Swamp Thing #3 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Yanick Paquette & Victor Ibáñez (artists), Nathan Fairbairn (colorist)

The Story: This time, Alec has a legit reason for barely remembering making out with you.

The Review: As recent issues have shown us, the world has become a much more dangerous, disturbing place, even for superheroes.  So it goes without saying that Alec, who still resists his supposed destiny as the Green’s greatest savior, will find himself in dire straits before long.  Unwilling to heed the warnings and calls of the plant kingdom, he’ll need a reliable guide he can trust if he wants to survive long enough to make the most of his second life.

Enter Abigail Arcane.  She may not have all the answers to what’s happening, but at least she can fill in the necessary blanks for Alec and for us, and thus serves a vital role to giving the series some direction, instead of letting events push the plot around.  Her know-how comes from her own connection to one of the world’s primal forces, the Rot, which fits in the grand scheme of her continuity (and explains her attraction to the prior Swamp Thing beyond a foliage fetish).

Although her experience and take-charge attitude will prove to be an invaluable resource to Alec, you learn that even in his non-monstrous state, he’s not as helpless as you might think.  Even so, it’s hard to tell if the exercise of his “green thumb” is something he innately controls or if it’s the Green going out of its way to protect its only hope against the Rot.  But even if it turns out he can wield this power over flora at will, that alone won’t overcome the powers he faces.

Dean’s Top Picks

Best Of The Past Week: Wolverine and the X-Men #1 – This was a really strong week for Marvel as either Amazing Spider-Man #672 or Secret Avengers #18 could have been the pick here.  But, in the end, it was impossible to resist the great job that Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo did on this kick-off issue for a new era for the X-Men.  Anyone who reads WCBR knows that Bachalo is one of my favorite artists, so it’s not surprising that the lovely detailed and fun art was a high point of the issue.  Then you combine that with the fun story that Aaron weaves as Logan and Kitty have to get the new school approved by the New York State Board of Education and you have a really fun issue.  I know a lot of people associate Jason Aaron only with Scalped, but the dude is really funny in a dry and black sort of way.  He’s shown that humor on PunisherMax and Wolverine, but from the jabber online, I get the impression a lot of folks just expect grit from him.  And I loved the back matter that included a course catalog for the new mutant academy.  Trust me….this will be awesome.

Most Anticipated This Week: Uncanny X-Men #1 – It isn’t too imaginative given the pick above, but this should also be a harbinger of what’s to come.  Wolverine and the X-Men was fun, and…..it should be fun since it’s basically set at a high school.  Uncanny X-Men is the “Cyclops book”, so that means it is a serious “NO FUN” zone.  Hopefully Kieron Gillen is up the task of giving us a good story since he may not be able to resort to much humor.  A little concerned about the Carlos Pacheco art since I haven’t liked anything he’s done in a long time.  Still…..Uncanny is what got me started in comics, so it has to be the pick here.

Other Picks: American Vampire #20, Swamp Thing #3, Animal Man #3, Sweet Tooth #27, Giant-Size Elephantmen #1, Hack/Slash #9, Witch Doctor #4, Infinite Vacation #3, Amazing Spider-Man #673, Avengers Academy #21, Six Guns #1