REVIEW: Swamp Thing #4

Cover by Yannick Paquette

Swamp Thing #4

Written by Scott Snyder
Pencils by Marco Rudy
Inks by Marco Rudy, Sean Parsons, Michael Lacombe
Color by David Baron
Letters by Travis Lanham
Cover by Yanick Paquette & Nathan Fairbairn

DC Comics / 32 Pages / $2.99

“Whatever death is in you, he can make it bloom.” 

Last month, bubble-boy Billy Arcane made his tumorous debut as a wet-behind-the-ears agent of the Rot. Sealed away from the wide world for much of his life in a remote hospital, the boy has realized his innate ability to summon and augment cellular decay to murderous effect. He’s escaped, leaving a trail of unrecognizable victims in his wake.

Simply put, the problem has metastasized.

One step behind, road warrior Abby Arcane and a reluctant Alec Holland are now left to pick up the pieces. They trace the spread of decay to a quaint Texas diner, where fill-in artist Marco Rudy unearths a moldering image of Norman Rockwell Americana, now racked with hematoma. Death found the heartland, and it ordered dessert.

Though not as dense with exposition as the series’ second issue, this fourth episode comes close with another hallucinatory dialogue between Alec and the Parliament. Fortunately, this extended dream sequence offers enough revelations to keep things mostly compelling. Yes, there were dinosaur Swamp Things. And cave-dwelling Swamp Things from the looks of it. So long as there’s been life–both flora and fauna–it has done battle with the Other. That’s a neat idea, and it might be fun to see more of it. That said, exploring too much of the Parliament’s history could very well rob it of its crucial mystique. Here, it’s a tantalizing glimpse behind the thicket and might be as close an examination of such things as we need.

Though Rudy does an admirable job of aping regular series artist Yanick Paquette’s visual style in a number of sequences, the book’s three inkers aren’t exactly consistent. The image of dinosaur Swamp Things, for example, is sadly one of the book’s weaker sections, though coloring may also play a role in the muddiness of the scene. Alternatively, other pages manage to capture Paquette’s stunning art nouveau layouts with circular inserts and ornate detail. There’s also a wonderful page we’ll call the yin yang moment, with Abby and Alec curled up beside each other–though not touching. Yin yang probably suggests spooning, but the harmony and discord here is in the scenery around them, and what it says about their very complex relationship. If you know it, you know it. If you don’t you’ll find out.

Now that we know more about Alec’s role in this coming battle, it’s likely we’ll see more forward momentum. William Arcane is already in motion as a key antagonist for the series, but it’s his sister Abby’s role that serves as the real carrot. Alec’s resurrection and distance from the Swamp Thing persona (or maybe it’s his close proximity) makes this new relationship with Abby a tense and complicated one. The addition of William and the Arcane family’s ties to the Other should make things even more tumultuous. So, if it’s taken an extended period of time to set these things in motion, Alec’s inevitable return to the Green and his role as Swamp Thing may prove to be all the more triumphant. Or, let’s say satisfying. Triumph doesn’t quite fit this variety of tragic hero.

So, we’re saying, patience, grasshopper. Talk to your plants. Sing to them. And that bulb’s gonna sprout and unfurl and blossom like you won’t even believe.

Story: 4 / Art: 3 / Overall: 3.5

(Out of 5 Stars)

Comments

  1. Marco Ruby. I wonder what happen to that guy.

  2. Yanick Paquette told me he disliked working with Marco Rudy: the guys is over-ambitious and wants to do too much to impress… Eager to see what he was talking about when I read it! 😉

    • WTF dude!.
      That’s a pretty harsh shitty statement. I don’t know who you are or what you have said specifically (probably NOT publicly) to you or what. But it was probably something in the line of Marco Initial layout was sooo wildly imaginative that we need to have him restrain himself a bit. The fact is, with something that crazy as Swamp thing there is only a few of guys who would go the extra millage layout-wise and Marco is TOTALLY one of those. his inventive instinct are a rare asset our book and I’m glad i have a willing partner in the world of madness and green.

      Marco is doing issue 6 also, and having understand what style we are aiming for all he does is pitch perfect on the first round.

      Y-

    • That’s the power of iFanboy right there…

  3. I can’t help but nitpick and say that tumors aren’t rot – they’re life. So are flies. So is most of what causes decay – bacteria, etc. The kid should have control of wounds or something.

    But I love this book so, frankly, whatever.

    • A good point. That’s sort of addressed in the issue. Abby says William controls “morbid matter.” He manipulates anything necrotic, but the wider net is that his jurisdiction concerns anything that’s damaging your biology.

    • I just appreciate that you lead with “I can’t help but” rather than “Not to nitpick but” because it’s much more honest. You know that other guy is going to do it, regardless of his opening clause.

      Anyway.

    • Ha! Kind of like people who say, “I don’t mean this as an insult, but” – at which point one should cover one’s ears because one is about to be insulted!

  4. I also think it’s worth saying that I like this approach to the forces of life vs. death much more than Blackest Night, cool as the black lanterns were as a concept. Plants and Animals and Death. Simple and effective.

  5. nice review.

  6. Swamp Thing really has me hooked at the moment. Can’t get enough.

  7. Something about that cover just reminds me of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Swamp Thing is the only book I buy monthly that is a horror story and I’m excited for the eventuall Animal Man crossover.

  8. I understand the slow burn tactic, but this feels a tad too slow. I’m still loving it, but the pace is irking me just enough to make me whine about an otherwise cool comic. But I know when it finally pays off I’m gonna be in love again. Damn these writers who play with my emotions!