DC is releasing a 6 issue limited series for Swamp Thing, written by Len Wein and art by Kelley Jones. This made it to the top of my pile based on the names of the creators. Len is the creator of Swamp Thing along with Bernie Wrightson back in the 70 as a horror type comic. And then later, with Alan Moore and Steve Bissette, the Swamp Thing book changed into a supernatural type thing. However, this new book seems to be going back to its roots as a horror book.
Len has been in the business for a long time and is among the demi-gods of comics. I grew up reading his books without knowing or caring who created them. I just liked reading cool stories. Later, as I started looking at the bylines of books that I liked, Len was one name I saw quite a bit.
With this new Swamp Thing book, I mentioned that it’s going away from the Alan Moore/Vertigo style and more into a horror type read. The issue read much like the old Tales from the Crypt EC titles from the 50s and 60s. Swamp Thing is a normal guy turned into a creature. He has the same human emotions and is not portrayed as an Earth avatar with god like powers of all the plants on the planet. Instead, Len has Swamp Thing solve a mystery of a missing/dead/zombified college student.
The other really cool thing about this book is the artwork by Kelley Jones. I have enjoyed his work since his Deadman limited series’ from the early 90s. His style is perfect for horror comics, and is matched well with this book. The dark shadowing and distorted figures raises the tension in the story. And he draws gore and guts almost as good as Bernie Wrightson.
So with all this going for it, I’m looking forward each month to a tight, supernatural story that fits in 6 issues.
Other books I picked up:
A-Force #1
Deadpool #5
Detective Comics #48
Doctor Strange #4
Uncanny X-Men #1
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