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Al Simmons (Page 1, 2) |
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References: |
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1-164, 166-173, 176-178, 180-185, 200, 226-227, 232, 234-235, 239-240, 243, 246, 250-313
CF5, S&T4, C10, C15, C16, C18, C24, C27, U1-U9, CY5
V2, V3, A1, A2, A3, BF1, BF2, BF3, BF4, Shadows, Res |
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Alias(es): |
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Spawn, Hellspawn, Lieutenant Colonel Albert Francis Simmons, The Chosen One, Jesse Smith |
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Back to Hell
 Eventually Spawn was forced to accept help from Cogliostro in order to regain control over his costume (50). The control was tenuous at best, however, and Spawn was warned not to expend any energy while in such a fragile state. Spawn planned to obey, but as always, fate forced Spawn to act. His friend Terry Fitzgerald lay in a hospital bed dying and it crushed Al to see his former wife Wanda in anguish. To spare her the pain, Spawn used his powers to save Terry at the risk of his own soul. When Terry violently regained consciousness, he grasped for Spawn and caught the lace with which Bobby had used to sew Al’s face together. In a flash, Spawn blinked out of our world and returned to Hell (50).
 Home again so to speak, Spawn faced many challenges. He blinked through several levels of Hell and had his face (50), heart, skin and symbiote ripped from him, encountered memories of his past kills (51), demons posing as his wife, and Billy Kincaid. Finally, he was confronted by Malebolgia, his hellish creator. Spawn attempted to barter with the demon, but soon discovered he had nothing to offer and was at Malebolgia’s mercy (53).
It was in Malebolgia’s interests to keep Spawn frustrated and on Earth, so Spawn soon found himself back in the alleys. Committed to using his time more wisely this time, however, Spawn struck a partnership with a surprising ally – his old friend Terry Fitzgerald (54).
Distractions
 Together again, Al and Terry planned to take down their boss Jason Wynn. With Terry’s skills put to use inside Wynn’s circle, Al carried out covert missions abroad much like he had done when he was alive. Al found it frustrating to move at Terry’s pace, however, and the partnership quickly became strained (59). Meanwhile, the Violator had returned to sew havoc once again.
Having only been back on Earth for a short time, Spawn was back in virtually the same situations as before. He wanted to lash out at Wynn but had to protect Wanda and her family, the Violator was pestering him and his circle of acquaintances, and he was becoming increasingly isolated in his alley once again. Then out of nowhere, a brief glimmer of hope appeared to Spawn. Without warning, his human face returned (62).
 Confused and excited by the return of his face, Al decided to reveal himself to Wanda and Jason Wynn, and he declared his intentions to Terry. This of course ruined their new partnership and drove a wedge between them (63). Al’s fortune was short lived – immediately before confronting Wynn, his face reverted to its gruesome, scarred, former-self (64). Al only discovered his regression shortly before visiting Wanda and the discovery was agonizing. He quickly tried to mend his relationship with Terry, but he had already spoiled the fragile bonds that still remained between them (66). Alone and frustrated once again, Spawn returned to the alleys.
A Third Player
In the alleys once more, Spawn discovered a place in which his powers disappeared and his costume would no longer function. Cog called the place the Dead Zone and believed it to be the domain of Heaven. When Spawn got caught in gunfire while in the Dead Zone, his head was blown off and it appeared that he was dead (again) (67-68).
Al was saved by the detectives Sam and Twitch, who drug Spawn out of the Dead Zone and watched in amazement as he regenerated. Once restored, Spawn quickly exacted vengeance on the cause of the alley violence – an insane man calling himself the Freak. Spawn used his powers in a new and gruesome way: he absorbed all the evil from the Freak into himself and then manifested it into physical form. The Freak’s evil became a swarm of insects, rats and other vermin that enveloped the Freak and suffocated him (70).
There would be no peace after the death of the Freak of course; a new threat quickly appeared to take his place. A huge, living pile of refuge called the Heap swallowed Spawn and then reverted to debris in the alley. Any sign of Al had disappeared, except the sigil left by a hellspawn when it is defeated (73-74).
His friends on Earth searched for him to no avail, because Al was no longer on Earth. Al found himself in a lush green paradise and thought briefly that he might be in Heaven again. Interrupting the peace, the plant-life attacked Spawn and immobilized him. He was then confronted by a creature calling itself the Keeper who explained Spawn’s situation to him (75).
Spawn was in a place called Greenworld, a third player in the battle for Earth. Greenworld disliked Heaven, Hell and mankind’s treatment of Earth and hated the war between Heaven and Hell. The Keeper warned Spawn that they would no longer sit idly by as the war used mother Earth as its battleground. They placed the burden of ending the war on Spawn, or else they would simply destroy mankind and thus remove Heaven and Hell’s prize from Earth (75).
As the Keeper was warning Spawn, on Earth Bootsy had revealed himself to be an angel in disguise. Against his orders, Bootsy intervened and summoned Al Simmons back to our reality and Spawn disappeared from Greenworld. Back in the alley, Spawn felt a new connection with nature and found that he could feel the pain of the city crying out to him – a “gift” from Greenworld (75).
Kincaid
 A new awareness had come to the Hellspawn. He looked at the world differently and had a new “sense” ever since visiting Greenworld - An ability that came in handy when an old nemesis returned to taunt him. The soul of Billy Kincaid had been returned to Earth by Hell and was inhabiting innocent people. Kincaid was viciously damning innocent souls to Hell by possessing people and the forcing them to act upon their darkest impulses. Once they had sinned beyond repair, Kincaid would abandon their bodies and move on to his next victim (78-81).
While trying to track Kincaid down, Spawn grew closer with detectives Sam and Twitch. At one point, Spawn even used his precious power supply to save Twitch from death (78). Together, the three were able to finally trap Billy Kincaid in the Dead Zone and return him to Hell; at the cost of the life of the innocent man Kincaid had possessed (85).
Quitting
 Spawn continued to struggle with the new feelings and senses that were bestowed upon him by Greenworld. He started having a series of hallucinations in which Al Simmons, the soldier, would visit him as a separate manifestation (86,93,95). Through these visions, Spawn tried to work out the situation he was in and find some semblance of peace. He finally came to the conclusion that he should no longer be a pawn of Hell. As he saw it, Al Simmons had made a deal with Malebolgia, but he was Spawn – Al Simmons was dead and buried. Thus, he was under no obligation to Hell or anyone else. He declared his independence to Cogliostro, and then vanished (86). His disappearance would not go unnoticed.
No Hellspawn had ever gone completely off-the-radar before. Confused, Heaven and Hell scrambled to action. They held a meeting in which a representative from Heaven, Cogliostro and Al’s childhood corruptor, Mammon (or Malefick as he had been known at the time) attended. Despite their distrust of one another, they soon found that each opposing side was just as clueless to Spawn’s whereabouts as the next (88).
As the powers that be tried to track him down, Spawn went on a journey to satisfy his own agenda. He visited souls around the world and tried to undo the damage Heaven and Hell had done. Spawn attempted to free troubled souls from supernatural influence and restore their free will (88-94). In some cases he was successful, others he was not. But regardless, for a time, he was able to evade Heaven and Hell and serve only himself. His independence came to an abrupt halt, however, when a series of events were triggered by a mysterious culprit that, if allowed to continue, would have triggered Armageddon.
To Be Continued... |
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