Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Jabroniville]

Looking at it, it's pretty remarkable how much Spawn used to mean to comics, and how little he's meant ever since, like, 1995. He used to be HUGE, and Todd McFarlane a big name, but now the book is a complete also-ran, and nobody seems to know anything about it. It's like it was only cool when you were 13 and anything after that was just random grimness and violence, so everyone grows out of it quickly.

[Doc chaos]

Always figured Spawn was a Prowler rip-off like most of the other rip-offs from image. Hobie's black. Al is black. Their suits are identical. Todd did a story about the Prowler. Change out the neumatic wrist cannons for spikes and make it Image gritty and, Voilà.

[Jabroniville]

JASON WYNN
Created By: Todd McFarlane
First Appearance: Spawn #1 (April 1992)
Role: Evil Government Figure
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: The Kingpin (though really, any crimeboss)
'90s Ratio: 2/10 (standard-issue Stock Character)
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (109)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 8 (+12)
Expertise (Business) 8 (+12)
Expertise (Government) 8 (+12)
Insight 4 (+9)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+8)
Perception 2 (+7)
Persuasion 5 (+9)

Advantages:
Benefit 4 (Power- Director of the CIA), Benefit 5 (Wealth), Connected, Contacts, Ranged Attack 4, Well-Informed

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Power)- Wynn always seeks more power, usually by financial control. He will play two armies against each other, ensuring that the victor is indebted to him.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (109)

-Oddly prominent in all aspects of the Spawn universe is Jason Wynn, a guy who is arguably pretty much just a Stock Character- Evil Corrupt Government Figure. Though he's a LOT more powerful than most- typically, guys like Wynn are either Crimebosses or Evil Rich Assholes. Wynn is instead a major-league power-player who has all sorts of government officials on his payroll, and is said to be perhaps the most powerful man in the world. Even mob figures answer directly to him. Wynn is directly responsible for the death of Al Simmons; Al was beginning to ask too many questions about his bloody assignments, and so Wynn arranged to have Al murdered by Chapel. And when Al returned as Spawn, he both sought revenge for this, AND sought to remove crime from New York- both things that affected Wynn personally. He sort of represented the guy that was hard to go after directly, though of course vigilantes like Spawn could theoretically just attack him at his base.

-Wynn was allied to Malebolgia (he'd offered Al's soul directly in exchange for Psychoplasm, the stuff that makes up Hell), and was tied into things by becoming the "Redeemer", an Anti-Spawn. This failed because he was too evil to take full control over the Redeemer powers, so he had to manipulated things to try and kill Spawn again. He also tried to frame Terry Fitzgerald as Spawn, getting Terry involved with the CIA as a result, and then got someone else to take the fall for his own misdeeds. Spawn repeatedly threatened him to stay away from his family, but... this is a guy who ROUTINELY murders criminals. What the hell is he doing THREATENING their boss of bosses? Why not simply EAT him and move on? Oh, okay, so Wynn eventually points out that a "Dead Man's Trigger" of sorts will ensure that if he dies, various other people will die as well, including Spawn's loved ones, Terry & Wanda. So there's a stalemate there.

-Wynn is demoted after one attack by Spawn embarrasses him to his government bosses, making the grudge worse. Eventually, Spawn tires of him so much he uses his powers to drive Wynn insane, twisting his mind. He adopts Violator's facepaint and psyche, the Clown having been given a place back on Earth. Eventually, Wynn begins murdering women who look like Wanda, but when Spawn reveals his face to Wynn, he leaps from a building, in combat with the "Violator" aspect- this appears to kill Wynn, as Violator retains complete control of his body. However, he reappears later after some kind of "white light" event. Spawn manages to destroy the evidence he was using to prevent anyone from terminating his authority (he would blackmail anyone and everyone), however, and leaves Wynn as a "dead man".

-Wynn is a good fighter and a remarkable government agent and businessman, using power in a way that Spawn and other superheroes can't really deal with. He's a bit of Lex Luthor in that sense.

