SWAMP THING #4

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by VICTOR IBANEZ
Cover by YANICK PAQUETTE

Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99

I think we can all agree that Scott Snyder is one of the best writers in comics right now. Not just at DC, but overall in the entire industry. If he’s not writing some of the best Batman issues, he’s writing a some scary shit with Severed and American Vampire. Then you have this new series, which is full of scary shit but also one of Snyder’s biggest challenges. So far he’s done a pretty good job getting Swamp Thing back in the fold in the DCU. Sure he has had to explain an awful lot in each issue, but that’s to be expected. When the last time a character was relevant was when Alan Moore liked working in mainstream comics, that’s a big gap to fill. But this issue continues why Snyder is the perfect man for the job.

Snyder is no stranger to writing some truly horrifying moments as I mentioned earlier. This issue starts off pretty damn disturbing with this kid representing ‘The Rot’ continuing his rampage in a diner. I don’t know what makes it disturbing; the fact that it’s a kid doing all of this or how his powers work in particular. All I know is that I don’t want to end up vomiting up my lungs all because I kid wanted a vanilla milkshake. The rest of the issue, once again, explains further on ‘The Green’ and just why Alec Holland is integral to save the world. Snyder helps himself by making the ‘The Green’ interesting by explaining it’s various history including the best image of the week: Swamp Thing T-Rex. Oh boy would I love an entire issue on that. On the whole, it’s a nice history lesson issue but gives us enough insight with Holland and the kid to make it all interesting.

The big challenge in this issue is that Yanick Paquette and Victor Ibanez are not the artists for this issue. Instead we have Marco Rudy on pencils (and inks) and Michel Lacombe/Sean Parsons as main inkers. Recently, Rudy has not impressed me all that much as a fill in artist apart from making great panel layouts. While the layouts are still pretty damn good, the art overall was pretty damn good to look at. While there are three inkers in this, I didn’t see much of a different in each sequence so the change was never real noticeable. All I know is that Rudy was able to make things like multiple Swamp Men, the disturbing diner sequence, and freakin Swamp Thing T-Rex work so damn well. If this is what Rudy and the rest can do on a rushed schedule (let’s face it, I doubt these guys had that much time to get this issue on time) then I would be interested to see what they can do with a regularly scheduled book.

This was a nice surprise for me in that Scott Snyder continues to deliver on revamping Swamp Thing. But that the art with a new artist and two inkers, which had to be done quickly, looked so damn good. The pages were consistent and there were a lot of great pages and individual panels to admire. Oh and let’s not forget Snyder can put in some really fucking disturbing plot points when he needs too. This is yet another solid issue by Snyder and his men and every new issue gets me more excited to see Swamp Thing returning.

Story: 5 - Excellent
Art: 4 - Very Good

Comments

  1. I enjoyed this review!

    “When the last time a character was relevant was when Alan Moore liked working in mainstream comics, that’s a big gap to fill.”

    That’s a great point and probably the best lens through which to view this title at the moment. Both Swamp Thing and Animal Man had lots of baggage. Probably the former more than the latter.

    Thanks for the review.

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