Swamp Thing #18 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Yanick Paquette (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors)

The Story: Abby and Alec find the fuzzy areas between dead or alive.

The Review: When DC first announced Swamp Thing as one of the ongoing titles included in its New 52 initiative, I think I fell into the category of people who thought it was an interesting idea, but also had some doubts as to the execution.  Snyder and Paquette blew those doubts away from the first issue, so forcefully that it took several months of underwhelming issues to break down my faith at last.  It’s a shame that our creators depart with less favor than they started with.

I’ve already covered my dissatisfaction with the Rotworld arc in my review of #17, so I won’t beat that dead horse now.  Instead, I’ll just say that Snyder seems as eager as we are to put that mess behind us and simply end on as high a note as possible.  Remarkably enough, he does so, delivering an issue that goes through several major twists which result in a steep, enduring cost to our heroes.