More than any other character born in the early days of Image, Spawn is the most recognizable, the most respected, and the most flawed. Since Todd McFarlane’s departure from the book, we’ve watched the character spiral out of control and descend into drudgery and banality. I say we; what I really mean is a select few individuals who could stand the monotony despite their better judgment. This two-hundredth anniversary issue features a confrontation of Spawns, some questionable demon action and a bit of Robert Kirkman script; but the biggest draw for most people will be the Todd McFarlane artwork, which it’s sad to say was a true disappointment. The fact that artwork assists were by Michael Golden is reasonable enough, after all, this is an anniversary issue, but every page felt like a shadow of McFarlane’s former self; nothing felt as energetic or powerful as his work for the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. It was a pale, uninteresting comic book, and McFarlane’s story ended up dredging up so much tension and drama that wasn’t really there it was hard to feel anything but contempt towards this series. It was wordy, too; not as wordy as the early issues, but still wordy enough to constitute boredom. In the end, this is the last time I’ll read Spawn on a monthly basis; I’ll come back if a great run comes along, but to me this series has finally died.