The Swamp Thing #13, lucky for us, is another strong issue. This DC title is scheduled for a 16-issue run, and there is still power in the pistons. The current chapter, “Machination” stirs our emotions, our sense of wonder, our imagination.
Writer Ram V takes the tension, already wrung rampant, into new situations here: The Swamp Thing is in The Factory, a revamped industrial plant, where a new consciousness is running things. A dangerous presence is recycling the lost and homeless, and packaging them for ’no good’. And in the midst of the mayhem, among the battles of machines and green beings, a new powerful female figure emerges.
Oh, it’s wonderfully imaginative and offers a nice balance between quiet and chaotic moments. The narrative never leaves the track, never loses focus or chlorophyll, always attached firmly to its own organic logic.
Artist Mike Perkins (with Mike Spicer on colours) keeps the dark tones, the solid masses of figures and environments. It’s detailed, suggesting vast quantities of leaves, trees, and metal pipes, but never overplays its hand, never detracts from the rack and pinion steering of the story engine. The faces are emotional, the fight scenes full bore and eight-cylinder, and the surprises jump out from the curb at all speeds. Lettering by Aditya Bidikar.
DC Comics, Swamp Thing #13 (of 16), $3.99 for 25 pages of content. Rated 13+.
Newsdesk