Swamp Thing #6 Review

It's A Slow, Slow, Slow, Slow Burn

Written By: Ram V

Art By: Mike Perkins, Mike Spicer, Aditya Bidikar

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 3, 2021

In Swamp Thing #6, readers finally... FINALLY... get some backstory on Levi Kamei, the current Swamp Thing. However, readers only get a few scenes to develop the relationship Levi had with his father before he dies and his brother. The rest of the story is a comedy of errors as the current Suicide Squad is dropped into a jungle to capture the Swamp Thing... Dead or alive!

Was It Good?

It was good for finally getting to a little of the character development that's been sorely lacking since this reboot started six months ago. Also, we get some Suicide Squad action to ramp up the pace.

On the downside, the bits and pieces we get from Kamei's backstory barely surpass a tease, and the Suicide Squad, while an amusing change of pace in this title, is more amusing for being almost entirely incompetent and/or useless.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

The Suicide Squad detonates some kind of toxin that cuts off a portion of an Indian jungle from the rest of the Green. The idea is to trap Swamp Thing in one location so he can be killed and collected or captured.

The technical explanation of this plan seems cool on it the surface, but it makes little sense. How did they know Swamp Thing would be in that specific area of the jungle? Even if they cut off a portion of the jungle from the Green, Swamp Thing could still dissolve into the trees and plants in that area, so how did they think this was going to work? But sure, we'll play along

.

Next, we get some flashbacks to the time Levi was in India before he becomes Swamp Thing. We see the bonding moments with his brother and the heart-to-heart conversations with his father. Levi's family is connected, in a soulful way, to their homeland, and they're both wary of Levi's company and its intentions for the land.

Back to the present day. Levi painfully emerges from the plants in human form when the Suicide Squad is dropped in for capture and retrieval. You'd think a mission of this sort would require the talents of expert hunters and trackers, but who do they bring? Peacemaker, Nightmare Nurse, Heatwave, Parasite, and Chemo(?!?). There's not an expert hunter or tracker in the bunch. Worse yet, at least two of the five are barely controllable monsters.

Of course, Heatwave finds Levi first and just starts flame-throwing everything in sight. Parasite runs off to eat something he found on the ground. And 30-foot-tall Chemo is just wandering aimlessly.

The Squad's plan makes no sense. The Squad's member lineup makes no sense. And Levi finally spawns into Swamp Thing form but only on the last page.

Bits and Pieces:

Swamp Thing #6 is taking the concept of a slow burn and a decompressed story to an unpleasant extreme. Half this issue is dedicated to the Suicide Squad acting like buffoons, and the little bit of Levi's backstory we've been waiting for since issue #1 barely fills in a single puzzle piece.

5.5/10