Review: Swamp Thing Vol. 3- Rotworld: The Green Kingdom

Quick Summary

Pros: The story is fantastic and gives a exemplary conclusion to Animal Man and Swamp Thing’s current arcs. The conclusion is also filled with great emotions. Rotworld is incredibly creative in both story and art. The crossover itself is handled well.

Cons: One of the finale’s most important chapters features some rather poor art.

Overall: After two volumes of set-up, the conclusion to Swamp Thing’s most recent journey is every bit as epic and emotional as readers could desire. This volume sees the forces of the Red, Green, and Rot clash in a world filled with creative takes on familiar characters. This confrontation is emotional, action-packed, and incredibly fun. Fans who have been keeping up with Swamp Thing will be happy to learn that this volume enhances the already high level of quality seen in the series thus far.

Story

Swamp Thing Vol. 3: Rotworld- The Green Kingdom, is an expertly planned crossover and an impressive conclusion to two volumes of set-up. In this volume, all of Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire’s planning comes to a head, as the forces of the Red, Green, and Rot meet together in a finale that easily lives up to the anticipation. In addition, the volume’s unique premise allows for a ton of creativity, which is exhibited through both the characters and the story. Overall, this is a great book and a solid way to end this era in Swamp Thing’s life.

(spoilers start here)

Rotworld begins by setting up the premise behind Rotworld itself. When Animal Man and Swamp Thing dive in to the world of the Rot, they spend a few minutes unsuccessfully fighting before returning to their own world. However, when they emerge, they find that a full year has passed and that their world has now been overrun by the Rot’s forces; this is Rotworld.

Setting up the story in this way is a wonderful idea. It allows Snyder and Lemire to stretch their creative capabilities to the max by exploring what is essentially a brand new world. This gives the writing pair near unrestricted access in delving into unique versions of well known heroes, like a rot-infested Batman and a Man-Bat version of Barbara Gordon. The creativity here is awesome and helps make this a better story all around.

While Swamp Thing’s journey allows us to see Rotworld, Abby’s journey furthers her character development and the bond she shares with Alec Holland. Set in a flashback before Rotworld, it sees her fight her uncle while constantly reminiscing about Alec. It is a solid character arc that gives the volume the emotional impact that it needs.

Then, in the finale, both the creativity of Rotworld and the emotional impact of the characters reach their zenith. Swamp Thing storms Anton’s fortress with a giant Bat-robot while also fueling his own powers through the use of Bane’s venom injection system. This makes the finale epic and full of fun action. However, after going back in time and reversing Rotworld, Swamp Thing is forced to accept the fact that he and Abby can never be together, since he is an avatar of the Green and she is an avatar of the Rot. It is a conclusion that blends fun and emotion in the best way possible.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Once again, the majority of this volume is penciled by either Yanick Paquette or Marco Rudy. Both artists bring a wonderful level of creativity to an already incredibly creative book. They provide unique takes on already established characters and make Rotworld truly feel like a separate version of the DC Universe. In addition, the creative paneling and wonderfully structured pages allow the book to stand out even further and make this collection an artistic achievement.

The only downside is that one of the finale’s most pivotal chapters is rather poor. The book’s penultimate chapter, drawn by Andrew Belanger, sees a number of major events and even contains the conclusion to the war for Rotworld. However, this is, by far, the visual low point of the collection, which takes some of the impact away from an otherwise fantastic conclusion. It is not a dealbreaker but is definitely a disappointment.

Continuity

Swamp Thing Vol. 3: Rotworld- The Green Kingdom continues the story from Swamp Thing Vol. 2: Family Tree (Review). This is also a crossover with the Animal Man series, so references are made to Animal Man Vol. 1 (Review) and Animal Man Vol. 2 (Review). This story also takes place at the same time as Animal Man Vol. 3.

The story here continues in Swamp Thing Vol. 4: Seeder (Review).