DC COMICS – @DCComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Tom King; Len Wein
ART: Jason Fabok; Kelley Jones
COLORS: Brad Anderson; Michelle Madsen
LETTERS: Deron Bennett
COVER: Jason Fabok
MISC. ART: José Luis García-López; José Luis García-López and Joe Prado; José Luis García-López and Joe Prado with Mark Chiarello
80pp, Color, $7.99 U.S. (March 2018)
Rated “T” for Teen
Swamp Thing created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson
Editor's Note by Rebecca Taylor
Swamp Thing is a horror comic book character from DC Comics. While there have been different versions of the character, Swamp Thing is a plant elemental and a sentient, walking mass of plant matter. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, Swamp Thing first appeared in House of Secrets #92 (cover dated July 1971).
In 2017, both Wein and Wrightson died. In 2016, DC Comics published a six-issue Swamp Thing comic book miniseries written by Wein and collected in a trade paperback, Swamp Thing: The Dead Don't Sleep. Before he died, Wein was working on a new Swamp Thing series with artist Kelley Jones, who drew The Dead Don't Sleep. This new series would have also been a continuation of the miniseries, and the first issue would have been published as Swamp Thing #7.
Wein produced a detailed plot for the first issue/chapter (“Spring Awakening!”), but died before he could produce a “lettering script” for the first issue of this new Swamp Thing series. The art for the new comic, drawn by Kelley Jones and colored by Michelle Madsen, is printed in a recently published square-bound, one-shot, comic book, Swamp Thing: Winter Special. In a two-page editor's note, Rebecca Taylor explains the situation around this still-born project. Swamp Thing: Winter Special also includes Wein's plot for Swamp Thing #7, which runs six pages (for a 20 page story).
“Spring Awakening” depicts long-time villain, Solomon Grundy, kidnapping an infant girl, and, later, Batman visiting Swamp Thing. I don't know what to make of the story other than I would have loved to have read a finished version. I am a longtime fan of Kelley Jones, and I love the way Michelle Madsen colors Jones' comic book art. I am not a big fan of Swamp Thing unless the stories are produced by particular creators, and, of course, Wein was one of them, so...
The Wein tribute is the opening story of Swamp Thing: Winter Special. Entitled “The Talk of the Saints,” it is written by Tom King; drawn by Jason Fabok; colored by Brad Anderson; and lettered by Deron Bennett.
“The Talk of the Saints” finds Swamp Thing shepherding a lost boy through a blinding snow storm. As the two navigate a strange, frozen tundra, they face countless threats, especially an unseen bloodthirsty snow monster that is constantly stalking them. Stripped of his powers and disconnected from “the Green,” Swamp Thing must uncover the true identity of the snow monster that hunts them.
Tom King's story does offers some genuinely scary and creepy moments, but, at the same time, it comes across as awkward poetry and metaphor. The art by illustrator Jason Fabok and colorist Brad Anderson is gorgeous and, outside of Kelley Jones and Michelle Madsen's work, is some of the most beautiful Swamp Thing comic book art that I have see in years, especially the last five pages of this story.
Letterer Deron Bennett presents lettering that really heightens the chills and thrills. For me, Bennett unites what is good about Tom King's story and the prettiness of the art into a striking graphical package.
Swamp Thing: Winter Special is not great, but it is an essential publication for Swamp Thing fans, if only for the Len Wein tributes and story material. But a Swamp Thing comic book full of pretty art is a good reason to have this one-shot comic book.
7.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
-----------------------