[Ares]

IMAGE CREATORS- TODD McFARLANE:
-Todd McFarlane remains the most famous and possibly most successful of the Image creators, though isn't the most notorious. Born in Calgary, Alberta, and washing out of baseball, he got his start in comics with DC's Infinity, Inc., where I remember Roy Thomas declaring in an editorial, "Todd McFarlane- remember that name". His style was more typical of the era, lacking many of his later creative traits, though you could see him getting a little bit wilder. He worked for a year on The Incredible Hulk, drawing a more wrinkled, monstrous take on the character, but really became a sensation with his work on The Amazing Spider-Man, however- he was the first artist to draw the complete appearance for Venom, who was the biggest new character in ages- this turned Todd into a star, and he gained more and more power.

Todd's version of Spider-Man was drawn in wilder poses than ever before, the artist theorizing that someone with superhuman agility need not be bound by what a normal human could do. Traditionalists hated the distinctive way in which he drew Spider-Man's webs (long spaghetti-strings covered in extra bits), but he soon began being a guy to put his visual "stamp" on every character. Spidey in particular had the eyes on his costume nearly double in size. His fame grew to the point where issues would sell simply because he would draw a second-rate villain for the first time- even losers like The Scorpion got a creative once-over, as Todd would leave the costumes intact, but give them enough wild poses and creative flare to make them stand out.

Todd, of course, had his critics- his sense of composition was to fill every square inch of the panel with stuff, using detail to obscure a lack of clarity or storytelling. But it was FLASHY- it was clear Todd knew what he was doing, and not simply "faking it" like say, Rob Liefeld was. Todd's power grew to the point where he demanded to write his own stories- the canny Marvel Editors decided to create a spin-off title just for him, called Spider-Man. This issue sold 2.5 million copies, proving Todd's selling power, though the stories he wrote were a bit... iffy. The one about him & Wolverine hunting a pedophile in Canada was largely an excuse to draw Wolvie & Wendigo in bad-ass poses and stretch a story over several issues. One where Morbius resides in the sewers with a bunch of deformed hobos was a combination of Edgelord badassery and some dreadful "WOE IS ME!" writing for the vampiric villain.

Generally speaking, Todd's art was beloved, while his stories were DEFINITELY not- it's pretty pretentious at best, and a bit overly grim at worst- particularly for a Spider-Man book. Marvel's editors were extremely annoyed with Todd's actions, and would constantly fight over various things, like insistence on using certain villains, some of the subject matter in the books, and more. Todd's final Spider-Man book featured the Juggernaut being stabbed through the eye with a sword- Editor-In-Chief Tom DeFalco supported editing it, which Todd felt to be "lunacy". Eventually, it came to a head and Todd helped lead several other artists out of Marvel to form Image Comics.

McFarlane's signature work at Image, of course, was Spawn, taking a character he'd created in his teens and turning him into this spooky, grim, alley-dwelling hellspawn who had to fight angels and demons alike while moaning about his lot in life. The criticism of his writing got to him, leading Todd to hire others to write his stories- he'd largely step aside later on. By the twenty-fifth issue, Todd himself would leave the ART chores to others, as Greg Capullo was hired away from Marvel's X-Force and turned into the main artist, copying Todd's art style completely (an act made easier by Todd inking the next 45 issues). In 1993, Spawn was the best-selling comic on the market, while Todd himself became the public face of the company, for better or worse. Known for his adversarial nature and quick response to criticisms, he'd have very public debates with Peter David (the biggest critic of the "Image Style") and others, and would publicly give Rob Liefeld the boot from Image later on. The worst, however, was a VERY ugly public dispute with Neil Gaiman, with Todd more or less pulling a "Marvel" and taking Neil's character creations and making money off of them- this arguably made Todd look worse than anything- something only exacerbated by Neil winning a lawsuit in 2012 over the character rights.

Todd tried to turn Spawn into a media empire in the 1990s, earning both a movie and a TV series, though neither did particularly well- his attempts to make Spawn a household name did not succeed, but given that Spawn is the longest-running independent comic of all time, he did SOMETHING right. The series was used to launch a line called "McFarlane Toys", as Todd used his hyper-detailed, wild style to design a ton of very popular action figures (fifth in the United States), as well as branching into real likenesses for sports figures. Spawn himself would receive a ton of spin-off books, though McFarlane didn't "franchise" into comics the way the others did- he was more a multimedia type of guy. He directed music videos (like Korn's Freak on a Leash and Pearl Jam's Do The Evolution) and even drew attention for buying baseball players' big-time home run balls (including Mark McGwire's famous record-breaker).

