It’s the fifth week of the month, so it’s that time for DC to start putting out new annuals! The one that got my attention the most was Swamp Thing. I liked last year’s one by Scott Snyder a lot, but what can Charles Soule do with an annual? Is it good?
Swamp Thing Annual #2 (DC Comics)
The big battle against Seeder is coming up soon and Swamp Thing needs to train in order to beat his foe. He goes into the Green itself to seek guidance from past Avatars in hope they can provide him with the knowledge he needs to win. Story wise, that’s all there is to it, but yet, there is just so much more.
There are dinosaur Swamp Things! Won’t find that in your silly fossil records.
What I mean by so much more is that the comic here presents the history and power of the Green. We learn about how it got started, how it picks Avatars, and the extent of their powers. It’s really fascinating and engaging watching Swamp Thing learn from one of the characters, Lady Weeds, and learning all of this. It feels like there was a lot of effort put into fleshing out this rich history and it really pays off.
Not only that, the two characters introduced here are really memorable. They have stellar designs and great personalities that I really hope they appear again. Lady Weeds is especially great, going into her history and seeing how she uses and describes her powers. She and Wolf, as well as the other characters introduced, have a lot of potential and hopefully we’ll see more of them.
Lady Weeds’ other special powers is sarcasm.
There are two different artists on this book: Javier Pina and Kano. Kano only does one part at the very end (which looks good), but the rest is done by Pina. The artwork here is great looking all around. The characters are wonderfully detailed, the creativity and design is memorable, the action is stellar, and the colors really make elevate the imagery. While maybe the panel layouts are not as impressive, there is no way I can do this book justice with just mentioning these aspects of the art.
9.5
- The creativity, history, and new characters are a joy to read and see.
- The artwork is amazing.
- Great Halloween read
- When you get straight down to it, there’s not much in terms of story progression.
Is It Good?
Swamp Thing Annual #2 is a great issue and should definitely be checked out by the fans of Swamp Thing, new and old. The creativity and rich history are so incredible and amazing that you have to sit back and think about it. With great artwork, I can’t think any other book this week that even comes this close in terms of quality. Highly recommended.
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