Spawn #360 is written by Todd McFarlane and published by Image Comics. Artwork is by Brett Booth, inks by Adelso Corona, colours by Robert Nugent and letters by Tom Orzechowski. Main cover art (left) is by Carlo Barberi and Nugent.
Spawn #360 is available from today, in print and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your digital copy from Amazon Comixology UK right here.
Synopsis
Bludd has won. Spawn has been defeated, and the Vampire Kingdom has ascended.
Review
I love a book which knows how to build a sense of tension. Whenever there’s a huge event, or a crossover, or just the culmination of an arc’s worth of storytelling, I need a book to give me that moment. A sort of portent of the doom which lies right around the corner. The “the night is darkest right before the dawn” moment which brings our hero down ready for them to rise up again as we know they often will.
Spawn #360 is all of those things.
Kicking off 2025 in great style, the Spawn franchise is building towards a major shift in the balance of power. It’s been some time since all of our heroes lost their powers and Nyx took her seat on the throne in hell. Bludd and his vampires are poised to overthrow the peace which has been maintained by Spawn and his allies and Al is having none of it. But without full context of the various power plays in motion, could the OG Spawn be about to walk in to a trap he cannot walk away from?
McFarlane, always his own best hype-man, knows how to construct an issue which sets up conflict. Spawn #360 opens with a rather worrying scene in which Nyx’s minions are planning to raise an army ready to defend hell in case Al reaches its shores. Whilst on Earth, Spawn is planning a move of his own which seems like a suicide mission waiting to happen. The other of McFarlane’s strength is taking those tensions and using the book’s ensemble cast to make them feel like the stakes could never be higher.
There’s not a lot of hope to be found amongst these pages. But then there isn’t a lot of hope in the mission which Al is trying to complete. With Bludd’s forces gnashing their fangs at this throat. He has little option than to try and steal back the power he lost. But before doing so he has some unfinished business to attend to. That sense of tying up loose ends is strong throughout the middle part of Spawn #360 before the book reaches its gory conclusion. McFarlane follows through on all the promise of doom to come and it leads us in to one hell of a final few pages.
Whether this leads in to all out war or simply a rather dicey battle against Nyx and her forces remains to be seen. I’ve never found Spawn to be a predictable series and that remains true of this current arc. McFarlne’s unpredictability is key to the franchise continuing success. We’re just ten months on from Spawn losing his power in the landmark 350th issue and yet it somehow it feels like no time has past and simultaneously like it was decades ago.
Spawn can be a relentless series. It’s not known for its ability to pull back on the speed to allow much time for recovery between arcs. The next apocalypse is pretty much always around the corner and so it feels like there’s always something to build towards. But what’s always impressive is the level of craft which its creators bring every single month. McFarlane sets up a tonne of cool stuff for artist Brett Booth to render on the page. From Bludd’s final form, of which we only get a fleeting glimpse, to the striking final panel featuring the downfall of Spawn. There’s a huge breadth of content which challenges Booth and colourist Robert Nugent but, of course, the book looks great from start to finish.
Verdict
Spawn enters a dangerous new era for Al with an issue heavy in its emotion, its gore and its scope.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
