First things first, I've not read a Spawn comic in close to 100 issues. No particular reason, I was never a regular reader, it just got to the point where it wasn't really grabbing me any more. However, whilst this is the second part of a 2 part story, I couldn't have picked a better issue to stick my toes back in the waters of Spawn-ness.

Pretty much the whole of this issue is the Violator/Clown and Jim Downing/Spawn sat in a bar talking. Whilst this could quite easily have been extremely dull, it does keep your attention. Clown is filling in Jim on what it is to be Spawn, the realities of heaven and hell and is attempting to get his aid in the upcoming conflict with the reborn Malebolgia.

This fills in a lot of the information I've missed in my time away from the title, and works as an almost perfect jumping on point for any new readers. Unfortunate that it's the second part of a two parter as that fatc may well put off new readers from picking it up.

Szymon Kudranski's art, interspersed with recoloured flashbacks taken from Todd McFarlanes orginal artwork, is dark and creepy, perfectly in tune with the overall feel of the title.

Whilst at times this feels very expositional, this is an extremely good issue and has prompted me to keep a closer eye on Spawn, at least for the next few issues. Pretty Cool.