You know, if Scott Snyder and ANIMAL MAN scribe Jeff Lemire, along with their respective artists, weren’t hitting both series so very on the mark, I’d probably be infinitely comparing the two. Not only are they in the same corner of the DCU, but right now their plots are pretty close to the same: the eponymous heroes are spending a lot of time getting lectured to by mystical beings about the role they will play in the war against the Rot, while scenes of Rot agents terrorizing our world drive home just how urgent this really is. Yet, unless I really think about it, I barely notice. They’re that good.

It’s strange. What Travel Foreman renders as almost Lovecraftian horror, indescribable, unimaginable, in ANIMAL MAN, Marco Rudy (taking over penciling for SWAMP THING #4) renders frighteningly human. The opening scene here might remind some of another early scene in another pivotal comic series, when Dr. Destiny holds the diner hostage in the early days of Neil Gaiman’s THE SANDMAN. I wonder if that’s on purpose.

SWAMP THING thrives on its organic layouts and, right now, it’s terrifyingly remorseless villain. Alec Holland remains the reluctant hero, but has yet to do anything quite heroic enough to sell this. But I think we all know this is a matter of time.