It has to be a tough job to follow Alan Moore. No matter who the writer is, and no matter what the comic is, trying to one-up or continue what Moore wrote is a tough sell. Scott Snyder is certainly going to go for broke when it comes to Swamp Thing. A character who hasn’t had any relevance for years, Snyder has literally brought him and Alec Holland back from the dead to give his own spin on the character. He’s trying to do it without going fully into the well of Alan Moore but give us just enough of that previous run as a ‘spine’ for the story. He did a pretty good job with the first issue giving us a complete rundown of the character and now it’s time to really start this epic story he has plan….Boy did I wish the exposition stopped after the first issue.

You all know my love for Scott Snyder; he’s been a really good friend to me on twitter since he started in comics. So it pains me to say this because I know he’s going to read this eventually but….This feels like a first time writer doing his first ever comic. You know why I felt like that while reading this? Because of the endless exposition and the seemingly needless explanation for who, what, and why Swamp Thing exists. Yes it’s a character that people will have little knowledge of, even from the die hard comic fans. But there was a point where I literally had to put the comic down because the sixth straight page of endless wordballoons got to me. It’s not that this issue is written terribly, I want to put that out there. What’s in these word balloons and the progression of the story is really good. But Swamp Thing seemingly going into a massive encyclopedia history of himself and the ‘Parliament of Trees’ was just too much for one issue. At the end of the day I was more confused on the history of this Parliament then anything else. The rest of the issue, where ‘Sethe’ victims are trying to kill Holland worked because Snyder is always great at tension and horror elements. But I say a good 90% of this issue is this exposition for Swamp Thing and it just was too much in my opinion.

For the most part, Paquette’s art is really good in this. There is a lot of great detail in the panels with the plants throughout the issue. Moments like the WWI pilot getting consumed by veins or the close detail to Swamp Thing in general is really impressive. I’m also still creeped out by Sethe and his victims, especially since they’re practically dead with those twisted necks. My big problem with the art is the layouts while they are impressive, there are a lot of times where they are confusing to follow. The one two-page spread of Swamp Thing explaining Holland’s purpose (pgs. 10-11) is the biggest criminal. I could not follow where the discussion was going for a solid minute and that’s a big sin in comics. What made it more confusing is that he lays out pages exactly the same. So even if two pages together aren’t made to be a spread, it looks like it which is where the confusion lies.

A second issue of a comic book is always a gamble, always. It’s like in television where the second episode has a big responsibility to repeat the pilot but add to it as well. Scott Snyder is a great writer, and I still think he’s ‘the’ best DC has right now. But he unfortunately shot himself in the foot with this issue by needlessly explaining the history of Swamp Thing with an almost endless exposition scene. Add to some confusing, and poor, layout choices by Paquette and it’s a bit of a disappointment of a second issue it must be said. It’s not like this is a terrible issue nor does it mean I’m gonna drop this series. I just hope with two issues out, explaining both sides of Swamp Thing and Alec Holland we can finally get going somewhere with this series.