Todd is largely... notorious. Not shy to give his opinions, and rather openly a chaser of both money and power, his creative quirks are now as parodied as they are beloved- his Spider-Man writing did not truly stand the test of time, and the art is dated to the '90s, though I personally don't find it hard to look at. He's become more iconic for the "Grim 'n' Gritty Era", known for gruesome, occasionally puerile comics- when Todd was co-owner of the Edmonton Oilers, he redesigned their "third jersey" logo into some weird thing, and my University newspaper parodied him by drawing the U's mascots in his style- the Pandas mascot was this huge-breasted, gun-toting bad-ass. I mean, his "style" was associated with this by the 2000s. Like, Todd's almost as famous for being an asshole as he is for being a comic book creator.

Todd McFarlane. In some ways, he's the most admirable of the original Image crew. Of the bunch, he seemed to be the most out and out business oriented of the bunch, and did the work behind the scenes to really build Spawn into a brand that became a cartoon, a live action film, a successful toyline, multiple video games, a guest appearance in franchises like Soul Calibur, etc. While Jim Lee and Erik Larsen both managed to get animated series as well (Jim even managed a fairly lackluster WildCATs video game), Marc Silvestri turned Witchblade into a short lived TV series, and many Image creators managed to get toys of their figures, no one could really match Todd in terms of raw commercial success. When toy companies didn't make figures to the level of detail he wanted, Todd just made his own company and made toys the way he wanted. He had a mind for marketing and branding, of turning his big successful creation into a bigger marketing success that is still earning him money today.

In other respects, Todd is as bad as Rob Liefeld, just in different ways. Both men were the ones that started the initial Image walkout, but Todd realized that (in his own words) "Just the Idiot (Rob) and the Asshole (Todd) leaving wouldn't have had an impact", so he decided to rope other creators like Erik and Jim into the exit to give it more power. He was notably upset that Jim Valentino was invited to be part of the walk out, because Todd didn't think Valentino was "good enough" to be a superstar artist like the rest of them. So even from the get go, Todd was kind of an elitist asshole, but he seemed to recognize that he was one at least.

Once on their own, Todd realized suddenly that his editors over at Marvel knew what they were talking about when they said he needed a good co-writer to really hone his craft as an artist/writer. Because on his own, Todd's stories weren't really good. As an artist his stuff is definitely stylized and visually striking, but as a writer his stuff came off as self-indulgently melodramatic and confusing. So he hired other creators to help write the books while he honed his craft. This lead to the infamous bit with Neil Gaiman. While I've got my own issues with Gaiman, you can't deny his craft as a writer and his willingness to explore the idea of what it meant to be a Hellspawn or the idea that Heaven wouldn't have people who tried to kill such Hellspawn. So he created Medieval Spawn, Angella and Cogliostro to explore these ideas, characters Todd was happy to make merchandise of and use for his own benefit.

Now, one thing all of the Image guys had was an immense respect for Jack Kirby, and supposedly it was stories about his work for Marvel and DC, of not truly owning his own creations and the like that influenced them to walk out and really own what they made. As such, Todd would have to be, as sfDebris put it, "a massive hypocrite" to not give Gaiman his due give him at least partial ownership of those characters.

Well, turns out Todd is in fact, a massive hypocrite, and it took decades of lawsuits to establish the actual ownership of the characters.

It turns out that Todd is also a SPITEFUL little jackass as well, because he then purchased Eclipse Comics and the rights to all their creative products, including Miracle Man, who Gaiman was supposed to partially own. Todd apparently did this just so that Gaiman wouldn't be able to finish the Miracle Man storyline he'd been working on. Todd then had Miracle Man show up in Spawn, just to rub it in. Gaiman went to court to dispute that, and it turns out that NEITHER of them owned Miracle Man, because the creator Mick Anglo actually had full ownership of the character and had just allowed the people at Eclipse to use them. Oops.

So while this isn't quite Rob's "trying to rip off Jack Kirby's grieving widow and also misappropriating Image funds and resources" bad, it still paints Todd as this incredibly petty hypocrite.

In terms of self-promotion and working hard to really be a success story, Todd is definitely an example of what to do. As a creator and how he treats his fellow creators, he's a red flag warning of what NOT to do.

