Creative Team:
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Yanick Paquette
What They Say:
Following the events of ‘Brightest Day,’ Alec Holland has his life back…but the “Green” has plans for it. A monstrous evil is rising in the desert, and it’ll take a monster of another kind to defend life as we know it!
The Review:
With quite the history to the character of Swamp Thing and being one of the precursors to what would become the Vertigo line of comics, Swamp Thing was one of the titles I was most excited about when the New 52 launched to see how they would blend and bring in this part of the DC universe to the mainstream part of it. While the previous runs were dark and groundbreaking, the comics universe has changed since then with what you can do with the mainstream side. So getting a blend of the two, making that type of material more accessible, is quite the challenge. Having read the first two issues previously, it was quickly apparent that Scott Snyder know exactly what he’s doing and that Swamp Thing is the way to deal with this kind of material when bringing in more classic and familiar superheroes.
With so much history, Swamp Thing is instantly accessible in this new reworked timeline as we’re introduced to Alec Holland, a prominent scientist who came back to life just a few years earlier. The story we knew of him prior to the original Swamp Thing largely exists in that he was working on something that could change the world, but he ended up dying and becoming Swamp Thing. That time as Swamp Thing is what comprises all that came before, but as we learn from Holland, he didn’t really live it. As it turns out, the Green, that which binds and in a sense rules the plant kingdom, wasn’t able to do what they needed before Holland died and instead they created a replica of him that became Swamp Thing. It was him in every way, but not the same in the end. This is a fun little trick that allows you to not discount all that came before, but separate it from Holland in the here and now. But with Hollands revival, he’s also got all these memories from the Swamp Thing that did exist and he’s not sure how to process a lot of it.
His return to the world is obviously well timed as there are events going on which are baffling the superheroes, something we see through a brief Justice League montage early on as mysterious mass animal deaths are occurring and then suddenly stopping. Superman spends the most time here, checking up on him because of what he once was, and it’s a nice way to bind him firmly into the New 52 universe. For Holland, he just wants to stay out of all of this, live a simple life and try to figure out who he really is at this point in time. There’s so much going on in his head, the things he’s learned, and also what his whole research project would really lead to that it’s difficult to grapple with. The main thrust of it is that he had that change in understanding that the plant kingdom, thought to be beautiful and benign by many, is simply an intense amount of violence. But it’s one that plays out in very, very slow motion so most people never see it. But he does and the things he wanted to do could end up covering the world in this kind of violence, hence his retreat to simple work.
Unfortunately for him, life doesn’t always work out that way. The world is moving in its own directions and something significant is coming that will threaten everything. Or rather, has arrived and is causing more and more trouble. Holland’s reveal about all of this is through the arrival of… Swamp Thing. Or rather, a previous Swamp Thing as there have been many throughout history as is explained to him. The back story to the Green through this way is really nicely done as we see how over the millennia there has been a long battle fought between the Green and what’s called The Rot. Even the Red fights against it as the Rot will destroy everything. The Rot is just what it sounds like and the various “knights” of the Green took form in Swamp Things over all these years. Some people just have an affinity to the Green and the Green speaks to them, which in turn the ones most attuned would end up being drawn in as those knights. Holland was believed to be the prophesied one, the much needed Warrior King of the Green, that would deal with the Rot at the most pivotal of times.
And obviously, that time is now. But Holland wants nothing to do with it and is pushing back as much as he can against the idea of being drawn into it. Events obviously change along the way when the Rot becomes more real to him and not an abstract, but what’s done here to tweak it works really well. While he has a lot of memories from the past, he doesn’t feel the same connection to them in some cases, particularly when it comes to the white haired woman known as Abigail Arcane. The Green warns him away from her, but she ends up being the one that saves him several times and provides the most knowledge that he needs. The twist that I like, which may have been planted years ago in the original series that I can’t remember, in that she’s the avatar for the Rot. But when she spent time with the previous Swamp Thing, it reduced her hearing it and allowed her to not be drawn into its web. But with there being no Swamp Thing now as Holland refuses, she’s drawn even more into it. But she’s not the only member of the family and others are becoming significant pawns in the Rot’s plans as the volume plays out.
The story is fairly straightforward overall but what it does masterfully here is to not discount what came before while building upon and making this story its own. This Holland, the real Holland, is his own man who has not gone through all that we saw before. He knows it, understands a lot of it, but it wasn’t him. It’s almost like a huge movie that he’s all too aware of. So this allows what came before to exist but not burden the new reader because Holland is in kind of the same position. Holland’s very accessible here and his story as he grapples with what so many want him to be versus his uncertainty about what he wants works beautifully. What also helps immensely here is the beautiful artwork from Yanick Paquette. He brings us a very Vertigo-like book in terms of style, approach and panel layout while also making sure that it’s very much a Swamp Thing book. It feels so positively natural with the designs of the backgrounds and the aspects of the Green that we get that it’s very easy to visualize this as an amazing world. And honestly, so much of it feels like it should be treated as storyboards for a proper Swamp Thing film.
In Summary:
Prior to this series launch, it had been far, far too long since I really read the Swamp Thing series. I was a huge fan of it during the key runs that came before from some of the best creators that the comics industry had seen, both in terms of story and art as they blended together beautifully. With what Snyder and Paquette do here, they easily join those ranks with something that’s respectful but carves out its own path. And it’s only seven issues in so far for a series that had to appease the fears of longtime fans while being accessible to new fans. There’s a lot to treasure in here and it succeeds on just about all levels. This is the kind of starting point that you wish more series had even if they have such an immense history to it. Very highly recommended.
Grade: A-
