Comic Info
Comic Name: Swamp Thing (Volume 5)/Futures End: Swamp Thing
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Jesus Saiz/Javier Pina/Carmen Carnero/Ryane Browne/Dave Bullock/Yanick Paquette
# of Issues: 8
Release Date: 2016
Swamp Thing (5) #36
Reprints Swamp Thing (5) #35-40, Annual #2 and Futures End: Swamp Thing #1 (December 2014-May 2015). A new Kingdom has surfaced and it seems to want to eliminate the Green and other Kingdoms. With the Machine staking its claim on the planet, Swamp Thing must work fast to prevent a dangerous war…and his best ally might be the Rot and his former love Abigail Arcane.
Written by Charles Soule, Swamp Thing Volume 7: Season’s End is the final volume of the New 52 relaunch of Swamp Thing. Following Swamp Thing Volume 6: The Sureen, the collection features art by Jesus Saiz, Javier Pina, Carmen Carnero, Ryan Browne, Dave Bullock, and Yanick Paquette. The collection also features the stand alone Futures End event series tie in issue Futures End: Swamp Thing #1 (November 2014) which serves as the series quasi-finale.
Swamp Thing started out strong in the New 52. It was one of the best series, felt original, and actually brought scares. Its ties to Animal Man (another smart series) created a strange world that DC really did work to tie in to other comics running at the time. Unfortunately, Swamp Thing petered out a bit as the New 52 rolled on. Despite actually having a solid story, Swamp Thing fell by the wayside, and it is too bad.
Futures End: Swamp Thing #1
The story for Swamp Thing feels pretty cohesive. Soule took over the series and continued to develop Alec’s persona and advanced the story of the Green. It starts to take on a bit of a Sandman feel with the book becoming a book about “team Swamp Thing” with the supporting characters getting a bit more play. While stories like an annual normally might be a standalone issue, Soule used it to nicely wrap up Capucine’s storyline which had been developing a while. It makes the annual important and not something you can miss.
The battle with the new Machine Kingdom also is smart. The idea that the world evolves and that new Kingdoms can appear is a realistic take on the Kingdom view of the series. It also is used to reincorporate the other important aspect of Swamp Thing in the form of Abigail Arcane. Abby has always been an important part of Swamp Thing’s story and it felt wrong to have her shunted off to the Rot Kingdom…and this volume seeks to bring it all back together.
Swamp Thing feels cleverer than most comics. DC’s cancellation of the Vertigo super-hero line might have been a mistake, and collections like this show how a comic can be both a superhero comic and a Vertigo-esque comic. Characters like Constantine and Swamp Thing can crossover between the worlds…and I hope someday, in some form, Swamp Thing grows again.
Related Links:
Swamp Thing 1: Raise Them Bones
Swamp Thing 3: Rotworld—The Green Kingdom