Someone over on Discord mentioned how Todd was apparently approached by the Heroclix guys to make a Spawn figure, but Toddd apparently had a bunch of demands, such as more expensive details on the figure (one source mentioned a cloth cape) and he demanded that Spawn be the most powerful normal sized Heroclix figure of the entire line. More powerful than Superman, Thor, the Silver Surfer, Darkseid, Thanos, Odin, everyone. Honestly, I would have had some fun with that. Todd wants Spawn to be the most powerful normal sized Heroclix? Okay. I will make him so . . . for exactly one click of the dial. Every other Click he's a decent mid-ranged scrapper, but at something like his second to last click he goes into desperation mode, decides to start using all of his abilities to their max, and his damage and the like shoots up to crazy levels. But if he takes damage while in that mode, he gets knocked out of it. So yes Todd, Spawn is technically the most powerful Heroclix we have. Congrats.

[Doc chaos]

Is it weird that I'd like to see world-class chess players play HeroClix? A nice 1000 pt. game. Marvel, DC, and Independents.

[Jabroniville]

So The Imagineering Story continues to be pretty nifty on Disney+.


Damn- I fail as a Disney Snob. The name Frank Wells means nothing to me and yet he was a major force for Disney over the 10 years he helped run things. I guess he died when I was a child so that's a big reason Michael Eisner is the famous one, lol. Eisner was more or less the "Idea Guy" and big supporter of Imagineering, but Wells was the "No, your idea is dumb" guy, which is just as important a job! Eisner would have 10 ideas and Wells would pick the best two. But his love of adventure and flying in helicopters ended up with him Kobe Bryanted.

Finding those guys in a corporate super-structure is nearly impossible. Which reminds me of how important the Pixar notions of "what is wrong with this movie?" became to Disney when the two studios merged.

The series being done in terms of a historical narrative is funny because it means the show can seem very unfocused, bouncing from wild successes to huge failures rapidly. So you go from the highs of two great new parks and a successful Disney Cruise Line business to "Holy shit Paul Pressler almost killed Disneyland". The fourth episode features the building of Animal Kingdom AND Tokyo DisneySea- the two "Park Snob" ideals. Where huge budgets and everyone hitting on all cylinders combined and peopled loved it. And of course, DisneySea is an anomaly because the Tokyo Disney parks are run by the Oriental Land Company, who merely HIRES Disney, therefore their budget is nearly limitless and they want the best, with no exceptions.

Aaaaaaaaaaand then they're talking about Paul Pressler, aka the Grand Boogeyman of Disney History. A "marketing executive" pushed into the role of President of Disneyland- a role he had no training or talent for (he ran the Disney Stores, and was promoted ahead of the execs in charge of the parks because the stores were doing so well). Classic "promote your top guys to wherever" and the Peter Principle. And cost-cutting becomes the norm, as Disney, all in a row, produces the staggering failure of California Adventure (with them even focusing on the horrible Superstar Limo attraction as an example of something that'd otherwise not have been greenlit), then disappointments in Paris (Disney Studios- a Disney park so boring even *I* ran out of shit to do after noon) and Hong Kong.

haha it's funny to hear them talk. Pressler & Eisner talking about budgets and speed like it's soooooooooo great while Tokyo DisneySea has a limitless budget to do whatever they wanted. And guess which park is the biggest money-maker of the lot?

Eisner's all "If you give a creative person a budget, you force them to be even MORE creative" and they talk to some creators who are like "yeah here are my ideas for California Adventure" and then the others are just completely shitting all over it. "People come to California for the sun, and the Golden Gate Bridge is the gateway to California" to "The bridge looks foreshortened and fake, and the sun is stupid because you can see a sun like that in any mall in America- why is it here?" One guy pouts that it had an "unfair expectation" because it's right next to Disneyland and is smaller, and so people are like "it's the same price and has 1/3 the attractions" and obviously preferred the original. (this is where I wonder again why the parks all have universal prices and don't downshift for a lesser park)

The lesson: Building on the cheap and being so careful with the budget isn't a good idea- people aren't stupid, and can TELL when you're half-assing it and cutting costs. Pressler quits and Eisner is drummed out of Disney after 20 years, as his leadership practices are pissing off Disney's components (Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew and a major exec, points out specifically that he was killing the golden goose that was Pixar by fighting with them).

One of the great Imagineers, Tony Baxter, points out that they now have to FIX the parks- which of course is less efficient and more expensive than having done them right in the FIRST place!

