Swamp Thing is coming, and judging from this new trailer, he’s not pulling any punches. The latest DC Universe show brings to the screen a faithful looking version of one of the comic book company’s more obscure and strange, yet critically acclaimed heroes. First appearing in 1971, the character really took off when a young Alan Moore took over the comic in 1982 and turned out a classic run of stories that redefined not just Swampy, but the limits of superhero comics.
The creators of the show have already said they’re taking a lot of inspiration from Moore’s run, and this trailer proves it. His stories focused on body horror, realistic violence, psychological trauma and environmental activism, and looking closely at this preview seems to indicate that they’re including direct elements from the writer’s early issues.
Prime among them appears to be the famous revelation about Swamp Thing’s identity that sets him apart from other superheroes: he’s not a man turned into a plant monster, but a plant with increasingly distant memories of a man. Also, we get a neat look at his adversary Jason Woodrue (Kevin Durand), who takes a more villainous plant-man based tack. Besides that, we get to see Crystal Reed’s Abby Arcane, aka Swamp Thing’s future girlfriend and the impetus for many of future stories (including a kickass one where Swamp Thing takes down Batman).
The only real fly in the ointment is the worrying news that Warner Bros. abruptly shut down production on the show and reduced the episode order from 13 to 10. Given how good this trailer looks though, I doubt that this is because of quality. My bet is that the series is simply too expensive, and they may be reconsidering the whole DC Universe project due to lack of subscribers.
That’d be a pity, as the nascent streaming network has been hitting consecutive home runs with Titans and Doom Patrol. Whatever the case may be, we’ll get out feelers on Swamp Thing on May 31st.
Published: Apr 24, 2019 12:12 pm