Spawn #27
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSpawn #27 is the first appearance of The Curse — Phillip Krahn, a self-mutilating religious zealot who equips himself with a powered suit and cybernetic cannon arm in order to prove his worthiness to God by destroying a demon — one of the more psychologically unsettling antagonists McFarlane introduced during the series' early run. The issue also serves as the closing chapter of the long-running Spawn/Chapel/Youngblood story thread that had woven through Image's shared-universe experiment since issue #13, effectively bookending that cross-publisher experiment before McFarlane began walking it back entirely. Simultaneously, it deepens the domestic tragedy at the series' heart: Wanda Blake, still unaware her dead husband Al Simmons is the creature haunting the Bowery, resolves to approach Spawn directly to unravel why he knows Terry Fitzgerald's name — a slow-burn revelation engine that would drive the book's most emotionally resonant plots. The issue also demonstrates, in a single story, Spawn's central moral tension: he drains his finite Necroplasm reserve to resurrect a homeless man killed in gang violence, and is immediately punished for that compassion by The Curse's ambush.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Issue #27 arrived in January 1995 as only the second installment of the newly stabilized McFarlane–Greg Capullo partnership; Capullo had taken over as the series' lead penciler with #26, with McFarlane remaining as writer and contributing inks, and the two would co-pencil through issue #34. Prior to Capullo's arrival the book had cycled through guest artists and a rotating cast of acclaimed guest writers, giving it an episodic, unsettled feel; the Capullo era brought visual consistency that let McFarlane's street-level, religiously-inflected horror plotting breathe more steadily. Tom Orzechowski — credited simultaneously as letterer and editor — and colorist Steve Oliff of Olyoptics rounded out the production team, the latter's painterly palette being a defining aesthetic element of early Spawn. The issue falls squarely within the Image founders' deliberately editor-light creative philosophy, which commentators have noted left the book's plotting sprawling but also free to take genuinely strange character swings like The Curse.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First appearance of The Curse (Phillip Krahn): a self-described holy warrior who self-mutilated, amputated his own arm, and replaced it with a cybernetic cannon — all to prove his worth to God before hunting Spawn.
- Story title: 'Cursed!' Written by Todd McFarlane; art by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo; lettered and edited by Tom Orzechowski; colored by Steve Oliff/Olyoptics.
- Issue closes out the Spawn/Chapel/Youngblood crossover thread — specifically the aftermath of Bobby's death at Chapel's hands in Youngblood #8–10 — which had been building since Spawn #13.
- Spawn uses his Necroplasm to resurrect Bobby (his homeless ally killed in the Youngblood events), draining himself and leaving him vulnerable to The Curse's first assault.
- Wanda Blake and Terry Fitzgerald subplot advances: Wanda secretly resolves to contact Spawn directly after noticing Spawn inexplicably knew Terry's name — a key step in the series' central dramatic irony (she does not know Spawn is her dead husband Al Simmons).
- The Curse (Phillip Krahn) reappeared across decades of Spawn continuity, died in Spawn #234 (2013), and was confirmed returning as an ally in Spawn #289 (2018).
- Issue #27 falls within the Spawn Origins Vol. 6: Pathway to Judgement trade paperback (1998, ISBN 978-1582400013), also published in the UK by Titan Books as 'Retribution'; the issue includes two bonus Spawn pin-ups by John Cleary and Jordon Raskin.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Spawn #14 (1997), Spawn #13 (1998), Spawn: Edición Integral #3 (2011), Spawn Origins Collection #5
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