Spawn #251 is available to purchase and read from Image Comics as it was released on April 15th.
This marks the first issue since Al Simmons was persuaded by God, in the form of a talking dog, to take the mantle of the titular Spawn once again. Al didn’t have to think hard after he learned that Wanda, his widow, died an agonizing death.
Simmons muses that every day is some sort of experiment by the “higher-ups” and that it could go either as expected or not. He contemplates that there is always somebody that will be stronger than you are, which brings him to his current predicament back on Earth. Simmons makes a valid point that you will never hear the end of if if those people become your enemies.
He refers to the mysterious person behind the recent events leading to intolerance, mass paranoia, and everything else wrong with the world. Simmons gets philosophical about the fact that these people, often tyrants, take their emotions out on the weak and defenseless.
It is obvious that Simmons has pissed someone off.
Since Simmons wasn’t in the picture and that person was a “coward,” Wanda was the target. It becomes more f—ked that Wanda was carrying Simmon’s unborn child, who also became a casualty in the invisible war.
This leads Simmons to do some investigating of his own.
What did I think of Spawn #251?
It was pretty f—king awesome.
There is not much combat in this episode, which I don’t mind as the story nicely paces. Simmons is back on Earth, where he walks the streets of New York City (NYC) to investigate the circumstances that led to Wanda’s death.
He encounters a group of black youths disillusioned with what’s going on and are disgruntled at how they have been treated by the NYPD. Simmons strikes up a “friendly” conversation with the youths as they give him valuable information on what has been going on in the neighborhood.
If you also follow politics, then you may see that this new story arc is inspired by the “cop on black” violence let alone shootings, which have been covered on the news. You can think of incidents such as Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and more.
The forces of Hell know that Simmons is back on Earth and demons disguised as NYPD officers are alerted to his location. Simmons learns that Belial, a fallen servant of God, is responsible for the chaos and violence on Earth.
But the interesting thing is that Simmons is simply a pawn in Belial’s war against God.
Wanda and their unborn child are simply collateral damage as Birch, the mysterious white man, points out. I would go as far as to compare Belial to Lucifer because the two of them fell from grace by being defiant towards God.
Birch drops a big bomb on Simmons, the souls of Wanda and the unborn child descended down to hell and are holed up in an abandoned cabin. It is up to Simmons to save them because Birch is unable to because he answers to God, not to Simmons.
But Birch is anointed by God to assist Simmons as best as he can. He claims that he sacrificed “everything” in order to be a servant of God. The issue ends as Simmons looks into the mirror to see Birch as some sort of godly avatar just as he is Spawn once again.
I found this issue pretty deep as Belial’s servants are using politics and media for his war against God.