Noteworthy Issues: The Swamp Thing #4 (May, 2021)

Well, I wasn’t expecting that.  Like most things involved in The Swamp Thing, that’s a good development.

Issue:  The Swamp Thing #4, May 2021

Writer:  Ram V

Artist:  Mike Perkins

The Plot:  While looking for Jennifer, Levi Kamei learns about the Green and what he may be tasked to do.

Commentary:  The previous issue ended with Alec Holland, in his human form, showing up to teach Levi Kamei what the Green is while saying Jennifer was safe with her companion in some other part of the Green.  That companion was the Floronic Man, and that seemed…well, if not inaccurate than at least unlikely.  While Woodroe has spent time as one of the good guys, he isn’t always.  Is he a hero or a villain in this issue?

It turns out he may be more villainous, but the Floronic Man isn’t the problem here.  There’s something up with the Green, and as writer Ram V sees the Green, it’s not quite what it has been in the past.  Past incarnations of the Green usually represent it as a metaphysical level that connects all plant life, and while it still is, Holland here defines it as something else, something that can explain perhaps why there are two Poison Ivies in there and how people like Floronic Man and Alec Holland can pop up where they’re needed.

But there is a problem with the Green, one that seems to connect with the very instant when Levi became the new Swamp Thing.  He still isn’t sure what that is, but he got some clues in things that happened that he only vaguely remembers, and the way this series has written the Green, well, that can only help him remember and learn what he needs to know in order to not only save the day, but also figure out who and what he is now.

On the downside, his general ignorance may have horrified Jennifer since she apparently didn’t know as much about his new nature as I thought she did, and the lab they used to run that MRI, well, that will be causing more problems in the future.

Still, a good step forward.  Too bad the next issue looks like the other half of a Suicide Squad crossover of sorts where I read and reviewed the Squad’s side of things ages ago.

Grade:  B+