becomes a full fledged agent of Malebolgia.

And early on, Spawn actually attempted to circumvent this by using his powers as little as possible, using mundane weapons, military weapons and tactics and figuring out how to use his suit. He still killed evil people, thus sending them to Hell. A clever person would have had Spawn realize that the only way to stop evil while denying Hell more troops is to use non-lethal methods and actually try to REFORM evil people, but that's too optimistic a message for an Image book.

The comparison to Preacher is pretty apt, as Todd creates a universe where Heaven is just as bad as Hell, God and the Devil are just two children fighting over their toys, though apparently a lot of this got retconned at some point. But it's mostly about ugly, evil people doing ugly, evil things and the least evil of the cast going around killing the really bad ones.

Spawn really could have been a solid book and a good foundation for the mystical/supernatural side of Image as a shared setting. Making it this kind of Harry Dresden Urban Fantasy with a Hell-bound soul learning the ropes, trying to figure out how best to fight the war he's involved in, it could have been great.

Instead, Spawn felt like a guy who deliberately avoided doing anything noteworthy for the longest time. Something interesting would happen while Spawn is brooding in an alley, he'd get up, contemplate getting involved, then go right back to brooding and occasionally killing the odd gangster.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Davies
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Re: Spawn

Post by Davies »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 6:07 am (I assume this makes more sense if you read all 300 issues and not just Wikipedia).
Even if I were a gambler, I wouldn't go placing any large wagers on this.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Buzzcut! Killjoy! Strykeforce! Wetworks! Spawn!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Spawn was also at the core of a rather interesting (possibly false) anecdote linked to Heroclix. At the zenit of the game's popularity, both Marvel and DC had huge rooster of minis. Wizkids approached a number of indipendent studios and creators to use their characters in the upcoming Heroclix Indy expansion.
Take a guess who was the only one that bitched about using his chatacter.
Apparently McFarlane told the Heroclix guys that they could use Spawn only if they made him the most powerful character in the games period, nothing else will suffice. Keep in mind that, at the time, the game already included some really broken pieces like Kingdom Come Superman, the Maestro, Parallax and Galactus was on his way.
This resulted in Spawn being published only as a super-rare, once in every 100 boxes piece, despite being one of the most popular characters in the Indy rooster.
"You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.”

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Woodclaw
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ballistic! Buzzcut! Killjoy! Strykeforce! Wetworks!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Ian Turner wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:34 pm
Woodclaw wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:41 pm Pilgrim ran into a dimensional doppleganger that was on a mission to kill every other version of herself in the multiverse, because this would give her the ability to jump between parallel worlds at will.
Which... she was already doing, by hopping to other dimensions to kill other versions of herself?

Reminds me of that Azazel plot in X-Men. "I'm trapped in Hell! But if I teleport out and knock up a bunch of women, some of the spawn might have teleportation powers like me, and by using them, weaken the barriers that keep me trapped in Hell! Or... I could teleport out and not do any of that, and just *NOT GO BACK.*"

Ah. comics. Where else can someone invent world-changing technology worth *billions*, and use it to knock off banks... :)
The other-dimension Pilgrim was dimension-hoping using some weird piece of technology from her world, which allowed her to stay in another dimension only for a limited time. The idea was that by becoming the "last Pilgrim" she would be able to do so at will, without any technological help or time limit.
"You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.”

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Ballistic! Buzzcut! Killjoy! Strykeforce! Wetworks!)

Post by slade the sniper »

Woodclaw wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:20 am
Ian Turner wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:34 pm
Woodclaw wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:41 pm Pilgrim ran into a dimensional doppleganger that was on a mission to kill every other version of herself in the multiverse, because this would give her the ability to jump between parallel worlds at will.
Which... she was already doing, by hopping to other dimensions to kill other versions of herself?

Reminds me of that Azazel plot in X-Men. "I'm trapped in Hell! But if I teleport out and knock up a bunch of women, some of the spawn might have teleportation powers like me, and by using them, weaken the barriers that keep me trapped in Hell! Or... I could teleport out and not do any of that, and just *NOT GO BACK.*"

Ah. comics. Where else can someone invent world-changing technology worth *billions*, and use it to knock off banks... :)
The other-dimension Pilgrim was dimension-hoping using some weird piece of technology from her world, which allowed her to stay in another dimension only for a limited time. The idea was that by becoming the "last Pilgrim" she would be able to do so at will, without any technological help or time limit.
She watched the Jet Li movie The One and thought, "I can do that!"

-STS
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