Spawn (comics)

Spawn is a monthly comic book series published by Image Comics about a superhero/antihero. Created by Todd McFarlane, Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1 (May 1992).

"I remember there was someone. Someone to love. Someone to hate. And I was something." (Spawn, Spawn #1)

Quotes

Issue 1

Spawn: I remember there was someone. Someone to love. Someone to hate. And I was something. Something special. And proud of it. For a time. Then they turned on me. He turned on me. I remember… dying. And her. Oh, God, she's so beautiful. I needed. He gave. I had to. All I could think of was her. So I promised, and he accepted. All because of her.

Damn his lies. He accepted the deal… on his terms. His rules. His ways. And somewhere in time, he bust a gut laughing.

• Opening monologue

Issue 4

Malebolgia: Yes, Simmons, there is a God! For an atheist like yourself, that might be a shock. But with all you've been through, I'm sure it's not such a hard concept to follow. Call Him what you will. He is now your enemy!

Issue 26

Gabrielle: War is coming. Sooner or later you're going to have to choose sides. Hell on Earth and Heaven on Earth are going to be equally as inhospitable to the people who currently inhabit Earth on Earth, if you follow me. And you don't want to get caught in the middle, do you?

Issue 32

Mary: Our goal is to listen. To learn. We guide only those who ask, and even then they mustn't know it's us… for the human soul is salvation for all of us.

Issue 37

"Most people call me The Spawn. It'll do, I guess." (Spawn, Spawn #37)

The Freak: My friend, I've met with things more terrible than you upon my travels through this world of rot and starlight. In fact, it seems that we are fellow knights: brothers within this putrid, decadent domain of fly-blown shadows. I, sir, am a freak of nature, and proud to be called one. Put it there.

Spawn: Uhh… most people call me The Spawn. It'll do, I guess.

Issue 51

Lord of the Fourth Sphere: The sins of man. They're here. I can see them. A mugging over there, some raping, cheating and abuse in that corner… it's quite lovely.

Spawn: I don't care about your friggin' hallucinations.

Lord of the Fourth Sphere: How dare you?! What's here is real. Very real. And it all comes from you, the humans. Your capacity for evil created these horrific conditions that are recreated here. … That's what this place is—a holding tank for dark emotions.

Issue 52

Spawn: People—hear me! This man has done nothing wrong. To persecute him would be wrong. Free him now. You must learn to turn the other cheek.

Crowd: No! No!

Narration: The crowd flies into a frenzy. … Never would the holy leader give such a demeaning order as, "forgive."

Issue 84

Spawn: Are you under the impression that I'm human?

Twitch: Well, of course you are. Maybe not psychologically. But essentially. Underneath it all, you're a man, just as I am. You must be. If not, what is the point of your struggle? Spawn? Spawn?

Spawn: Point taken, Twitch.

Issue 86

Spawn: So what do I do?

Al Simmon's Ghost: That's your problem. But maybe you can start by being your own man. Pick a side already. Or, hell, quit! Who says you have to play their reindeer games, anyway? Attack, retreat. Regroup and re-evaluate. Anything but surrender. Anything but what you're doing.

Issue 87

Ethan Crone: Please. I'm begging you. Just tell me the truth. That's all I want.

Cogliostro: The truth? Very well, I'll tell you. But I don't think you'll like it. Funny thing about life: the truth is almost never what you hoped it would be.

Issue 89

Mammon: "And the sun turned as black as sackcloth, and the oceans churned with blood. And all throughout the nations of men, there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth." Oh, I think I quite liked that.

Spawn: Who are you?

Mammon: I don't think there's any need for introductions, do you?

---

Mammon: I am older than man. I am older than this pathetic dirt clod we are standing on. I am older than time. There is nothing in your tiny "experience" that could possibly lend you the proper perspective as to what you are dealing with. You are quite out of your league, boy. You made a deal, and we expect you to honor it.

Spawn: I'm not afraid of Malebolgia and I'm not afraid of you.

Mammon: Then you are a fool.

Issue 91

Mark: I want you to remember something. You failed because you are weak. The strong prey on the weak. It is the oldest law in creation. It is the only sacred truth left in this world. This world is a will to power, and nothing else!

---

Mark: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea."

Renee: Huh?

Mark: 's a poem. This dude, Coleridge, woke up from a laudanum dream and had this whole friggin' poem in his head. He goes to write it down, but he gets interrupted. Poof. He lost it. Tried the rest of his life, but he could never, ever finish it. Seize the moment, baby. You never know if it's coming back again.

Issue 92

Spawn: You don't know what you're asking. You can't possibly comprehend what it means to trade with Hell.

Mark: Yeah, well, why don't you let me worry about that.

Spawn: No. You must understand what you are bargaining for. I was denied that right. I won't deny it to you.

---

Mark: So, this is the part where you try to talk me out of my foolish ways? Scared straight, is that it? Save your breath. I'm not some dabbling goth-boy wannabe. I was born for this. I was practicing the craft before I knew there was a name for it, reading Crowley when other kids were reading Dr. Seuss.

Issue 96

Abbadon: I'm going to try and keep this simple. You know all the basics, right? Heaven, Hell, eternal war for the souls of humanity, blah, blah, blah. But, thing is, there's rules, 'cause… well, there just are. Spheres of influence. Rules of engagement. Neither side can make a major move without a proportional response from the other. Little stuff is cool. Minor miracles, the odd possession… but with the big stuff, we're talking trouble.

Zabraxas: Cosmic cold war. I can dig it.

Issue 100

Malebolgia: We become the things we hate. Did you not know that? Destroy me and you will become me. Are you prepared to do that? To take my place? I don't believe you are.

Issue 101

Spawn: Heaven. Hell. The Bible. None of those fairy tales has it right. And the religions?! They've got the whole friggin' world suckered into some delusion or other.

More than that, there isn't a good side. They're both the same. … Every soul goes in one pool, you see, and they alternate picks. Fifty–fifty, right down the middle, like some twisted, insane sports draft. First Heaven, then Hell. Then Heaven. Then Hell. Back and forth. Obviously, neither side gets a numbers advantage that way.

You know what the thing is that tips the scales? It's quality. Who's better at war. Whose soul can fight with more savagery.

Your Heaven needs the ruthless as much as Hell does. … They just put a different spin on it.

Issue 107

Simon: I warned the council about you. About your kind. There's no room for rogues. For fence sitters. You've proved me right. Beasts like you, out for your own appetites. You have no code.

Wolfram: Hell with your code. Things have changed, boyo. Different game now, or haven't you heard?

Simon: No. The stakes may have changed, but the game's still the same.

Issue 108

Twitch: I always thought Christianity was a pretty vulgar concept. Utterly irrational, two steps removed from voodoo. All emotion, no reason. But in the last few days, I realized what really bothers me, what really makes me uneasy about it.

Sam: Which is?

Twitch: I could never believe in a God who would sacrifice His own son.

Sam: Mysterious ways, my friend. Mysterious ways.

Twitch: All-knowing, all-powerful, yet He lets some self-righteous peasants nail His kid to a tree. I tell you, if I were God, I'd let the whole of humanity rot before I'd let them harm a hair on my child's head. I could never respect a God who wouldn't do the same.

Issue 119

Violator: [to Cain] Kin-slayer… first-of-killers… you sad, quivering little lump of shit. We have been waiting a very, very long time for you. I never thought you'd have the balls to come here. Look upon your works, old man… and despair…