We’re celebrating 30 years of Image Comics with everything from my pull list, and that brings us to the second book I was reading back in August of 1992: Spawn #3.

It starts with a full page close-up of Spawn himself as he suddenly recalls that his ex-wife’s name is Wanda Blake. He decides to head to the headquarters of the CIA, his former employers. He’s going to dig up Wanda’s file in order to track her down. He thinks about how he used to think of that as an invasion of privacy, but now he just wants his old life back.

His memories are slowly returning to him, and he knows the devil’s playing with him. He knows there are a lot of unanswered questions he needs to solve, like who the clown was that he met in the alley.

Nobody From Hell Trusts Anybody

Elsewhere, Malebolgia laughs as he watches from his throne. He continues his plot to expand his army and use Spawn to aid in gathering the requisite soldiers. He’s glad he sent several other followers to check in on him, as no one from hell truly trusts each other.

Meanwhile Sam and Twitch, the officers we’ve met before, are poring over the casework that’s been piling up with the mob heart surgeon killings. Outside, the Violator prowls the alleys, singing songs to himself about murder.

The File on Wanda Blake

At CIA headquarters, Spawn breaks in to find Billy Miller sexually harassing his secretary Linda, who’s already married. Spawn picks him up by the throat and warns him to keep it in his pants. He then takes the file on Wanda Blake and retreats into the night. Malebolgia laughs as Spawn uses violence, which he loves and yearns for.

On the rooftop, Spawn reads that she had started a fund in his name, and he maps the information to her current location. This is where the big guy realizes something is off. He can’t figure out why she would move, until further into the file he finds out Wanda is remarried.

The Doorbell

Outside of Wanda’s house, Spawn uses his necroplasm energy to transform into a white guy yet again. He rings the doorbell and is beside himself with how beautiful she is. When a small child named Cyan comes to the door, he faints.

Upon waking up, he finds out Wanda has married Terry Fitzgerald, and together they had Cyan. He’s belittled, as he could not have children with Wanda, and now he understands how the devil’s playing with him. He’s showing him that his wife has moved on, remarried and had children. Spawn leaves, wishing her happiness.

The Violator Takes His Heart

In a nearby alley, Spawn’s spell wears off and he loses his mind, raging against the devil, as the clown walks up and threatens him again. This time he transforms into his true form, the Violator, right in front of him.

Spawn is slightly surprised, and the Violator takes advantage of the distraction and quickly plunges his hand into his chest, ripping out his heart. Spawn collapses on the ground, dead. The Violator struts away, shocked that Malebolgia’s favorite human is already dead.

Then the Violator hears “who said anything about being human?” from behind him, and turns.

Don’t ask me why that was Batman’s voice, by the way. I don’t know. Sorry.

But he turns around to see Spawn rejuvenated, and he’s got green necroplasm that’s kind of healing his heart wound.

So there you go, now you know. Were you reading Spawn back in 1992? The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.