Hellspawn #6

History

Hellspawn launched in August 2000 as a deliberately darker, more atmospheric companion to the flagship Spawn title, pairing Eisner Award-winning writer Brian Michael Bendis with Australian painter Ashley Wood in a horror-inflected urban register quite unlike Bendis's simultaneous crime and superhero work at Image and Marvel. Issue #6, cover-dated February 2001 and produced under the Todd McFarlane Productions banner with editor Brad Gould and lettering by Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Oscar Gongora, marked Steve Niles's first credited writing contribution to the series alongside Bendis — a collaboration that foreshadowed Niles and artist Ben Templesmith eventually taking over the book full-time with issue #11. McFarlane had purchased the assets of the defunct Eclipse Comics at a 1996 liquidation auction believing those assets included the rights to Miracleman, and the introduction of Mike Moran in this issue was the opening move of a planned storyline that was abandoned entirely when Gaiman filed suit in 2002.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Mike Moran — the human alter ego of Miracleman — in the Spawn universe; multiple sources classify this as a cameo appearance, with his fuller integration into the supporting cast continuing in subsequent issues.
• The story, titled 'Angels' ('The Big League' per some databases), features Cy-Gor running loose while three angels seek Spawn's account of Angela's death — they absolve him and express sympathy for the coming Armageddon he must face.
• Angela appears in flashback only, her death having occurred in Spawn #100 at the hands of Malebolgia; the angels' interrogation of Spawn about her dying words is the issue's emotional spine.
• Written by Brian Michael Bendis with Steve Niles (Niles's first credited contribution to the series); art and cover by Ashley Wood; lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Oscar Gongora; edited by Brad Gould.
• Published by Image Comics (Todd McFarlane Productions) on February 10, 2001, as part of the 16-issue Hellspawn run that debuted August 2000 and concluded April 2003.
• Mike Moran is introduced here as a principled reporter writing a letter to the New York mayor about the dangerous neighborhood known as Rat City, while a chat-room debate about Spawn's existence runs as a parallel narrative thread.
• McFarlane's planned Miracleman storyline — teased by Ashley Wood's promotional art ahead of an intended debut in Hellspawn #12 — was abandoned when Neil Gaiman sued McFarlane in 2002; the character's in-universe appearances were subsequently retconned as the Man of Miracles/Mother of Existence.
• The entire Hellspawn series, including this issue, has been collected in Hellspawn: The Ashley Wood Collection (issues #1–10) and the Hellspawn: Complete Collection (issues #1–16), with a new Complete Collection trade paperback edition released March 18, 2025.

Cast · 5 characters

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