In the swamp

The gang over at The Comic Treadmill provide an interesting and opinionated view on five of the first six issues of DC's recently relaunched Swamp Thing:

In this arc, Diggle and Breccia spend six issues doing what they promised they’d do on the cover of Issue 1 – return Earth’s Elemental to his roots. Which, given the ridiculously cosmic power and scope of the version of Swamp Thing they inherited, is an idea that gets my vote. And the basic premise of the plot is decent – involving the skeletal remains of Alec Holland, the god-like Swamp Thing, John Constantine, Abby (Swampy’s wife), Tefe (Swampy’s daughter) and as the antagonist, the minor golden age magician revived as a hero/villain, Sargon the Sorcerer (an intriguingly bizarre reprint of a solo story of his involving the Blue Llama that was reprinted in a 1970’s Justice League remains burned into my brain). However, the execution of the idea takes too long and is done in a pedestrian style, which left me fidgety and unhappy by the end of issue 3 and fed up by the end of issue 6.



I actually enjoyed the first four or five issues, but got lost and a little bored toward the end of the arc. I found Breccia's art to be engaging at times but muddled and forced at others. Still, I would have probably stuck around if the creative team did. I was excited to hear Will Pfeifer was taking over, then became confused when it was revealed he was on for only two issues. Oh well. Not sure if I'm going to give new writer Joshua Dysart a try, though. Anyone else have thoughts on the series?