Swamp thing goes to Gotham.
Swamp thing is my favourite series I love all of the ones I buy but this is my favourite the story is great the art is fantastic and Rotworld is turning into a great series so I hoped this issue would be good as well.
Plot
William Arcane attacks Swamp thing and Deadman his sea monster nearly eats them but Swamp thing destroys it but William has another sea monster. In Arcane’s castle Arcane reveals his plan to Abby she temporarily knocks out Arcane and tries to escape.
Review
One of the things I love about this story arc is you don’t know how it’s going to end you can kind of guess they win in the end but you don’t know how this makes the story very interesting and gives a degree of uncertainty to the series. I also like some of the things that have been put into this series such as William Arcane and Deadman the inclusion of the characters mean a lot to the progress of the series as it changes how some of it works out. I also like that Swamp thing is going to Gotham because one of the characters that I was most interested to see and it’s even better if he goes to Arkham Asylum.
The fight with William Arcane is interesting and we do get to see that Swamp thing even though he is weakened by being away from the Green he can still take down a Rot sea monster if he can do this you know he’s powerful he’s hailed as the greatest Swamp thing of all time and this is proving that idea if he can do this you know he’s powerful he’s hailed as the greatest Swamp thing of all time and this is proving that idea. There is a small bit with Deadman in it and Spoiler Deadman because he's dead as well he goes into William Arcane and takes him out killing himself as well I hope there are repercussions for this because it seemed a little rushed.
Some of the most interesting parts of this issue happen between Abby and Arcane as Arcane reveals his plan and I did not see that coming Spoilers will follow but it’s the only way I can talk about it properly When Anton Arcane bit Abby back in issue 11 he kept a bit of her in his mouth and he has now used that to create Clones of her this was an interesting reveal as I expected it to be Superman or someone who was working for the Rot now but this is good and I’m interested to see how it goes when she knocks out Arcane she destroys the clones I doubt there gone this whole idea would seem pretty pointless if they have all been destroyed .We haven’t seen Arcane since the #0 so it was good to see him back and he’s back to being very creepy with what he does and the dialogue he is one of the best part of this series so it was good to see him back. I also liked to see how this scene ended with Abby believing to be killed but I’m pretty sure she hasn’t been but the narration to this scene was good and gave a nice edge to the scene.
When Alec finally reached Gotham the reveal really surprised me not with Batman but with the fate of Barbara Gordon I knew from the cover to the next but having Barbara Gordon involved as well. More spoilers but you should have seen the cover to the next one by now Batman has become infected by the Rot and turned into a rot bat creature but the best part is what happened to Barbara Gordon she has become Man Bat and I thought that was a nice twist to the issue and got me excited for the next to find out how this happened.
This issue is a fairly slow one some people may be off put by it but I don’t mind it answers questions and is building up to the finale next issue which should be really good this issue answers questions about Abby and other people its slow paced but it is well written I also wanted to see more of Gotham but if we get loads of it next issue I don't mind.
The art by Marco Rudy is good on the whole I prefer Paquettes cleaner more detailed style for the series since I think he draws a better Swamp thing but Rudy is good and draws some detailed page layouts and nails the facial expression he does do some great close up images and they can be very detailed and nicely done but on the scenes where the characters are in the distance like on the third page the characters don’t look detailed enough even though we are looking at the characters from a distance but there isn’t enough detail especially on the third page which should have been spectacular but it looks like Swamp thing is just a stick figure almost he also uses a lot of these long distance panels so the lack of detail did bug me a lot but he nails it on close ups also Deadman’s face looked wonky at points.
Verdict
While not as good as the last issue this is still a great addition to the series and I’m interested to see where it goes the only thing I didn’t like was the art and the fact it’s a little slow but still pick it up it’s worth it but the Death of Deadman. This issue in conclusion is really a set up for the next issue which is fine but only if something really big happens next issue to change it all because it's all pretty slow in this.
4 stars.
