S456 ARCHIVES: Swamp Thing #8 Review

originally posted on station456.tumblr.com on April 15th, 2012

***

For me, the first six issues of Swamp Thing were enjoyable but not something I was ever very exited to get my hands on each month: My father likes to read them so he typically buys them for me, and I happily go along and read them. This changed however, with Swamp Thing #7: The fully realized and wholly epic return of the Swamp Thing. Alec Holland is Swamp Thing once again, cooler and fiercer appearing than ever before, determined to give the rot a war and save his love interest Abby, whose fait quite possibly lies with his foes. This issue was essentially one big, romanticized set-up for the next issue, and one could only hope that issue #8 would deliver. And by God did it do such a thing.

The issue opens with regular people around the country hunting, working on their farms, and other such things only to be attacked by the rot. This acts wonderfully as a sort of reinforcement of the justness of Alec’s role as Swamp Thing: The rot is evil and Swamp Thing is going to save the day. This along with the build-up to seeing Swamp Thing does a great job of making this issue’s events exciting. The narration and the banter between Swamp Thing and the rot are what makes this issue so damn good. Alec’s narration, especially, along with some narration from the rot, guide this book along perfectly. I was along with Alec the whole way through; everything just felt so real and Swamp Thing felt like such a perfect hero. The rot attempts to intimidate Alec but he spits back some clever words and fights back with some glorious physical initiatives.

Paquette’s artwork on Swamp Thing has been stunning from the start - the best work I’ve seen month-to-month in modern comics - and it looks just as stunning here. Each page is packed with detail, color, expression, and smart page layouts, with borders made up of guts and twigs and such. One complaint is that some of the fighting isn’t translated as well as it could be onto paper. The pages in this issue with the big action are a bit crowded and don’t get across motion as well as it could, but it all still looks great.

The issue ends with a massively exciting cliff-hanger, turning my pure satisfaction to pure intrigue. I can’t wait for the next issue. This book has fixed itself in a solid groove with issues 7 and 8, with crisp artwork (that could, albeit, use some work representing fight-scenes), poetic writing, and high stakes. To sum things up: Scott Snyder is God.