First published as an Amazon 3* review
Listen, Swamp Thing, it's not you, it's me.
I mean, you're everything that should be. Your roots remain with Len Wein and Berni Wrightson, and with Alan Moore which is as it should be. But you've grown and changed into something uniquely yourself in the New 52. Alec Holland is suddenly alive, years after being burned to death in a fire in the swamp, with memories of being the Swamp Thing he never was. But then we learn that he should have been all along and that he is the only chance the planet has against the monstrous evil that is The Rot (which also features in Animal Man). You're well drawn by Yanick Paquette and well written by hot writer Scott Snyder.
But I still can't love you. I know everyone else does though. You see, that's what I mean, it's not you, it's me. Plus the fact that I find The Rot a completely irritating and uninteresting villain and you haven't begun to develop an interesting supporting cast. I loved you before when you were with Len and Berni and then with Alan. But now..
I'm sorry.
I mean, you're everything that should be. Your roots remain with Len Wein and Berni Wrightson, and with Alan Moore which is as it should be. But you've grown and changed into something uniquely yourself in the New 52. Alec Holland is suddenly alive, years after being burned to death in a fire in the swamp, with memories of being the Swamp Thing he never was. But then we learn that he should have been all along and that he is the only chance the planet has against the monstrous evil that is The Rot (which also features in Animal Man). You're well drawn by Yanick Paquette and well written by hot writer Scott Snyder.
But I still can't love you. I know everyone else does though. You see, that's what I mean, it's not you, it's me. Plus the fact that I find The Rot a completely irritating and uninteresting villain and you haven't begun to develop an interesting supporting cast. I loved you before when you were with Len and Berni and then with Alan. But now..
I'm sorry.
Post Script: a few more brief thoughts.
I dunno, I really wanted to like this title but with the introduction of a villain, a force really, that is so powerful it becomes too familiar that I just don't find it interesting at all. I think I hoping for something more low key, more subtly disturbing than the over the top grotesqueries which are portrayed here. The Rot is introduced with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the groin. When Alan Moore took over the title back in the early 80's he created the most original, thought provoking and often genuinely disturbing mainstream comic of the time. This new version just isn't remotely near that.
Scott Snyder, you, sir, are no Alan Moore.
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