It was with both a mixture of reluctance and excitement that I grabbed my unread copy of DC COMICS' (NEW 52) SWAMP THING #1. Reluctance because I have not enjoyed the overall DC reboot but excitement because I've been a fan of good ol' SWAMPY since I was a kid.
SCOTT SYNDER writes a tale which reintroduces readers to Alec Holland, the creator of the bio-restorative formula and would-be Earth Elemental, who apparently has separated from the SWAMP THING entity and is working in construction. SUPERMAN shows up and they have a brief conversation, with Holland explaining that he woke up in the middle of the swamp as Alec Holland as if being the muck-encrusted-mockery-of-a-man never happened. Some really creepy stuff happens to introduce (or reintroduce) a villain for SWAMP THING to fight, and by the end of the issue, Alec Holland's alter-ego shows up and tells him how much he needs him.
It's the soft reintroduction of SWAMP THING with elements (no pun intended) of the old ALAN MOORE stuff...you definitely get that vibe when you read the book, even in
YANICK PAQUETTE's artwork feeling slightly reminiscent of STEPHEN BISSETTE and JOHN TOTLEBEN's work back in the day. It's also probably the closest you're ever going to get to those glory days of
John Constantine (aka HELLBLAZER), Abigail and Matt, but there's enough there to keep fans interested.
I've never been a fan of the whole "One With The Green" aspect of Swamp Thing, although it makes total sense. I find the horror and dramatic aspect of the character missing from MY favorite days of Swampy, which were the LEN WEIN and BERNI WRIGHTSON days of the 70's. There's just a SMIDGEN (yes, I said smidgen) of that here as well. It's enough to say that while this issue didn't hit any home runs for me, it was a base hit, and I'm going to buy issues #2 and #3 and see how the series progresses through the first 6 issues. This does not mean I'm on board with the whole NEW 52 reboot, but I'm at least interested in this particular title enough to continue seeing what's new in SWAMP THING's universe.
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