Review – The Swamp Thing #11
Review – The Swamp Thing #11
Written by Ram V
Art by: Mike Perkins
Colourist Mike Spicer
Letters Aditya Bidikar
Published By DC Comics
Available: 29th March 2022
JERICHO’S ROSE, PART 1
By popular demand, the Swamp Thing has returned and is extending its roots into Season Two! The climactic battle between Levi and his brother Jacob led to events that left the Swamp Thing broken up—literally. Now, with Levi fractured and on the edge of oblivion, an unlikely ally has entered the fray to piece him back together again: Tefé Holland, daughter of the original Swamp Thing.
Writer: Ram V
The danger with DC titles that have short print runs is that the story resonates with fans and DC extend the title but with a large gap between issues. This is the case with Swamp Thing #11, after what could have been an amazing finale the story was tweaked to allow an “or is he?” style resurrection for Levi’s Avatar of the Green. This dilutes the phenomenal issue #10 that brought all of the previous issues’ plot points to a satisfying conclusion.
Fast forward three months and Jennifer Reece feels that Levi is still somewhere in the Green and asks for the help of Tefe Holland, the daughter of Alex Holland. As an avatar herself she should be able to find Levu but she refuses. The issue also brings back the corrupt Prescot Corporation which uses parts of the victorian avatar to transplant into the evil Mr Pilgrim.
The issue stands well but feels slightly out of sorts after the amazing ten-issue run in 2021. Ram V takes the helm again and ticks all the boxes, the only critique is the delay between the series and the work done on the original self-contained story could be done if not handled very carefully.
Art by: Mike Perkins
What V brings in Script the two Mikes (Spicer and Perkins) enhance with amazing artwork and colours. Perkins’s work, as usual, is at its peak on pages 6 and 12. On six, his stunning one-panel page blows your socks off with its depiction of Tefe Holland’s room, while on page 12 his signature look shows Pilgrim being stripped of his humanity and replaced with rotting Avatar organs. Both these images are worth the cost of the issue, although I am not a fan of the forced perspective panel at the bottom of page 5 (see the gallery at bottom of the review) Jennifer’s hands look way too big for the panel and stick out like a sore thumb.
Overall Thoughts
Look, I love V’s work on the ten-issue run last year but there are some parts of this great story that seem ret-conned to continue the story. The gap in publishing is never kind to comics and the one thing really missing from this issue was Levi, whose humanity shone through the previous issues. But with a bar as high as this team set it last year it was always going to be hard not to compare the series.
[yasr_visitor_multiset setid=1]If you enjoyed our review, look out for The Swamp Thing #11 at your Local Comic Shop
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