The Parliament's Plea
The Parliament of Trees makes a desperate plea for Alec Holland to embrace his destiny. With the fate of the world at stake, what will the reluctant, would be messiah do?
The Good
Paquette's art on this book is absolutely gorgeous. The panel borders, the layouts, the figures, the character acting, the detail every bit of it is impeccable. And Nathan Fairbairn's colors really bring it all to life.
Snyder's been a bit wordy on this book, but good luck finding any that are unnecessary. Alec's conversation with Calbrath A.H. Rodgers, a past Swamp Thing was great top to bottom and does a great job of establishing the what and why of this book.
I don't normally mention letterers but I have to give a huge amount of props to John J. Hill for managing to include of all Snyder's dialogue and not stepping all over Paquette's lush work.
Snyder does a nice job of introducing older Swamp Thing concepts like the Parliament of Trees and multiple Swamp Things without making it too dense to follow. But what really impressed me about this issue was that he's so effortlessly capable of combining the old with the new. The way he introduces his new villain, Sethe, the Red, and the nature of a true Swamp Thing into the mythos was a thing of beauty.
Animal Man readers should definitely get a kick out of seeing the interplay between these sister books beginning to take form.
The final moments shared between Alec and Calbrath really had an unexpected emotional effect on me as I read this issue.
there's a nice bit of action and horror to add a bit of an upbeat to the story as it closes and the last page of this issue definitely has me hooked in for the next!
I'd be remiss to not mention just how masterfully Paquette's handling the horror in this book. The panels with Sethe and his army rampaging through a small town was a superb example of what he brings to the table on this book.
The Bad
Not a problem for me personally, but this book is the definition of wordy. This book is very much a character driven book and focuses on conversation rather than confrontation.
The Verdict
Definitely ruling this one a buy. Snyder takes some of the best elements of the old and injects it with a healthy dose of new ideas. Writing like this is what the DCnU should be all about.
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