Author: Trafficblast

The Comic Book History Of Spawn

Spawn is getting a movie reboot starring Jamie Foxx, with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane as director! So who is Spawn? Ryan dives into Spawn’s convoluted origin story from Image Comics.

by Ryan Peterson on June 1, 2018 at 8:00PM

With the announcement of a new Spawn movie starring Jamie Foxx coming out in the near future, many people may be wondering, “Who is Spawn?” Well, the Image Comics character has quite a convoluted history, but we’ll do our best to break it down for you.

Spawn first debuted in 1992 in Spawn #1, which took the comic book world by storm, selling more than 1.7 million copies, a crazy-high number for a indie comic book. For comparison, The Walking Dead #163 was one of the highest selling indie books in decades and that sold 730,000 copies.

The comic was written and drawn by Todd McFarlane and revolved around the afterlife of Al Simmons. In life, he was a Marine, in the CIA, and a highly trained assassin. However, Simmons was betrayed by his friends and murdered while on a mission, and because Simmons killed so many people, he ended up in Hell.

He left behind a wife and desperately wanted to get back to her, so Simmons made a deal with the demon Malebolgia: He sold his soul to make it back to Earth. However, there was a catch; Simmons returned to Earth five years later as a Hellspawn, and his body was burnt to a crisp. He also discovered his wife had moved on, remarried, and had a child.

Simmons, now as Spawn, quickly learned from a demonic clown named Violator that his job was now to do Malebolgia’s bidding, which involved killing a lot of people with his newfound demonic powers and super-sweet cape. Simmons isn’t the only person to become Spawn though. Throughout the years, a few others have taken on the mantle, including Sir John of York from medieval times.

If you want to learn more about just who this character is and all of his super-powers, check out the video above, which has all the details.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding Nintendo at E3 2018. The company has achieved massive success with the Switch thanks to its hybrid functionality and fantastic roster of games. And with highly-anticipated games in its upcoming lineup, like Super Smash Bros., Metroid Prime 4, and Pokemon, many are clamoring for more details and announcements. In addition, Nintendo continues to support the 3DS, consistently announcing compelling new games for the handheld. For both platforms, it’s fair to say the focus is going to be on gameplay and trailers for many of the games we already know are releasing this holiday, as well as a slate of new and unannounced games.

Here, in alphabetical order, are some of the biggest Switch and 3DS games we’re fairly certain are going to be at E3 in some form or another. Hopefully most of them are playable, but even if some oprnly show up as a trailer, it’s another chance to get a feel for what lies ahead. Many of these titles have been announced, but others are ones we’re guessing based on the list of companies on the official E3 homepage.

The first potential look we’ll get at most of these games will be during the press conferences before E3 even begins. To make sure you’re up to date with the times as well as the location for our E3 video streams, we have a hub rounding up all of that info as well.

The following games are only a potential sampling of all the exciting titles that will come out of E3, and be sure to check out our editor’s picks for the games we’re most anticipating. But in the meantime, what games do you hope to learn more about at the show? Let us know in the comments below!

Solo: A Star Wars Story tells the tale of famed space scoundrel Han Solo–and we mean the whole story. This movie covers how Han met Chewie, how he met Lando, how he won the Millennium Falcon, how he completed the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, where he got his iconic blaster, and even how he got his name. If that sounds like a lot of origin to cram into one movie, it’s because it is. But those aren’t the only Star Wars references in Solo–not by a long shot.

In fact, Solo doubtless features more Star Wars Easter eggs, references, inside jokes, and callbacks than we could possibly spot ourselves. There’s even one that Dryden Vos actor Paul Bettany was sworn to secrecy over–and we still have no idea what he’s referring to.

That said, we did our best. Here’s every Star Wars Easter egg and reference in Solo we’ve spotted so far. What’s your favorite? Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below.

And don’t miss our other Solo coverage, including our history of the Millennium Falcon, where Solo takes place in the Star Wars timeline, whether C-3PO gets his usual cameo, and everything you need to know about the Star Wars card game sabacc. And since you’re not worried about spoilers, we even have a rundown of Solo’s most shocking cameo.

There’s plenty of exciting new games that we’re eager to see more of at E3 2018. With so many major companies bringing their best games to the show, there’s likely to be a fair amount of surprises in store. Despite the recent leaks, we’re hoping that this year’s show yields an assortment of notable announcements worth getting hyped up towards.

Here, in alphabetical order, are some of the biggest games we’re most looking forward to seeing. Many of these titles have been confirmed, but others are titles we’re guessing at based on the list of companies on the official E3 homepage.

The first potential look we’ll get at most of these games will be during the press conferences before E3 even begins. We’re hoping many of the games listed here are playable, but even if some only show up as a brief teaser, it’s still another chance to get a feel for what’s ahead. To make sure you’re up to date with the times as well as the location for our E3 livestreams, we have a hub rounding up all of that info as well.

Like previous shows, this year’s E3 will likely yield plenty of exciting announcements. While this feature contains only a selection of the games we’re most excited about, you can check out our other more comprehensive features covering all of the biggest PS4, Xbox One, and Switch games at E3 2018. But what games are you most excited to see at the show? Let us know in the comments below!

Microsoft has launched another set of games to be added to its all-you-can-eat Game Pass service on Xbox One, this time for June 2018. Those include a brand-new co-op dungeon crawler along with several other games joining the service.

The headliner of the bunch is Next Up Hero, a co-op dungeon crawler that has you gather loot and upgrade your skills. Every time you die you’ll leave behind an echo, which can be raised by the next hero to fight as an AI companion. It will come sometime in June, alongside its debut on the store for non-subscribers to purchase.

Before that, though, June 1 brought a rich bounty of new additions. That saw the additions of MotoGP 17, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, The Technomancer, Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut, and Disneyland Adventures. Those joined the growing list of Xbox Game Pass games. Game Pass gives unlimited access to a pretty large collection, for a subscription fee of $10 per month.

Microsoft has been adding a handful of new games to the service every month, often with a single headliner new release that’s added the same day as it becomes available to purchase for non-subscribers. Microsoft’s first-party Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 were both the big-ticket items of their respective months.

The Pokemon invasion of your Nintendo Switch has begun. The “free to start” RPG Pokemon Quest is already available, and a new core Pokemon game is heading our way in late 2019. But the lovable critters aren’t done with Switch yet. Coming November 16, 2018 are Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee, a pair of games designed for newcomers to the franchise and for players who got their start with the mobile game Pokemon Go.

Developed by Game Freak, the makers of the core Pokemon titles, these Let’s Go games share some DNA with Pokemon Go. Instead of battling the monsters to catch them, you’ll collect them by tossing Poke Balls at them. You can even transfer Pokemon from Go to Let’s Go via Bluetooth. We also know that the first 150 Pokemon as well as their Alolan forms from Sun and Moon would appear in the Let’s Go titles.

We have a lot more information about these games in our article Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu And Eevee: Everything We Know So Far, so check that out to satisfy your curiosity. But if you’re ready to lock in your pre-order for one (or both) of these games, you’ll probably want to know where to find them, how much they’ll cost, and what–if any–extra goodies you can expect to come with them. We have you covered below.

Pre-Order Bonus

Currently, there’s only one pre-order bonus available for Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, and it’s retailer-specific. If you buy the game from Pokemon Center (while supplies last), you’ll get a plush keychain featuring the corresponding Pokemon.

Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu!

Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee!