Gunslinger Spawn #26 Review

 

Writer: Todd McFarlane

Artist & Inker: Dexter Soy

Colorist: Ivan Nunes

Letterer: Tom Orzechowski

Cover Artists: Ze Carlos; Gabriel Gomez

Publisher: Image

Price: 2.99

Release Date: November 22, 2023

 

Men came after Javier. He couldn’t kill them all. They tortured him and killed his sister. Why? Let’s leap into Gunslinger Spawn #26 and find out!

 

Story

Javier fashions his unique bullets, intent on killing his torturers and his sister's murderers. Like him, they now live among us. While Javier's thoughts return to the past, Taylor awakens in Waya’s home. He suffers as his body changes. Waya worries about them both. The 19^th Century Gunslinger and the gangly young man need each other.

 

In Gunslinger Spawn #26, Todd McFarlane salts Javier’s past with clues. As the men tortured him, they wanted to know his sister’s last words. They sought the source of his strength. We also learn the name of one assailant. Yet McFarlane leaves the reader demanding more. What did Javier do at his ranch that drew the men’s interest? And what about the uniforms they wore? Were the men sent on an official mission? Or were their uniforms merely disguises?

 

Art

Time and torture burnished Javier’s memories. He hung from a tree as knives pierced his flesh, arrows thudded into his chest, and bullets riddled his body. Left for dead in the grass, Javier lay staring at the sky. The burning sun echoed the fire blazing inside him. Ivan Nunes colors Javier's memories in yellow, orange, brown, and red. Dexter Soy's heavy inks threaten to leave us with silhouettes. Panels evoke sepia-toned photographs that last longer—and impart more warmth and color—than their Black and White cousins.

 

Dexter Soy focuses on foregrounds in Gunslinger Spawn #26. Detail and texture are everything to him. As Javier prepares for his next mission, Soy's panels seem photorealistic. Backgrounds blur away. Yet when Javier summons Dakota's gift, he roars away on a different type of steed. Backgrounds glow with blue, yellow, orange, and red. They swirl like colored liquids of different viscosities in a fish tank. The city rises behind him. The miles fall away. As Javier rides toward his revenge, his mask ripples like liquid metal and transforms his features.

 

Black uppercase words inhabit light yellow narrative boxes. As Todd McFarlane’s words guide us through Gunslinger Spawn #26, Tom Orzechowski outlines these boxes with gray. White dialogue balloons rarely intrude upon this grim tale, where turquoise sound effects match the wings of the insects that feast upon Javier's scarred and bleeding flesh. Dialogue balloons surprise on the final page with a color granted to another character in a recent issue. Does this signal that person’s return? Or something else?

 

Thanks to Image for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

As Javier rides toward his next victim, remembering the blackest day of his life, Taylor suffers, and changes threaten both men in Gunslinger Spawn #26.

 

Rating 8.8/10

 

For another dazzling cover see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.