Swamp Thing #23 - "No Sabre -- don't kill him!"

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

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In my youth, I only ever owned one issue of Swamp Thing.

And this is it. Issue #23. Bernie Wrightson's long gone and so has Len Wein but, in their place, we have Nestor Redondo, and Gerry Conway of Gwen Stacy murdering infamy.

So, what sort of mischief can happen in a swamp when that pair is in charge?

This kind of mischief. A man called Sabre's out to get the Swamp Thing.

Sabre's a man with a serious dose of The Grim Reapers, having a sword at the end of his arm and a lust for vengeance in his heart.

It seems it was the Swamp Thing who cost him his hand and now he intends to make the monster pay.

Unfortunately, for him, his employers the Colossus organisation are having none of that. They want him to capture Swampy alive, so they can have access to the scientific secrets that only his alter-ego Alec Holland can possess.

That's assuming, of course, that there's even going to be a Swamp Thing to capture, as our hero's suddenly remembered he has a brother called Edward who's also a scientist and who, therefore, may be able to help him find a cure for his condition. 

It does seem odd that it's taken twenty-three issues for him to think of this but there you go. I suppose life's filled with distractions when you're a vegetable.

Swampy drops in on his brother, pausing only to give his glamorous lab assistant Ruth Monroe a fainting fit and then, together, the trio get to work.

One huge, multi-page dollop of exposition, that recaps the Swamp Thing's origin, later and they've cracked it. They're ready to work the scientific magic that'll turn a monster back into a man. You can't help feeling Bruce Banner should pay these people a visit.

But, just as the process is starting to work, Sabre shows up and starts attacking everyone in sight, which turns out not to be such a bright idea, as it promptly leads to his death in a fiery inferno that, happily does the good guys no harm at all and, as the tale reaches its conclusion, the Swamp Thing is no more and Alec Holland is a man restored.

And now, because you the reader asked for it, a whole new era can begin in the saga of the Swamp Thing!

One that I'm assuming will involve Holland being able to turn into the creature whenever he needs to.

Granted, I don't know for a fact that that's the plan but I'm struggling to see what the new direction could be if that's not the case, unless they're planning on retitling the book Alec Holland.

Whatever the truth of the matter, sadly, it's not going to be a very long era, as the series notches up just one more issue after this, before cancellation, suggesting that any wonders this issue's events were supposed to weave for the circulation figures failed to materialise.

Oh well. You can't win them all. So, does the series at least penultimate with style?

I'd say so. For the most part. As you'd expect with Redondo on pencils, it's a beautifully drawn tale, with Alec's new love-interest Ruth being particularly stylishly drawn.

When it comes to the writing, it's hard not to feel you've stumbled upon a significant issue; even though it's quite a slight one, clearly there to let new readers catch up, and to set things up for the future, rather than be a story in its own right.

Easily the weakest element is the villain Sabre who is, frankly, an ineffectual moron and proves to be more of a nuisance than a genuine threat.

Still, at least next issue, we're promised a big yellow monster for our plucky trio to have to fend off. So, that should feel a little more high stakes.