Peter Cairn is an ex-soldier, an amputee, and a Hellspawn in a post-war future. But Peter’s not dead like Al. Peter got his Spawn powers from the nanites in his prosthetic legs-nanites that were affected when Al Simmons initiated his necroplasmic detonation in the present. Al had no clue that the effects would ripple across not just space, and but time as well. Rat City #1 delivers a middling entry in the Spawn mythos.

Written by Erica Schultz, Rat City #1 has a lot of potential going in. Set in the future, it could deliver an interesting take on Spawn and technology. But instead, we get a drawn out debut that is rather boring in the end teasing what could have been. Schultz is a talented writer whose work on Hallow’s Eve, Bylines in Blood, and more have delivered some entertaining reads. But, all of that makes Rat City #1 a bit more of a letdown.

The concept of a future Spawn is interesting. One, who is powered by nanites delivers an ample opportunity for an exploration into AI, technology, and “ghosts in the machines.” But, Rat City #1 gives us a debut that drags on introducing us to Peter Cairn, not enough setting up what’s the clear villains, and unfortunately ties into something Al Simmons has done. I haven’t read the main Spawn series for quite some time, so a “necroplasmic detonation” has little interest for me and makes me, a “new” reader, feel like I need to go read whatever is going on in Spawn to really understand what’s happening with this comic.

Schultz delivers an interesting character in Cairn. While he does horrible things, he also comes off as having some set of rules. And Schultz presents him as a discarded soldier which again has a lot of potential. Where the comic falls short is really mining that. Diving into a soldier no longer needed and discarded by a healthcare system is something that could set itself apart from the other Spawn series. But, with teases of conspiracy and the technology/healthcare company just presented as assholes, the comic takes its most interesting aspects and minimizes them. Cairn attempts to live a normal life after everything, but the comic doesn’t spend enough time exploring that, building up Cairn as a character. Add in some bad dialogue and overall it’s a debut of missed opportunity.

The art by Zé Carlos has its moments and overall style is nice but it too feels like a missed opportunity. With color by Jay David Ramos, FCO Plascencia, and Marcello Iozolli and lettering by Schultz the design of the world and characters are rather uninspired. While it looks good, we’ve seen tech enhanced characters in Wetworks and Cyberforce and each has much more interesting designs. The world itself looks like The Fifth Element as well, leaving a lot to be desired as far as the creativity of it all.

Rat City #1 feels like an interesting opportunity that falls short. It ties itself a bit too much to whatever is going on in Spawn instead of building upon themes and concepts from the original series in new and interesting ways. While there’s a lot of potential, it drags along not using the extra-length issue to make its main character interesting and one we want to learn more about. Add in some rather odd dialogue and you have a debut that’s serviceable but doesn’t hook the reader. Unless you’re really into Spawn and the “necroplasmic detonation,” this is one you can generally skip.

Story: Erica Schultz Art: Zé Carlos
Color: Jay David Ramos, FCO Plascencia, Marcello Iozolli Letterer: Erica Schultz
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.3 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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