Remember the last time we saw Swamp Thing? He was fighting the Rot, who was using the body of Abby Arcane’s little brother to spread its destruction. Alec Holland who had given up the powers of the Swamp Thing finds himself having to reclaim them to stop this threat.
This novel starts with Swamp Thing having to rescue Abby who was taken by the Rot and has become a terrible monster. It soon appears however that Abby is a lot stronger than she seems and overcomes the hold that the Rot has over her. She rescues Alec and takes him back to the Swamp to recover. Unbeknownst to either of them, the Rot has called forth its most powerful champion, Anton Arcane, Abby’s uncle to destroy the Green. ‘Family Tree’ ends with a one-shot that tells of a time when Alec had met Abby and Anton long ago but forgotten his encounter with them.
I have to say that I got through this novel relatively quickly, and that was because a lot of it was large panels with images rather than words. That in no way is critical because I actually liked it. The story was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. In terms of character development, there was a lot of focus on Anton which was fine since he was the villain of the story.
The artwork was pretty graphic and also downright terrifying in some of the panels. However, given the story, I thought it was quite apt. Did I like the style though? Probably not my favourite. Overall, this was a better novel than the first one and got me excited to read some more Swamp Thing!
Favourite Panel:
I just thought this panel was beautiful!
Favourite Character:
It’s got to be Swampy! Haha! His control over his powers was so much more impressive in this novel
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★★½
Character Development: ★★½
Artwork: ★★★
Enjoyability: ★★★
Re-readability: ★★★
Level: Intermediate