The creator of Spawn, Todd McFarlane, has a specific line in mind whenever he considers the main idea of the character and his series.
Although Spawn is best remembered and most closely associated with being Detroit's Lt. Colonel Al Simmons, several characters have taken up the mantle of Spawn. Daniel Llanso, Ken Kurosawa, and Jim Downing are other notable names to have taken up the mantle of being a hellspawn of the earth. When a story as richly complex as Spawn features multiple protagonists over a period of time, it makes it difficult to tightly tie the series into a singular core theme or idea when it can't be connected strictly to a core protagonist. Thankfully, there is no better source for key context on Spawn's main theme than Todd McFarlane.
At San Diego Comic-Con, Screen Rant spoke with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and asked, "What do you think is the thematic core of Spawn?" and his response drilled down to the character and series' main theme.
It's one line, “I will die a freeman.” Because I hope they put that on my grave. Right? It's like, I'm not saying that the decisions that I and Spawn make are right or wrong. I'm not saying he's a better hero than anybody else. I'm saying he's a flawed man. And he's gonna make a bunch of stupid decisions just like me. But, at the end, he just wants as many of those decisions to have been in his hands.
Long before Todd McFarlane reverberated the line for Spawn, "I will die a freeman" is a quote that has been echoed in numerous moments across time, as early as Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address in which he addressed "a nation of freemen" who must serve as "author and finisher" in life. In 2010, then-United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, spoke these words in honor of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. “I know that when I die, I will die a free man, on my feet, not on my knees, with my head up, not bowed to any man.”
This quote describes Spawn to a tee, especially Al Simmons' version. Albert Francis Simmons served as a dedicated member of the CIA until his people were no longer in need of his services and, therefore, assassinated Simmons. Once he becomes a hellspawn, rather than strictly serve hell as its primary minion, he set forth on his own anti-heroic journey. Simmons decides to dedicate his life (or, rather, what's left of it) to being the free man he was destined to be. He uses his free will to go on a journey that satisfies his own hellbound soul.
Al Simmons, Spawn, was born a freeman, and as long as he uses his free will to work on his own terms, he will die a free man. As Todd McFarlane points out, Spawn is a man with flaws and questionable methods, but he can be an inspiration for others because, for better or worse, he is a free man making these decisions on his own terms.
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