REVIEW: Sam and Twich- Case Files #1

From the world of Spawn, this duo of detectives has been solving mysteries and kicking ass since day 1. Sam and Twitch relaunched with a whole new series, written by Todd McFarlane himself and co-written by Jon Goff; this new series is here to break some bones.

Sam’s informant is out playing Mario Kart, and Detective Sam Burke is not having it. After breaking the kid’s nose, Sam must face the chief of police’s wrath, and in true Sam Burke fashion, he pisses yet another person off. However, this time his partner Twitch is having none of it. This comic reads 100% like a movie. From its weird panel layouts and even weirder “not really word balloons,” it seems like this is a storyboard for a new dark Netflix TV series, in line with the likes of Dexter and Hannibal.

The story is very easy to read and puts Sam mostly as the main character of this issue, with Twitch coming in as a supporting character. At the end of the issue, however, certain things are set up to make us feel like this is going to change, and the lens will be focusing more on Twitch, who personally I think is a much more complex character than Sam is. Twitch’s aloof, intelligent demeanor works very well to contrast Sam’s burly and brutish personality. It is mostly a dramatic piece with a few bits of comedy strewn about, like the part at the beginning with the informant character describing in vivid detail a Mario Kart match. I found this to be quite funny, even if it felt out of place for a comic in the murder mystery/horror/drama genre. Speaking of horror, I think this issue will lean heavily on horror motifs, and the art style seems to be foreshadowing this.

The art is quite good regarding action poses, environment designs, and overall composition, yet the whole thing has an element of uncanniness. It is not quite cartoony as we have seen in the past with previous issues of the dynamic duo, but it’s also not fully realistic art either. It’s more of a weird mix of grungy texture over top semi-realistic character drawings. I’m not 100% sold on it yet, because while it does drive the point home that this is a mature story, there is a side of me that enjoyed the cartoonishness of the original “Spawn-o-Verse” comics. That being said, this style of semi-realistic cartooning lends itself very well toward making you feel like you’re reading a storyboard for a movie, and this could be an easy bridge from the paper format to the big screen if ever that is the direction to be taken. There are a few memorable moments in the comic, like when Sam breaks the kid’s nose, or when Twitch cuts Sam’s face with a razor blade. But the most awestricken moment has to be the ending cliffhanger with all the bodies chopped into pieces; this page alone is gut-wrenching. Thinking about it now almost makes me want to puke. It’s some hardcore stuff, and I’m not sure if something so grotesque could be this impactful if it had been drawn in the usual cartoony style of the “Spawn-o-Verse.”

While the script itself is a banger, with quick dialogue, easy-to-follow lore, and very good timing, I am not so sure that I like the lettering. The font choice seems like something you would get out of your standard computer font library, and there are no sound effects anywhere to be found. The choice of foregoing word balloons to instead have free-floating text continues to make me feel like the major choice here was to create a comic that feels like a movie, and while this was achieved, perhaps a motion comic launched on YouTube would have been a better way to go.

While I am not a huge Spawn fan (art yes, story-wise not so much), my favorite part of the whole McFarlane universe has always been Sam and Twitch. They were always a grounding element in an otherwise fantastical universe. That being said, there were several choices made in this first issue that make me question whether or not I will ultimately enjoy this series, hopefully, more than previous installments to the franchise. The writing is amazing, the art is good but not my cup of tea in some parts, the horror elements are fantastic, and the lettering feels more like closed captions in a movie than actual comic lettering, resulting in an interesting feeling of “I want to read more, but this could be disappointing.”

In conclusion, is this a title to look out for? Heck yeah! It’s written by McFarlane, and it’s a Sam and Twitch joint. This is going to be an interesting read, but for established fans of the detectives, this could take a little time to get used to. It feels a lot more serious than previous entries, and while Sam and Twitch have always been serious characters, the semi-realistic art style and movie-esque panels and lettering push to read this less like a comic and more like a movie storyboard. Bear that in mind as you pick this up next from your local comic book store.

Writing: 5 Stars
Art: 3 Stars
Colors: 5 Stars

Overall: 4 Stars

Written by: Todd McFarlane & Jon Goff
Illustrated by: Szymon Kudranski
Coloring by: Fco Plascencia
Lettering by: Tom Orzechowski
Cover art by: Kevin Keane
Variant Covers by: Todd McFarlane
Published by: Image Comics

Sam & Twitch: Case Files #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, March 27

Reviewed by Antonio “Mabs”