Swamp Thing #2

Here be minor spoilers.

HOTT

Damn right Swamp Thing. I feel pretty positive about this book. The #1 had a distressing lack of Swamp Thing in the actual comic, but #2 starts strong and keeps Swamp Thing around for the bulk of the comic. So my first criteria was met.

You might remember that my first discussion of Swamp Thing #1 said that I thought this was to be a campy book, that Swamp Thing was a campy series. Well, I guess my assumptions were wrong because this seems like a pretty damn serious comic.

The comic uses the bulk of its pages for Swamp exposition. Swamp Thing prime talks to man Swamp Thing, Holland, and explains at length how Holland has to come back and become THE Swamp Thing again so that he might fight some age old evil. It is the expositional equivalent of that scene in The Great Outdoors with John Candy when he eats the giant steak. Like John Candy, I got it down, for the children

Since I don't know much about the Swamp Thing world, these pages of "you are the one true hero, Link!" actually help me get a grasp on what's going on in the comic. The exposition pairs well with the artwork, providing some good imagery to represent the rambling back story we're reading. The giant murderous flesh monster walking down main street is the image that sticks in my brain most.

Admittedly, I may get more out of this comic because I read Animal Man, and I can see and imagine how their stories are connected. I'm not sure how ol' Swampy #2 would stand on his own.

The back story that does come out through Holland and Swamp Thing prime's conversation hints at the brutal history of Holland as Swamp Thing. This is something that I know nothing about. I am confident I have read an origin Swamp Thing comic, written by Morrison, in which the Swamp Thing man is actually reborn as a plant. This seems to me the past that is referenced. I might have to do a little research, gosh darnit. Let me know if my assumptions are right about Morrison's Swamp thing. I'd be willing to pick up a trade.

MORE SPOILERS

Now that we're all here in spoiler land I can discuss how much I enjoyed the ending where the locals zombie him in his hotel room. Those twisted heads are disturbing, especially in mob form. Both Animal Man and Swamp Thing are doing a good job at making Sethe threatening in both a global and localized way.

The white haired woman thing was super lame though. Are writers not aware of how obvious these hooks are sometimes?

"Beware the woman with white hair!"
"Two-four good Swamp Buddy." Oh hell, I'm being attacked by a woman with a twisted around head and an axe, but yay a helmeted woman helps me escape but--"Oh god she has white hair"
*cue dramatic music*

Sigh.

Looking forward to #3.