He felt the production team "shamelessly and brilliantly... transplanted" the character of Spike into the series. Richard Edwards of "SFX" magazine also gave particular praise to Marsters portrayal and like Martin, stated that he "steals the show". Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy felt Hart's arrival to be "self-consciously iconic" in providing "swagger, innuendo and a wonderful "Star Wars" reference". He felt that overall the characterisation verged "dangerously close to parody at times" but this didn't detract from Marsters being "a joy to watch, in a similar vein to his role in "Buffy"." Charlie Jane Anders commented in regards to the episode that ""Spike" is pretty great in his Adam Ant jacket, with his paralyzing lip gloss and his zany sexual innuendo". IGN felt John to be a "lot of fun" and a "good character to add to the mix" who showed the team "just how much of a mess they are". In regards to "Exit Wounds" Anders felt that the "campy" John "felt like he didn't quite belong in such a serious episode". Conversely, Mark Wright of "The Stage" opined that the character was "rather better second time round". "SFX"s Edwards felt the character to be "not as fun" as in episode one but observed that his "heroic side makes for a more rounded character" and anticipated a return in future. IGN's Travis Fickett felt Hart to be "a far more interesting adversary" than Jack's brother Gray and once he had been unmasked as a "red herring" the episode "has some life taken out of it". Subsequent to his last appearance, the character has continued to be mentioned in relation to "Torchwood". In June 2010—following the announcement of a fourth series to be produced as an American co-production—Dan Martin felt that James Marsters would be the "obvious first box to tick" in regards to new cast members for the programme. In March 2012, John Hart made "SFX" magazine's reader voted list of the 100 sexiest male characters in the history of film and television science fiction and fantasy. He ranked #82.