Action cartoons have had a hard time in the modern-day, and the subgenre of adult-oriented cartoons have remained in the wheelhouse of The Simpsons or Family Guy. For one brief moment, those two underpopulated art forms crossed paths, and the ultimate trendsetter for that movement should have been 1997's Spawn.
Todd McFarlane and Image Comics' Spawn is one of the most legendary figures of the nineties' era edge in the history of comic books. An eclectic mixture of amoral mercenary, demonic monstrosity, and vengeful anti-hero; Spawn was destined for a massive fan-base of teenage boys, which he easily found.
Spawn was adapted for television by prolific screenwriter Alan B. McElroy in 1997, five years after the first appearance of the character in the comics. The series ran for three seasons on HBO, with a total of just 18 episodes. The eponymous anti-hero is portrayed by the incredible Keith David, a performance so outstanding that he still returns to the role on occasion decades later. The series is a direct adaptation of the comics, bringing a variety of fan-favorite characters to the screen for the first time.
The plot follows Al Simmons, a master assassin in the employ of the US government. While on assignment, Simmons is betrayed and burned alive by a fellow killer. Simmons winds up in Hell, for a variety of understandable reasons, and makes a deal with a devil called Malebolgia. Simmons agrees to serve Malebolgia in Hell's army, in exchange for a chance to see his beloved wife again. He is subsequently returned to Earth, only to find five years have passed, and his wife has remarried and moved on. Now trapped with a limited amount of power, Simmons takes on the name Spawn and begins both a life of fighting evil and a quest for vengeance.
Spawn's adventures involve tons of sex, violence, and an almost comical amount of profanity. His supporting cast includes sex criminals, warrior angels, nightmarish demons, and countless professional murderers. It's unquestionably an action series, centering around Spawn's hugely overpowered arsenal of guns and magic. Unlike the average comic book superhero, Spawn kills countless enemies with reckless abandon. The show's dumbest moments come in the form of its commitment to its TV-MA rating. It's hugely excessive, reveling in its adults-only elements to the point of being silly a fair percentage of the time. Spawn, both the show and the character in general, is a perfect example of something being so mature it comes full-circle to being childish. Though the series was far from perfect, the elements that did work could have served as a jumping-off point for an ecosystem of animated series in the same model.
The trouble with adult animation is that it is almost always the playground of puerile immaturity. Spawn's a great example, often wasting screen time with pointless gore or punctuating every sentence with a swear word. This is a very self-defeating method of approaching the simple concept of cartoons for adults. Live-action shows divide themselves by target age group, but not every prestige drama or studio comedy has to fall back on sex and blood in every scene. Adult-oriented cartoons can focus on challenging themes, deal with grounded real-world topics, and craft intelligent stories for mature audiences. Mature animated series must grow past the simple excesses allowed by the elevated Parental Guidelines rating and start learning from the mistakes of shows like Spawn.
There are countless comic book series created with adult audiences in mind, from parodies like The Boys to more mature takes on classic characters, like Batman: Hush. It would be a fun and simple concept to create more adult-oriented comic book adaptations like Spawn. Countless fans were introduced to Spawn and his sprawling world through the animated series and stuck with the fan base as the comics continued. With this in mind, imagine something with the writing quality of Batman: The Animated Series, without the boundaries that were once imposed by typical cartoons. Though series of that quality did often manage to push the envelope, a series given free rein over its content could delve even deeper into its challenging topics. It could be truly great if allowed to transcend both the restrictions of cartoons for kids and the excesses of cartoons for adults.
Animation is such a powerful art form, it's tragic that it's so often restricted by simple cultural norms. The anime market has figured out this problem, creating a wide variety of content for every age group, often without succumbing to the overdone gross-out humor and gruesome violence. Today, there is the occasional standout, like Invincible, but they remain few and far between. Animation could be the delivery system for horror, action, comedy, romance and so much more with the proper execution. The Spawn animated series is the perfect example of both what could be achieved and where they often go wrong, and it should be viewed as a lesson to all others that attempt this genre.