Though the Spawn Universe – or the “New U”, as creator Todd McFarlane is now referring to it – has only started to expand in recent years, there are characters who’ve been a part of the hellish antihero’s world since day one: detectives Sam Burke and Maximilian “Twitch” Williams. Per the laws of comic publishing, whenever a character in a major comic book series gains a fair amount of popularity, it’s only a matter of time until they get their own series. Sam and Twitch: Case Files #1 from McFarlane, Jon Goff, Szymon Kudranski, FCO Plascencia, Sheila Saldana and Tom Orzechowski isn’t the first Sam and Twitch book to be released, but it does offer something different from the previous Spawn books.
That something is a more grounded crime thriller. In fact, when he first announced the book, McFarlane said that he wanted to do a crime comic in the vein of True Detective, with as little supernatural elements as possible. Spawn himself doesn’t show up, and isn’t even mentioned; likewise, you won’t find anything about angels, demons or the other supernatural threats the hell-powered antihero faces off against. This is a bit of a double edged sword; while it allows McFarlane and Goff to jump right into the story, it also feels somewhat out of place in the fantastic world that McFarlane’s helped build over 30 years. It also takes a while to set up the case that’s driving the story – again, previous Spawn titles were able to hit the ground running in a single issue.
Despite the pacing problems, the book is a visual spectacle thanks to Kurdanski. His artwork features hauntingly compelling imagery; a series of panels features a bullet falling and spinning on the ground, while another page breaks into multiple puzzle pieces to be reassembled into a grisly crime scene. The level of detail also applies to the protagonists, to the point where you can see the bags under Sam’s eyes and the shine on Twitch’s glasses.
The rest of the art team dives into Sam and Twitch by adding visual flourishes that give the book a more realistic flourish. Plascencia and Saldana’s color work reflects the shifting of light, and therefore tone, as the first half of the book takes place in the daylight before shifting into a nighttime sequence spattered with gore. Longtime Spawn letterer Orzechowski even shakes up his own style; instead of traditional word balloons, most characters have their words suspended over their heads, which makes it look like they’re actually speaking.
Sam and Twitch: Case Files #1 is a somewhat slow start to the latest entry in the Spawn universe. While longtime Spawn fans will probably pick it up, others may want to check out the duo’s previous appearances or wait for other Spawn titles that are more their speed.
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