The true origin of Spawn‘s Violator has finally been revealed, and it is nothing like what fans were expecting.

Violator #1 brings readers back millions of years to the era when the angels were still busy forming the cosmos in the name of their almighty creator. There, the angel Baziel falls prey to the words of Lucifer Morningstar, who convinces him that the creator’s love for humanity will be the ultimate testament to how little he cares for their own kind. Over the course of several secret meetings, Baziel discovers that the detritus left over from the act of creation can serve as a living armor of sorts, which he uses to outfit Lucifer’s army. Tragically, when Baziel is struck down, this oozing power is nowhere to be found when he plummets from the heavens, leaving him to emerge from the ensuing crater as the twisted Violator instead.

Written by MARC ANDREYKO Art by PIOTR KOWALSKI Colors by BRAD SIMPSON Letters by ANDWORLD DESIGN Cover art by PIOTR KOWALSKI, FRANCESCO MATTINO and TODD MCFARLANE

Introduced in 1992’s Spawn #2 by Todd McFarlane as the Clown, this pint-sized horror was always an off-putting figure, to say the least. Soon enough, the Clown would reveal its true form as the demonic Violator, one of Hell’s infamous Phlebiac brothers. Like all of his brethren, the Violator had a specific task passed down to him by the former ruler of Hell, Malebolgia, specifically to train and evaluate new Hellspawn.

In the years since, the Violator has gone on to take bigger and more evil roles than simply being an overseer of Hell’s army or a monstrous enemy for Al Simmons to beat down. Apart from being killed and resurrected on numerous occasions, the Violator has gone on to amass power that would have been unimaginable at the outset of his demonic career. The Violator has even managed to confront the likes of Cogliostro head-on without losing his life, more than cementing his place in the wider Spawn mythos.

Violator is one of ten new series set within the Spawn Universe that are set to give readers a whole host of places to begin their Image Comics journey following the release of the milestone issue Spawn #350. Before the issue’s release, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane explained that it was “an oddly good jumping-on point for people who are new to the title and/or lapsed readers.” He added, “You’re going to get this answer to this question of who’s going to finally take over the throne after 250 issues. So you don’t even have to read the previous 250 issues. You just have to know there was a vacancy.”

Violator #1 is on sale now from Image Comics.

Source: Image Comics