Review: Swamp Thing Vol. 5- The Killing Field

Quick Summary

Pros: Readers get a well-written and in-depth exploration of what the Green is and how it affects Swamp Thing’s powers. The main storyline is exciting and contains plenty of creativity. The artwork looks great and helps enhance the story.

Cons: Aspects of the previous volume are left frustratingly unexplained.

Overall: This volume of Swamp Thing ups the ante on Alec Holland’s entire world. It delivers on producing an enemy worthy of his attention, which fills the book with action and excitement. Then, it uses this enemy to push forward some compelling exposition about Swamp Thing’s powers. This is a worthy addition to Alec Holland’s story, one that is sure to entertain anyone willing to give it a read.

Story

Swamp Thing Vol. 5: The Killing Field is an intense and incredibly interesting dive into the metaphysical world of Swamp Thing. In this volume, writer Charles Soule, really digs into the mechanics of the Green and explains how it functions for both Swamp Thing and the entire world. He sets this worldbuilding and exposition against the background of a fight between Swamp Thing and the Seeder, which adds some action and drama to the collection. In this way, the book feels incredibly similar to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, where the hero of the series learns about his powers and goes through a rigorous training regiment to prepare to face his enemy. It also ends up being one of the most entertaining volumes in the series thus far and is sure to be a delight for any fan of Swamp Thing.

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The Killing Field starts out by setting up the battle between Seeder and Swamp Thing over the role of avatar. Immediately, this concept injects tension into the premise. After all, readers just watched Alec Holland sacrifice everything to get his current position, taking it away now seems cruel and borderline sociopathic. It also gives the story high stakes that are easy to recognize by any reader.

Then, Charles Soule begins an exploration into the Green as a concept. We see Swamp Thing travel through vast fields and dark caves, consisting entirely of plant life. Swamp Thing himself takes on numerous forms, at one point even blending into the scenery itself. This takes Alec Holland from the struggling new avatar we saw back in Swamp Thing Vol. 1 (Review), to the all-powerful entity that readers know Swamp Thing can be. This change is also done in a way that feels natural and organic to the current character’s progression.

When the fight finally occurs, it is just as creative and exciting as expected. It has poison seeds, a trip to the moon, and even a moment where Swamp Thing takes over a piece of the Seeder’s body. The fallout from the fight is also exciting, as watching the Seeder wreak havoc and watching Alec Holland fight the Parliament of Trees are both engaging battles. This excitement helps even out the heavy exposition at the collection’s beginning and make for a well-balanced volume overall.

Finally, the volume concludes in a way that significantly opens Swamp Thing’s world. His victory over the Parliament of Trees is sure to have consequences and, judging by the quality of this volume, those consequences are sure to be interesting. Ending the volume in this way left me extremely excited to see what is coming next from Swamp Thing.

My only real problem with The Killing Field is that it seems to completely gloss over the “Whisky Tree” storyline from the last collection. This storyline is what initially convinced me that the Seeder was evil, yet his actions in this story are completely contrary to everything he does in this volume. The lack of explanation does is not a significant problem but does retroactively make the “Whisky Tree” feel out of place.

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Art

The artwork, in The Killing Field, does a fantastic job in bringing the metaphysical imaginings of the story to life. Jesús Saíz and Javier Piña create a picture of the Green that is lush but also approachable. Here, readers see the various biomes imagined by the denizens of the Green, with each one allowing a small peek into that particular character’s psyche. This is creative from a visual standpoint but is also a way in which the artwork helps enhance an already entertaining story. All in all, this book looks great.

Continuity

Swamp Thing Vol. 5: The Killing Field continues the story from Swamp Thing Vol. 4: Seeder (Review).

The story here continues in Swamp Thing Vol. 6: The Sureen (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Alec Holland states that the previous Swamp Thing only believed himself to be Alec Holland. This revelation comes from Swamp Thing #21, collected in Saga of the Swamp Thing Book 1.
• The vegetation that the previous Swamp Thing uses to construct his realm is the same as the vegetation in Swamp Thing #56, which is collected in Saga of the Swamp Thing Book 5.