The Parliament of Trees is no more and the Parliament of Flowers has begun to choose a new champion for the Green. The Justice League Dark can’t help Swamp Thing with the task he must now undertake.
Coming off the back of the universe changing events during the “Lords of Order” storyline, it’s good to see that Justice League Dark isn’t afraid to avoid the fallout of the League’s actions. It was discussed during Justice League Dark #13 earlier this month, but with this issue, it goes in-depth with these consequences. It’s not a complete homerun like plenty of previous issues have been, but this is still a quality issue that is both stand-alone and connected to the story at large.
The basic premise of this issue is a twisted origin story for Swamp Thing. There are a lot of similarities between Alec Holland and Oleander Sorrel in this issue. However, there are enough differences to make this issue interesting and, at times, horrifying. Both of these stories are based around a body horror-style story. Whereas Holland’s feels tragic due to the circumstances and what happens during it, Sorrel’s doesn’t. Sorrel’s story, as more is revealed, has tragedy in it, but most of his problems stem his own choices, which causes worse things to happen around him. It’s a really interesting twist on the story that has a solid premise but doesn’t quite live up to it.
The problems with this issue stem from the lack of empathy that you feel for Sorrel and for his wife, Natasha. We’ve literally just met these characters, and yes losing a child is devastating, but we really don’t ever see anything to grow our empathy for them. For better or for worse, this issue heavily feels like a callback to the stand-alone issues of the 70s. For some of it, this structure works incredibly well, but for the emotional grounding of it, it doesn’t land completely.
Guillem March’s art is solid in this issue as well. There isn’t quite the stylization that the best art of the series has held, but the tone and character work is suitably creepy and works for the story. The way that March draws Sorrel once he becomes the Avatar for the Parliament of Flowers, almost looks like something from Dia de los Muertos. The structure is so skeletal and his head simply looks like a decorated skull. Unlike Swamp Thing, it’s still human enough to have an uncanny valley feeling and it’s very unsettling. This design really enhances the horror that is present with this issue and truly makes him look like a monster.
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