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Swamp Thing #1
Script: Scott Snyder
Art: Yanick Paquette
Price: $2.99/$1.99 digital
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Okay, so maybe that wasn't your first thought, but why not? There are some fantastically creepy funnybooks sitting on the shelves (literal or digital) just waiting to be cracked open, and Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing is a great place to start.
Here is a little background on what Swamp Thing is all about:
Alec Holland was a botanist working on a project that could change the collective future of the world's flora and fauna. But as these things go, a tragic lab accident left Holland on the brink of death until he was essentially absorbed into "The Green" – or the consciousness of all the earth's vegetation – and transformed into Swamp Thing, defender of "The Green."
Sound geeky? Perhaps, but a single read through the pages of Swamp Thing will have you ducking under the covers, rather than rolling your eyes.
Story:
Swamp Thing #1 kicks off with Alec returning to his life as a human being after years spent as Swamp Thing. Snyder is a writer who clearly does his homework before delving into a script, and this issue only furthers his reputation. Full of specific plant-related details only a botanist would know, Snyder's narration invites the reader into Alec's mind and shows us why he was such a strong candidate to defend the world's plant life.
But all is not well on planet Earth, and Snyder brings his tried-and-true sense of dread to the story within the first two pages. Not to mention the mass-murdering beast that shows up about halfway through – but those details are best discovered on their own.
There's a lot of buildup in this issue (which comes with the territory in a "#1"), but it's so carefully crafted that it perfectly captures the sheer terror guaranteed to come later in the series.
Art:
Yanick Paquette's big, bold lines do a wonderful job of separating this book from the pack. And while his page layouts in the scenes with Alec get the job done, he really hits it out of the park with the "monster" sequences; the thick divisions between panels look like black moss growing across the pages, which are perfect compliments to the eerie contents of the panels themselves.
However, a visit from the boy in blue only reminds me that I can't seem to accept this re-design on Superman's costume. It just looks...unnecessary.
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| Say goodbye to the red undies. |
New-Reader Friendly?
While this book works well as a "new beginning" for Swamp Thing, it wouldn't hurt to bop on over to Wikipedia and have a look over the character's history. Or even better, check out the legendary Alan Moore's work on our gooey hero!
Next: More eerie pre-Halloween reading with Animal Man #1!
