CREDIT: DC Comics
Rating: 5/5 – Len Wein Returns to his Original Creation with Kelley Jones!
by ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
With Convergence moving on into its fourth week, the main Convergence event for me continues to disappoint while the tie-ins and all the related two issue mini-series are starting to get better and better. Case in point being this first issue of Convergence: Swamp Thing. Written by Len Wein with art by Kelley Jones, this is a must read for both the story and the art. Kelley Jones of course bring his moody pencils and heavy shadows to a character that seems made for his style, while Len Wein takes perfect advantage of the Convergence event to tell a captivating tale about the plant who thinks he’s a man.
Convergence has left all the super powered characters without their powers as they’re cut off from the rest of the world and hopelessly trapped beneath a dome by the new villain Tellos. This dome is also providing only an artificial light which has left the Swap Thing without a major source of energy. Wein makes you feel for the character as he takes readers on a journey through the Swamp Thing’s past that includes his own origin he gave the character as well as taking the elements that Alan Moore added to him which changed him for the better. We also get to see Abigail Arcane’s love for the character despite their obvious differences that gives the book an emotional feel that’s been somewhat missing from the character in the New 52 and such an important part of the character’s overall appeal.
Kelly Jones is such a perfect artist for a character like this. Although he’s always been great on his extensive work on Batman, it’s wonderful to see him on a character like Swamp Thing as he uses the shadows and blacks to perfection, while colorist Michelle Madsen uses eerie hues of greens and browns to give the character and “the green” such life. Not only is this one of the best written stories in all of the Convergence tie-ins, it’s for sure the best looking with the Lee Weeks issue of Superman not too far behind. This is a two issue series that can be enjoyed all on its own with just a minimal understanding of what’s happened in Convergence so far so the entry point for a new reader is simple. I’d encourage you to pick this issue up to see a creator head back to his original creation as he partners with an artist in Kelley Jones who like Bernie Wrightson before him, seems as though he was born to draw the original “thing” from the Swamp!
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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