Swamp Thing #2

Writer – Len Wein
Artist – Kelley Jones
Colours – Michelle Madsen
Letters – Rob Leigh

Recently, Swamp Thing managed to get himself torn apart by the zombie he was supposed to stop. Luckily, he is able to pull himself back together but as for stopping the Zombie, he can think of nothing that would help other than talking to Shade in the hopes for some information. Dealing with Shade usually promises an answer, but that answer always comes with a price, though what it might be, Swamp Thing can only wonder. It is not too soon when Swamp Thing encounters the zombie again and manages to defeat it with the method Shade recommended and leaves the parents who engaged his services under false pretenses to their fate. This latest miniseries to feature everyone’s favourite muck monster is a return to form courtesy of Len Wein and Kelley Jones. The book delivers a solid dose of old-school horror, something that has not been present at DC for some time and to say it is a lot of fun is putting it lightly. The book will not be everyone’s cup of tea as it might feel dated in some respects, but going into it, you had to kind of know what you were in for. It was great to see Shade in the story, adding a little extra mysticism for good measure, not to mention a return of the Phantom Stranger. The mystery of how the zombie became the way it did is revealed as is the duplicity of its father and mother. True, they only wanted their son back after losing him too soon, but they went about it in the worst possible way and Swamp Thing has no sympathy for them whatsoever. With the end of this particular story, which was done up nice and neat without dragging things on, you have to wonder what Wein has in store for us next, especially with that surprising cliff-hanger. Solid artwork from Jones, a good story and enough intrigue to keep you hooked makes the latest series of Swamp Thing quite entertaining.

3.5 out of 5

Uncanny Avengers #5

Writer – Gerry Duggan
Artist – Carlos Pacheco
Inker – Mariano Taibo, Dave Meikis
Colours – Richard Isanove
Letters – VC’s Clayton Cowles

As revealed last issue, Cable has decided to stay with the team for a while or at least until they catch the Red Skull that is. To that effect, the Uncanny Avengers have begun their investigation, or at least a few of them including Deadpool, Rogue, the Human Torch and the aforementioned Cable. With a little light persuasion, the team discovers the whereabouts of the Skull’s vault – one of them anyways. Instead of finding gold or information of any sort, what they find is more than a little shocking. With this issue, we meet up with Gambit courtesy of Gerry Duggan and Carlos Pacheco. Like most things that have happened thus far in this title, not everything is as it seems and while moves are made to discover what they need to know, the team only runs into dead ends. An interesting moment happens when Cable decides to take off and leave the team after just recently joining. After learning what he thinks he needs, Cable is all set to ditch the Avengers and head off on his own, thinking that he can take down the Red Skull on his own, yet with his tech being currently hampered, he is forced to stay which causes a couple of hurt feelings, though to be fair, it has to be expected when dealing with the man. Deadpool gets a few moments to shine and actually acts pretty normal, at least for him and for those that do not like the breaking of the fourth wall, they will be glad to know that it does not happen here. Seeing Gambit was a good thing and he would probably make a great addition to the team, though once you get to the end of the book you will realize that Duggan throws a wrench into the works by fooling characters and readers alike. It is a nice bit of unpredictability in a genre where most things can be guessed at, having seen the same scenarios multiple times over. All in all though, the book was an exceptionally good read and it was nice to see the story focus on just a few of the characters instead of the entire team at large.

3.5 out of 5