In this newest issue, writer, Scott Snyder gives us more insight into Swamp Thing’s enemy, Anton Arcane. We also get some major developments to the battle between Green and Rot. If you have been reading Swamp Thing, then you do not want to miss this issue! If you haven’t been reading Swamp Thing, then… That’s just sad.
Arcane who?
When Swamp Thing issue 9 made that big reveal on the last page, announcing that “ANTON ARCANE IS BACK!!!!”, it was lost on me. This is my first Swamp Thing series, (surprising for an environmentalist vegetarian comic fan, I know.) So bringing back an old villain didn’t really impress me. I had to do some googling to find out why I should be excited, and even then I wasn’t really into him. But with this issue, seeing how evil and twisted he really is and what he can do, it’s just awesome! This issue sold me on Arcane as the leader of the Rot. And to see the Rot’s god tearing up the “guardian of the green” was truly something that made me actually wonder whether Swamp Thing can handle him.
Huge fight!
This is a rare thing indeed. Not only does this book do a lot of setting up for future direction, It gives us some killer action to boot! Swamp and Arcane don’t hold anything back in a face off that has rotten flesh and grass clippings flying everywhere! This book is so well-drawn that even the nasty stuff looks great! and the fight with Arcane proves it!
Bottom Line: Another win for this fantastic series! If you don’t see yourself as a Swamp Thing fan, you should really give it a try. I did on a whim, and have been hooked ever since!
Starting Point: If you’d like to start reading Swamp Thing, but you don’t want to have to buy the past 10 issue just to enjoy this one, here is what you absolutely need to know!
The web of life on our world is held together by three threads. These forces of life and death are in constant struggle for supremacy, even though they all need each other. These threads, or forces, are called the Green, the Red and the Rot. Each of these forces has a powerful leader or counsel, and a chosen warrior. The Green, which is the web of all the plant life on the planet, is protected by the Swamp Thing. The Red, which is the web that connects all living creatures with blood in their veins like us, is guarded by the Animal Man. Then there is the Rot. It is the web of death and decay, which all living things inevitably become apart of. It has decided to rule our world. Now Swamp Thing must stop it and it’s leader, a dead man named Anton Arcane from doing that. Oh and by the way, the Rot wants Swamp Thing’s girlfriend to be it’s queen. She is Anton’s daughter.
Animal Man is the best New 52 series (along with Blue Beetle).
What makes Animal Man so special is the way Lemire deconstructs the superhero mythology. For example:
1) Superheroes tend to monopolize the attention of the reader, while Animal Man is constantly upstaged by the supporting characters of the series.
2) Superhero comics usually don’t give much importance to the private life of their main character (they tend to focus only on the “costume on” part); in Animal Man, on the contrary, the private life of Buddy is the main theme of the series. In fact, it is rather infrequent to see Buddy with his costume on.
3) Buddy is not perfect, and is not perceived as perfect by other people: in fact, in the 11th issue, when he tells his wife “It’s going to be okay”, she replies “Don’t give me anything of that superhero crap, Buddy.” That cut and thrust perfectly enlightens the philosophy of the series.
Yeah man! I loved that book! I’ll be picking the first red kingdom issue when it comes out.
Great choice! I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. Thank you for your reply! : )
i always tughoht this was a much older film. I get a definite fifties vibe. The bad costume combined with the font and the iconic promo image often shown as what looks like a badly colorized b+w still. In the clips, it sounded like they were talking in 50s accent if you can call it that. The clip you played of the doctor trying to put the moves on the chickie reminded me of Vincent Price describing the Tingler.I wonder if this was intentional on the part of the filmmakers?
I was hoping you could do a posacdt about the errors that crop up in the Golden Age Comics. I can provide you with details about two of them:In CAT-MAN #32, the last Deacon story features a movie director who aims to kill his ailing wife in order to benefit from her estate and to marry his nurse, a former champion swimmer. On the last page, the Deacon exposes the plot and the director is shot by the nurse, who is then disarmed by the Deacon. In the last two panels, although it appears that the directors wife has now recovered, her dialogue comes out of the mouth of the nurse! Apparently, she was originally supposed to have died but the ending was changed at the last minute, and it was too late to change the artwork.In SHEENA #7, in the second story, an African prince named Mogo arrives in his homeland after being educated abroad. He has brought with him many things from Europe and has been thoroughly contaminated by the Western culture in a very negative way. Sheena, a white woman raised in the jungle, has to stop him from exploiting the natives for profit, which she does. It is a good tale, and very well written from start to finish. However, the Prince is drawn as either a Caucasian or Hispanic and coloured as a Caucasian. Most likely, he was not intended to be an African prince at all: more probably, he was intended to be either an Axis agent or a greedy tutor corpsman. However, again at the last minute, this apparently had to be changed due to the ending of the war, and the character became Prince Mogo even though the artwork remained unchanged.