The head designer of Animal Kingdom:
"Imagineering is always a very scary place for business-minded people. Because several CORE characteristics of creativity itself do not reconcile themselves with efficiency-based business theory. So there is a permanent tension.
It's a question of keeping it in balance. That means you have to ACCEPT that it will neither be some kind of wild jungle of creative monkeys, nor is it going to be run like some kind of dystopian military facility. It's not going to be those- it's gonna be this THING that is held in balance between the two"

[Jabroniville]

MEDIEVAL SPAWN (Sir John of York)
Created By: Neil Gaiman & Todd McFarlane
First Appearance: Spawn #9 (March 1993)
Role: Toy Tie-In
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None
'90s Ratio: 8/10 (Hell Knight)
Group Affiliations: None

-Part of the controversial "Todd vs. Neil Gaiman" thing, Medievel Spawn came about while Neil was writing Spawn in the early days- he decided to show that Al Simmons wasn't the FIRST guy to reject Hell's commands and go off on his own. While still new at the game, he was stalked and killed bey Angela, thus showing that her "Hellspawn Hunter" schtick has been going on for centuries. Todd promptly made ASS-LOADS of money selling toys of this dark, grim, bad-ass "Spawn as Hell Knight" figure, as well as trying to take control of Angela, thus creating an ugly legal matter that went on until the *2010s*. This character even popped up in a Witchblade crossover at some point (may have been a different guy), and he was apparently resurrected in modern times by a nuke that Spawn set off (I dunno how that works).

[Jabroniville]

Always figured Spawn was a Prowler rip-off like most of the other rip-offs from image. Hobie's black. Al is black. Their suits are identical. Todd did a story about the Prowler. Change out the neumatic wrist cannons for spikes and make it Image gritty and, Voilà.

Hm, yeah, that makes a bit of sense, visually. The Prowler had a similar mask especially. Of course Marvel later one-upped anything McFarlane had ever stolen by making THIS guy:

[Jabroniville]

MALEBOLGIA
Created By: Todd McFarlane
First Appearance: Spawn #1 (May 1992)
Role: The Big Bad
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None
'90s Ratio: 7/10 (super-demon)
Group Affiliations: None

-Malebolgia is the true "Big Bad" of much of Spawn, being a high-end Demon and the ruler of Hell, dominating the 8th circle for 70,000 years. It was he who made the deal that turned Al Simmons into a Hellspawn, intending to have Al lead his army against the gates of Heaven. I was never quite taken with him, as his appearance is more or less identical to that of his minion, Violator- just bigger. Malebolgia is ultimately killed by Spawn in Spawn #100, culminating that massive plot thread. We would then meet both Mammon & Satan himself, both of whom claiming to be a more powerful ruler- Malebolgia returns in the form of "The Freak", promising revenge to both Al & other Hell-Lords, but I don't know what became of it.

-Malebolgia is some random high level of power, being even stronger within the 8th Circle. He easily overpowers Spawn, can use Psychokinesis, Telepathy, and more, and is the only being who can create Hellspawns. He can also take Magic away, at-will.

[Davies]

Just like Violator's humanish form, I can't look at Malebolgia and not see him as the Joker-as-demon. For stats, I'd basically just use whatever you're using for Mephisto.

[Jabroniville]

LOL he looks like Venom & Moss Man f*cked.

TREMOR (Richard Massullo)
Created By: Todd McFarlane
First Appearance: Spawn #25 (Oct. 1994)
Role: Powerhouse, Uber-90s Character
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None (generic '90s tropes ahoy)
'90s Ratio: 9/10 (killer cyborg; looks like a demon)
Group Affiliations: Brigade
PL 10 (107)
STRENGTH 12 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 10 (+10)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
"Cybernetic Body Armor" Protection 4 [4]
Regeneration 6 [6]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+12 Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +12, Fortitude +8, Will +5

Complications:
Enemy (Tony Twist)- Richard was horribly disfigured by his former boss, and his wife & baby were murdered.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 10 / Defenses: 11 (107)

-The monstrous, demonic-looking Tremor is actually a former mobster who attempted to put his life of crime behind him. Unfortunately, his former boss Tony Twist forced him to undergo a horrible experiment that turned him into a cyborg. When Tremor escaped, Twist had his wife and baby murdered- bereft, Tremor tried to blackmail Spawn into helping him, but the hero sympathized with him and agreed to go along anyways. Spawn later injured Tremor's brother for attacking them (thinking Richard had been killed ages ago), causing Tremor to swear revenge and leave the hero a loner once more. He later appeared on the reimagined Brigade, which was now comprised of the characters of other Image stars, but the book failed quickly. Tremor hasn't appeared in ages, both due to the Tony Twist character being legally problematic (McFarlane based him off of a real person by that name, causing a lawsuit) and feeling that Tremor was "too cartoony".

