The Swamp Thing #5

The Swamp Thing #5

DC Comics 2021

Written by Ram V

Illustrated by John McCrea

Coloured by Mike Spicer

Lettered by Aditya Bidikar

Newly armed with the knowledge and powers he gained from the Green and yet lonelier than ever, Levi Kamei is pulled once more into service as the Avatar of the Green is summoned by primal forces to the city of London, where old ideas lie buried, slowly leaching into the reality above. The scars of old wars and the dangers of past ideologies resurface as the Swamp Thing must team up with an old trench-coated acquaintance and his new protégé to save the present from the atrocities of our past.

This series just keeps getting better and better as Ram really has found his stride where this book is concerned. The way that he’s been able to get at the heart of what the Swamp Thing is, the Avatar or Guardian of the Green, and how he’s able to utilised what he is to travel halfway across the world to be where he’s needed is magnificently well told. If there is someone who isn’t reading this than you have no idea what great comics are because this is the epitome of sensational book. This needs to be an ongoing monthly so everyone should be out picking this title up.

I am in love with the way that this is being told. How we see the story & plot development through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exquisitely. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter is marvellously rendered. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we’re catch up with old acquaintances and left with that feeling of wanting more.

I’m a huge fan of the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen while new ones emerge. With existing avenues explored nicely and new ones opening up that could lead to new places it’s an exciting time to b reading this. The depth and complexity that we see within the layers is awe inspiring. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is brilliantly achieved.

John does a great job filling in on the interiors here. The linework is amazing and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work is extremely nice to see. That backgrounds play such a big role in all this is great to see and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is wonderfully rendered. The creativity and imagination that we see is utterly delightful. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. How the various hues and tones within the colours are utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great eye and understanding for how colour actually works.

​

This is one of those rare books that’s a hell of a lot better than folks realise. It has a stunning range within the story that makes for complicate and yet interesting reading. It has this amazing writing and characterisation that is wrapped up in these dynamic and detailed interiors take the enjoyment factor of this to new heights.