Swamp Thing #23.1

Writer Charles Soule Artist Jesus Saiz

 

Introduction

 

With sister title Animal Man being incredibly inconsistent after the big crossover known as Rot World, Swamp Thing has not fell into the same sort of trap. The melancholic tone that seemed to plague the first few issues after loss Abigail has been severed. The avatar of the green has chosen to be more of a traditional superhero as opposed to following in the cycle of angst which Animal Man dove into. Once again the dichotomy between the titles is highly applicable. Writer Charles Soule has dug into a new sort of tone featuring elements of the newest Daredevil relaunch. Recently the character was introduced the hijinks of Constantine and the whisky tree. The story had a whimsical nature, but also a sense of brooding darkness. The side story that had little consequence into the overall nature of the tale, casted a very large shadow on the nature of the book. The entirety of Alec Holland has changed drastically with this new series, he is not a man but a force of nature itself. The point is that this book may be in the best position it has ever been in. While Alan Moore has written some of the best stories with the green hero, his narrative is nowhere near as consistently entertaining as the work of Soule month to month. Thus begins the newest issue of Swamp Thing.

 

Writing

 

This Villains month issue is actually a fun change of space for the larger series. Anton Arcane has a storyline that is actually quite different what most readers would expect. Soule pens the title in a manner that makes it just interesting enough, to merit a solo issue for antagonist. The appearance of Abigail is also lovely in the space of this issue, she has a perfectly valid reason for showing up in this installment of the series. The voice over aspects of these twenty pages have a perfectly reasonable explanation for being here. On the whole the Villain’s month titles seem to be lacking in the art department. Which makes it clear to me that the art Jesus Saiz really nails the interesting storytelling moments in this issue. Imagining the opening sequence in the hands of a lesser artist would make the writing look bad. This was the case in the Deadshot title that made the excellent Matt Kindt look like a poor writer.

 

Artist

 

Jesus Saiz delivers some breathtaking pencils on this comic book series, that will show readers how wonderful it is to have an artist with complete clarity in storytelling. This Spanish artist deserves more accolades than this industry currently gives him. For those who have seen his artwork, the clean lines and use of shadow speak for themselves. The dynamic artist can we work in many different facets as shown here, he is not limited by the horror genre or standard super hero adventure. As illustrated towards the ending of the issue, he is also not closed off to a period piece either. In order to survive in the modern industry artists must be versatile, however Saiz is a stylistic chameleon which can serve many tones and styles. The colors by Matthew Wilson also helps the artist sell some of the different tones by having a couple of really great palettes in the different phases of the book. The flashback scenes are completely different from those taking place in bright fields.

 

Conclusion

The creative team really blossoms together in this issue to make this chapter more than the sum of it’s parts. This month there have been many underwhelming Villain’s month issues, which makes me happy to praise Soule and Saiz for knocking this comic out of the park.