From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spawn
Genre	Action
Voices of	Keith David
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	18
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	HBO
Original run	May 16, 1997 – May 28, 1999
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Todd McFarlane's Spawn is an animated television series which aired on HBO from 1997 through 1999. It was based on the popular comic series of the same name from Image Comics. The show was nominated for and won an Emmy in 1999 for Outstanding Animation Program (longer than one hour). The series is expected to return shortly in 2007. Keith David is going to reprise his role as Simmons [1] .

The series centered around the story of an ex-serviceman who fought in the Vietnam war as a commando named Al Simmons. He was betrayed and killed by a man whom he believed to be his close friend (the man, Chapel, burned him alive with a flamethrower). Upon his death, Simmons vowed revenge on Chapel and hoped that he would one day return to his beloved wife Wanda.

In order to accomplish his vow, he makes a pact with the devil (referred to in the series as Malebolgia). The pact was a simple one: Simmons would become a general in Malebolgia's army (known as the "Hellspawn" or "Spawn" for short) in return for the ability to walk the earth once again in order to see Wanda. Simmons was tricked however and his body was not returned to him. Simmons had instead been given a different body which was a festering, pungently cadavourous, maggot-ridden walking corpse that had a massive living red cape attached to it. The head of this new body had been rotten for some time and was in an advanced state of decay, which led to Simmons donning a mask in order to cover its grotesque appearance.

Upon his return to "life", Spawn seeks out Wanda, who had apparently got over the grief of having lost Al and married another man, Al's best friend Terry Fitzgerald with whom she seemingly had a daughter with. (Note: Some fans agree thar Simmons had borne a child with Wanda shortly before being murdered.) Terry, a respectable man, works for a man named Jason Wynn. Wynn is a black-market arms dealer, amongst other things (such as the head of certain government organisations, one of which that dispatched Al and his team to Vietnam), and is revealed to be the man responsible for ordering the death of Al Simmons due to a disagreement the two had between each other. Jason's actions would also prove dangerous to the lives of Terry, Wanda and their daughter as well.

Al, realising that he is no longer the man in Wanda's life, swears to protect her and her new family.

The series depicts Spawn nesting in the dark alley ways, killing any who invade his newfound territory. Rejecting these actions as unworthy of Spawn's time and power, Malebolgia then dispatches another of his minions (a demonic creature known as Violator that assumes the form of an obese clown) to try and sway Spawn into committing acts of violence and savagery in the name of Hell.

Spawn struggles to fight the lure of evil as well as seeking to escape being hunted by not only the forces of Hell but also must defend himself from assailants from Heaven, who have a need to destroy the Hellspawn in order to cripple the forces of Hell so they do not gain an edge in the escalating war between the two spiritual hosts. As the war intensifies the line between the forces of good and evil become increasingly blurry. Spawn finds help along the way in the form of a disheveled old man named Cogliostro who was once a Hellspawn that overcame the demonic powers resting within, amongst a number of other characters.

• Keith David - Spawn
• Richard Dysart - Cogliostro
• Micheal Nicolosi - Clown
• Dominique Jennings - Wanda Blake
• Jennifer Jason Leigh - Lilly
• Victor Love - Terry Fitzgerald/Bobby
• Kath Soucie - Cyan/Additional Voices
• James Keane - Tony Twist/Sam Burke
• Micheal McShane - Max "Twitch" Williams/Gareb
• John Rafter Lee - Jason Wynn
• Denise Poirier - Merrick/Bounty Hunter
• Ronny Cox - Senator Scott McMillan/Billy Kincaid
• Victor Brandt - Chief Banks
• Ming-Na - Jade/Lisa Wu
• Ruben-Santiago Hudsen - Jess Chapel
• Brendan O'Brien - Additional voices

• Spawn (film)
• Spawn (comics)