Origin

Samuel Burke was born and grew up in the slums of Manhattan. At school he learned to be tough, since most of his peers would be future criminals, and at that age were already dangerous. Perhaps if Sam had followed the same path, he would have lived the criminal life. His parents had sent him to a fine private school. There, he managed to get a place despite the difficulty of being in a poor neighborhood. Upon graduation, he joined the army, where he learned about life and how things work. Sam was soon promoted to corporal, with an office job, and sent to Germany for the rest of his service. He was generally hated by enlisted soldiers; thanks to his access to personal records. His return to civilian life was as a confident man with a strong attitude, but his attachment to the uniform patrol made ​​him turn to his old neighborhood. He had changed so much that Sam had become more violent to make a difference. It's normal for most of the accusations of police brutality to be against him; yet Sam never seems to be caught. Despite this, Sam is still a good man. His partner is the sniper Max "Twitch" Williams, the only person he feels comfortable around. Together, they have make a great deterrent for crime in the city. They were eventually contacted by Cogliostro, who commissioned them to be the nexus of Spawn's abilities with their humanity. Sam Burke originally worked at the NYPD, until he and Twitch were fired by corrupt police Chief Banks for snooping deeper into his involvement with Billy Kincaid. After they were fired, they started running their own private detective office.

Other media

Todd McFarlane's Spawn

Sam Burke appeared in the HBO miniseries with his partner Twitch Williams. He was voiced by James Keane. He is one of New York City's best detectives.Sam Burke is a crude cop but his heart is in the right place and he always gets the job done. When he’s with his partner, Twitch (and when isn’t he?), they are able to solve almost any crime that is thrown their way. This makes them one powerful duo and leads to both a lot of respect and hate around the office.

When it was revealed that Chief Banks tried to murder Twitch, Sam nearly put a bullet through Banks mouth. Twitch told him to back off and Sam relented reluctantly. Sam emptied Banks pistol, but left one bullet in and gave it back to Banks. After Sam and Twitch left the train, Banks pulled the trigger and scattered his brains across the train window.