“Spawn: The Animated Series” makes “Batman: The Animated Series” look like “The Wizard Of Oz”. This is a dark, dark, dark cartoon that really brings you into the ugly, grim and disturbing world it creates. It’s interesting just how good this series is considering how woeful the live-action film adaptation of “Spawn” was.

Al Simmons (Keith David “The Thing”, “The Princess and the Frog”) is a government agent, who is killed by his own agency while on an assignment. After making a pact with Malebolgia (the overlord of the eight plane of Hell), Simmons returns to Earth years after his death as ‘Spawn’. He tries to avenge his death and protect the wife he left behind but must also try to escape his demonic destiny.

Keith David does a superb job at voicing Spawn. He manages to sound sinister while still retaining an element of humanity as he is a tortured soul. Spawn looks absolutely fantastic here as he lurks in the shadows with those bright green eyes often being the first thing his enemies notice. The villains are definitely not as memorable as Batman’s foes but some of them are interesting. We never really do get to see Malebolgia though. The other characters are entertaining. The animation on all the characters is tremendous.

Whether or not this show is better than “Batman: The Animated Series” is debatable but what is clear is that they are both excellent 90s superhero cartoons. Please do not mistake this for a kids’ show as it is full of gore, nudity and has many disturbing themes such as racial violence, prostitution and child molestation. It’s sad that this show ended when it did because we never got much of a resolution. If you haven’t seen “Spawn: The Animated Series” then make sure you do and ignore the truly awful live-action film.