Do The Swamp Thing

[second in a series of posts about September's DC relaunch]

SWAMP THING #1

Written by SCOTT SNYDER

Art and cover by YANICK PAQUETTE

On sale SEPTEMBER 7 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+

One of the world’s most iconic characters has returned to the heart of the DC Universe, and every step he takes will shake the foundations of the Earth!

Alec Holland has his life back…but the Green has plans for it. A monstrous evil is rising in the desert, and it’ll take a monster of another kind to defend life as we know it!

Alright, look: am I happy about the reversal of those fantastic Alan Moore Swamp Thing comics from the Eighties? No, of course I'm not: have you ever read those comics?! Alan Moore wasn't yet then the dark wizard he is today, and he was brand new to American readers, but that stuff is brilliant and terrifying and brave. The Swamp Thing's realization that he wasn't actually Alec Holland? The portrayal of the Justice League as gods looking down on the earth from high above? Thinking about it gives me chills.

Now, of course, all that is undone. The Swamp Thing is indeed Alec Holland, and he has his life back! Hurrah! How utterly boring, oft-tread upon ground is this? Rich Johnston has suggested that one of the major effects of the relaunch will be to de-AlanMooreify the DC Universe and, if that's the case, then it is a sad era indeed, for the legacy of one of the great writers of all time is being erased. Still, if we have to swallow this load of crap, at least it's being written by the unimpeachable Scott Snyder, who has a knack for writing the scary and supernatural that apparently shows through in American Vampire (as, unfortunately, I still haven't gotten around to reading it, I'm relaying the opinion of people that I trust) and whose work on Detective Comics for the last few months has been fantastic.

Snyder, though, is not why I'm excited for it. This is:

That's right: every few issues, Long and Shortbox favorite Francesco Francavilla (who was working part time with Snyder on 'TEC too) will be handling art duties. That, plus the regular Yanick Paquette pencils, are enough for me to lay down my $2.99, particularly because one of my favorite characters is involved. It's going to be a tricky book, though, because of the miserable premise, so Snyder is going to have to walk a fine line. Still, you've got to have faith, and I've got faith in the Swamp Thing.