Originally published on Patreon
The Swamp Thing is a book that I really enjoyed when it first came out. I thought the usage of horror elements was great, and that Ram V was crafting an interesting story; but the longer this series goes on the more it slips from great into just good. I don't know if perhaps this is as a result of the series being extended past its initial planned run, but this issue has some good stuff in it, yet ends up feeling a bit lost.
This issue picks up where the last left off, with Levi having lost his powers to his brother, the Parliament of Gears having consolidated its base, the avatar of radiation making her way across the world, and Levi being roped in to advise Hal Jordan when the world comes under threat from alien plant invasion. There's a lot here.
Over the course of the issue Levi melds with one of the plants, communicates with it, and crashes it to Earth where the various other factions are all meeting so as to get involved in the fight. In the final panel he emerges from the crashed plant matter, now as a Green Lantern Swamp Thing. And that's about it really. Not a huge amount happens here.
A lot of the issue is given over to big, existential questions, discussion about humanity, life, and the symbiosis of human and plant. It's okay stuff, but it really bogs the issue down, takes up a bit too much space for my liking, and really slows the pace. Again, referencing the extension of the series, I don't know if this is being done to fill pages, but it kind of feels like it sometimes.
The story of this series seems to be getting increasingly complex at this point too, and the focus on these big questions and lofty discussions ended up with me unsure what was going on elsewhere. Maybe it was just because I was a bit more tired than usual when I read it, but I'm starting to get a little less out of these issues the longer it goes on. With only two left, and Swamp Thing now being a Green Lantern (if only temporarily), hopefully it will lead to an exciting last few issues.
One area where this issue excels, however, is in the art, and Mike Perkins and Mike Spicer do a great job at making the issue pop. Drawing heroes and villains fighting is one thing, but finding ways to express someone's consciousness merging with an alien plant life form and changing the way it thinks is definitely more of a challenge, yet it's done well here.
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