Swamp Thing #23.1 is an interesting issue, but not a necessary one. Anton Arcane is always an interesting foil, and there hasn’t much to do with him since he was bested trying to steal the power of the Parliament of The Rot during Rotworld. Writer Charles Soule explores further the Arcanes, a family that puts the “fun” back in dysfunctional. What makes Anton such a great character is his complete embrace of being a monster. There is no bad childhood, no reasoning behind it, he’s just stark raving mad and totally in love with that idea.
Since his defeat, Arcane has been forced to exist in a beautiful world where nothing ever dies and nothing ever rots. For most of us, it would be an exquisite way to spend eternity – for Arcane, it is hell. Day after day, he watches to see just a slight glimmer of the Rot, only to be refused it. Weak, thin, and defeated, Arcane attempts to rip his own eyes out to avoid seeing the horror of the beauty around him. Cue Abigail Arcane, the monster’s niece, and the current avatar for The Rot. Abby has questions, and she demands Arcane answer them.
Allowing him small tastes of The Rot, Abby elicits the story of her mother. Turns out Arcane had wiped those memories from her, but now that she’s the avatar, they have returned. Abby wants to know what happened to her mother from Anton, whom she’s convinced is the one who killed her. Starving for The Rot, Arcane agrees and spins one doozy of a story. It begins with Anton as a child, living in Russia and feasting on the decaying carcasses of trapped animals. Soon, The Parliament of The Rot appeared and made Arcane their avatar. A long history of murder, torture and death followed.
Ilse, Abbey’s mother, starts out loving Arcane. One day, she develops a skin disease, one that Arcane realizes he gave her. He continues to poison her through touch, hoping she’ll be able to fight it. Realizing what he’s doing, and that Arcane wants to do it to young Abby as well, Ilse sends Abby away to live with her sister. This choice that ends up with more tragedy and death at the hands of Rot’s avatar. Soule throws a few twists in the story, twists that set up just how screwed up Arcane is. He also tosses in a slight chance that Arcane will return, but it’s very vague.
Jesus Saiz’s art is well executed, but he’s not given much to do. Outside of a few flashbacks, most of Swamp Thing #23.1 is a conversation between Abby and Arcane in an open field. Saiz makes the most of it, especially where zombie Arcane is involved. The small details and line work give zombie Arcane an awful, decaying vibe. Abby is solid, too, though her look is way too early-era McFarlane Image comics for me. Overall, Saiz has some effective pencils, though I’d like to see what he does with more content.
(3 Story, 3 Art)
