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box_in_the_box (box_in_the_box) wrote in scans_daily,

Looking back on this thing as a whole, I'm more inclined to classify it as a noble failure than anything else.

Part of the problem with the characters from Spawn, and especially Violator, is that they're not just utterly one-dimensional, but INTENTIONALLY so.

Thus, unlike Moore's work for Liefeld, who actually granted him license (albeit only temporarily) to go nuts in redesigning and adding depth and detail to Liefeld's characters and their world, Moore really seems constrained by McFarlane here, since McFarlane is a marginally more intelligent and self-conscious storyteller, which means that, when McFarlane's characters spin their wheels in a go-nowhere status quo, to a certain extent, it's on PURPOSE.

I mean, it's actually much EASIER to redeem characters when their creator pretty much says, "Yeah, whatever, dude, just go ahead and do whatever you want," as opposed to when a creator tells you - as it seems like McFarlane told Moore here - "Yeah, you can use my characters, but you can't have anything actually HAPPEN to them."

Watching Moore try to turn Violator into an interesting character, within those constraints, is like watching a brilliant mathematician trying to get five from two plus two - it's doomed to failure, but you can't help but admire the sheer brainpower that's being poured into it.