Its Week one of the new month and that means its time again for me to review two of DC’s best titles of the relaunch , Animal Man and Swamp Thing. If you read my last article on these two books you already know that they are both establishing a link between one another that involves bringing back Alan Moore’s concept of Totems into the DC Universe proper. This is going to be huge for DC , even better writers Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder have built up a fun rivalry trying to top one another with their respective books. Which I have the awesome opportunity to review . Lets get started shall we…
Swamp Thing #3
Written by: Scott Snyder
Art by: Yanick Paquette and Victor Ibanez
Review Score: 8 / 10
Scott Snyder eases us into this issue by showing us a boy by the name of William who is having trouble adjusting to his unique condition , he has a terminal allergy to Chlorophyll . It causes him to live out his young life in a bubble . His doctor tries to urge him to make friends and tells him how he caught all the fish on his wall. William is more concerned with the fact that those same dead fish are talking to him. Scott Snyder again is able to tell a strong story using both his amazing skill of dialogue and his ability to contrast that with something very dreadful in the background.
We are then taken back to the scene of our Cliffhanger from last issue. The lady in white has her gun pointed at Alec Holland and demands to see him use his powers to control the green. After his short display she then fills him in on why she saved hi to begin with . She has a history with the Other . She lets Alec know that Swamp Thing helped her get rid of the Others influence in her life and she needs him to become the big Green Guy to save little William.
Unfortunately for William and the three kids who came to terrorize him the Other gets to him first. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing next, Scott Snyder definitely isn’t pulling punches and what happens to those three teenage kids and Doctor in the next few pages is nothing short of macabre.The whole book has a strong horror movie quality to it . Yanick Paquette and Victor Ibanez alternate pages in this issue but it never feels jarring. They complement each other well enough to keep things cohesive. They each have a few pages to flex their muscles with just enough gore and violence in this issue to continue to make me squeamish page after page. Swamp Thing is a Mature book and one that takes chances with its art and story direction. This was another issue of setup and more of a slow burn to what should ultimately lead to an amazing next issue full of perfectly rendered moments of terror excellent storytelling by Scott Snyder.
Animal Man #3
Written By: Jeff Lemire
Art By: Travel Foreman
Review Score: 9/10
Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man continues to shock and amaze me with how much he gets out of his characters and plot each issue. Buddy Baker and his daughter Maxine continue further into The Red and we finally get to meet the totems of the Red this issue. Right off the bat the amount of creativity and imagination on the page is astounding . The totems of the Red and visual look of the world created would make Benicio Del Toro jealous, in fact I bet hes reading this comic in hopes of one day giving us an Animal man movie. Yes this book is that good only after a few pages . The Animal Men shed some light on the origin of Buddy’s powers and explain to him why Maxine is the most important piece to the puzzle this issue.
We also get to see Buddy’s wife and son back at home waiting for their family to return to them. Again, the quality of Jeff’s writing between siblings is pitch perfect . I truly care about this family and their well-being . Which is why the middle of this issue works so well. The Hunters Three from last issue are tracking the Baker Family to their home residence at the request of The Other . Two of the three head into The Red to go after Maxine and Buddy and the last Hunter decides to go after his wife and Son. Buddy manages to tap into the true potential of his power as Animal man with mixed results and his wife and Son make a run from the Hunter only to unknowingly allow him back into their lives at the end of the issue . The art once again is great and well thought out . Travel Foreman renders some truly amazing visuals in the first half of the book and manages to capture each characters facial expressions with ease. There is a fairy tale like quality to his work that suits this book perfectly. He continues to push the boundaries with his character designs . My only issue is that his backgrounds seem a little rushed this issue .
Animal Man continues to be a stand out title for DC’s New 52 . One that shows nothing but promise and creativity in its future. Everyone owes it to themselves to check out this book , it’s really that easy for me to recommend to you.
Mike DeVivo
Follow me on twitter @pandasandrobots
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