SWAMP THING #7
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Art and cover by YANICK PAQUETTE
B&W Variant cover by YANICK PAQUETTE
Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99
I was away from comics when The New 52 from DC launched. I’d heard a bunch of rumors about it from friends (all false), but I was neither excited for the renumberings, nor filled with seething rage. I could only be as pessimistic as “Well, if it sucks, I can just stop compulsively collecting most of the DC trades because I’ll have reached the end of a continuity.” (Again, the rumors were false.)
When I returned to working in a comic book store, my first project was to read as many of The New 52 titles (it was month #3) as possible. I liked nearly as many as I disliked. And Swamp Thing was among the titles that I liked but didn’t keep up with. Having only read issues one and two, I wanted to see if I could come in at issue seven and not be lost.
Oh, was I not lost.
Snyder adheres to the Stan Lee “Every issue is someone’s first issue.” wonderfully here. You don’t need to have read the Alan Moore series, or even the first six issues of this run to understand this. This issue would hold its own as one shot. Sure, I’m excited to see where this is going, but if it ended with this issue, I’d also be satisfied.
Part of what makes this story work so well is Yanick Paquette’s layout. I don’t want to compare him to JH Williams III, but the panel placement and how it controls this issue of Swamp Thing definitely reminded me of how importance Williams III’s paneling was to Brubaker’s Batwoman. Saying a colorist makes the visuals pop seems trite but it’s an apt description here. The contrast of the almost monochrome tribal council and the framing vines and flowers demand you to read the pages slowly and savor them.
I still have quite a few comics in the stack, but this is a definite contender for Pick Of The Week.
Art: 5 - Excellent
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Akamuu’s back! Hooray!
Great reviews as always man, missed ya around these parts.
Thanks. It’s been a long eighteen months busy with non-comicy things, but I’m settled into a new comic book store job, and enjoying refamiliarizing myself with the site, and seeing who’s still around. Glad to see you’re still out, about, and reviewing, too. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on this week’s books.
Totally man. Hope the new store works out for ya….you’d be surprised that everyone is still here.
I’ve been here about four months now, and I love it. I just didn’t want to rush right into reviewing again until I had time to reacquaint myself with as many books as possible. I think I’ve read more trades in 2012 than I’ve read in years. The complete runs of Strangers In Paradise, Invincible, Walking Dead, Twisted Toy Fair, Girl Genius, Hellboy/BPRD/Lobster Johnson/Witchfinder/Abe Sapien, The Goon, Barry Ween, Shadowhawk (I was punishing myself for staying away from comics), Fables/Jack of/Cinderella From Fabletown, WildCATS/Stormwatch/Planetary, Rising Stars, Chew, Iredeemable, Echo, RASL, Deathnote, 20th Century Boys, Kurosaga Corpse Delivery, Transmetropolitan, Power Girl, plus a bunch of F4 and FF runs, some classic and recent X-Men runs, and Bendis’s multiple Avengers titles. I think I’m now prepared for either a lot of reviewing or severe neural atrophy. Or, perhaps, both.
Nice review. This was exactly what I needed to hear. I was looking at it, but didn’t know how lost I’d be having not read the previous issues. I’ll be going back to pick this one up