-Tremor is a standard-issue "Big Strong Guy", like most Spawn foes.

[Jabroniville]

SAM & TWITCH (Sam Burke & Maximilian "Twitch" Williams)
Created By: Todd McFarlane
First Appearance: Spawn #1 (April 1992)
Role: Tired Cops
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None (Sam is similar to Harvey Bullock at DC)
'90s Ratio: 2/10 (ugly stock characters)
Group Affiliations: The NYPD

-Appearing frequently in Spawn are two deformed-looking cops- the scrawny, odd Twitch and the obese lummox Sam. Sam is violent, aggressive and overly-brutal, but has a strong sense of justice, and is highly protective of Twitch, who is frequently threatened by the corrupt NYPD, who is in Jason Wynn's pocket. Sam is big and strong, and has a good intuition for traps (he jokingly calls it a "Spider-Sense"), while Twitch is more highly educated and is a crack shot, owing to his exceling at trigonometry (sure, that checks out). They are often scene in the background of Spawn comics, trying to figure out the hero's rampages, or dealing with corruption in the force. They have aided Spawn in the past, like when Twitch fired a shot through Overt-Kill's weak point, killing the villain. They have proven popular enough to get their own series- one of Spawn's few spin-offs! This was plagued by lateness and was cancelled after only 26 issues in four years.

[Davies]

The moustache on Twitch, at least, puts me in mind of Commissioner Gordon.

[Jabroniville]

THE REDEEMER (Various Hosts, aka "The Anti-Spawn")
Created By: Grant Morrison & Todd McFarlane
First Appearance: Spawn #16 (Dec. 1993)
Role: Super-Edgelord, Mirror Image Antagonist (of Spawn)
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None
'90s Ratio: 8/10 (Mirror Image Antagonist; Heavenly powers)
Group Affiliations: None
PL 12 (207 + Skills)
STRENGTH 13 STAMINA 13 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Various (As User)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Move-By Attack, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5

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]
Flight 8 (500 mph) [16]

Senses 2 (Hellspawn Awareness- Ranged 2, Tracking [4]
Teleport 10 (Extras: Extended, Accurate) (Flaws: Source- Hellspawn at Location) (30) -- [31]

• AE: Elemental Fire Blast 12 (24)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Elemental Fire Blast +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +13, Fortitude +13, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy (Hellspawn)
Responsibility (Heaven)

Total: Abilities: 108 / Skills: xx--xx / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 77 / Defenses: 9 (207 + Skills)

-Redeemers are Heaven's answer to the Hellspawn- heavily-powerful Mooks who are transformed from worthy humans into the equal of Hellspawn. The first Redeemer seen was actually JASON WYNN, who was given the powers specifically to hunt down his enemy Spawn, but Wynn's own evil tainted the Redeemer's powers, and he was beaten after the bums in Spawn's alley hideaway distracted him, letting Spawn beat the "Anti-Spawn". The second Redeemer was a man named Phil Timper- a man who was in and out of prison until he finally got his life together and found the Lord. He was imbued with Elemental Fire to become the next Redeemer. He nearly defeated Spawn, but has his arm sliced off and I think died in a "Necroplasm Bomb" eruption.

-The third Redeemer was a juvenile delinquent named Eddie Frank who committed suicide and was reborn as a Redeemer. Blaming Spawn for his rotten life, Eddie instead realized that his father was abusive, and that Spawn, in killing the old man, had actually saved him- he was trapped in hell when Cogliostro betrayed them both, however. He was eventually freed by Nyx and made to fight Spawn, but ultimately lost. He was badly beaten a couple of times, and turned into a weird Vampire-Angel Hybrid after being bitten while he was working for Violator.

-Redeemers are a powerful bunch of "Anti-Spawn" sorts, but typically lose to Al in the end, despite having a power that he's weak to, specifically.

[Davies]

I'd say that the look of this one owes a lot to Doctor Fate, and a revised version of the origin of the same was one of McFarlane's first works for DC.