Spawn #38
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSpawn #38 marks the first appearance and full origin of Cy-Gor, one of the Spawn universe's most enduring recurring antagonists — a cybernetically enhanced gorilla who carries the transplanted mind of Michael Konieczni, Al Simmons' own former squadmate and would-be whistleblower. The character's tortured dual nature (part soldier, part beast, entirely tragic) deepened the government-conspiracy thread running through McFarlane's mythology and gave the series one of its most visually distinctive creatures. Cy-Gor proved popular enough to headline his own six-issue spin-off series in 1999, becoming only the second Spawn villain after the Violator to receive that distinction. The issue also illustrates the unusual creative ecosystem of the mid-1990s Image: a character conceived for a toy line before a single comic panel was drawn, then reverse-engineered into legitimate narrative, a production model that would become a template for McFarlane's expanding multimedia empire.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was written by Todd McFarlane and co-written by Julia Simmons, with pencils by Tony Daniel — the first of his alternating-issue assignments on the series, during which he traded art duties with Greg Capullo across issues #38, 40, 42, 44, 46, and 48. Notably, Cy-Gor was originally designed as a McFarlane Toys action figure before being brought into the comics, making his debut in this issue a deliberate bridge between the toy line and the ongoing narrative. Kevin Conrad inked, Todd Broeker colored, and Tom Orzechowski handled both lettering and editing. The issue carries a December 1995 cover date and was published by Image Comics.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of Cy-Gor (Cybernetic Gorilla), who would become one of Spawn's most persistent antagonists.
- Cy-Gor is revealed to be Michael Konieczni — Al Simmons' former friend and squadmate — whose mind was transferred into a gorilla after he tried to expose Jason Wynn as Al's killer; a miscalculation left him 80% gorilla rather than 80% human.
- The character was conceived by Todd McFarlane as a McFarlane Toys action figure before being introduced into the comic book narrative.
- Written by Todd McFarlane and co-written by Julia Simmons; penciled by Tony Daniel (his first issue on the series), inked by Kevin Conrad, colored by Todd Broeker, lettered and edited by Tom Orzechowski.
- Tony Daniel alternated art duties with Greg Capullo across even-numbered issues starting here (#38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48).
- The story, titled 'Mind Games,' also advances the Cogliostro/Al Simmons confrontation as Cog warns Spawn that killing Jason Wynn addresses only a small piece of the larger conspiracy.
- Reprinted in Spawn, Book 8: Betrayal of Blood (1999 trade paperback, collecting issues #35–38, ISBN 978-1582400211), and also in Spawn: Origins, Vol. 7 (2010).
- Cy-Gor later starred in his own six-issue Image Comics limited series (written by Rick Veitch, July–December 1999), making him the second Spawn villain — after the Violator — to headline a spin-off series. He also appears as a boss character in the video games Spawn: In The Demon's Hand and Spawn: Armageddon.
Cast · 4 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Spawn #19 (1997), Spawn #19 (1998), Spawn: Edición Integral #3 (2011), Spawn Origins Collection #6
Key issues in Spawn
Variants (1)
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