Double-Review: Animal Man #17 and Swamp Thing #17

Five months ago, Animal Man and Swamp Thing were sent a year forward in time to find that the world had been taken over by the Rot, the elemental force of death on Earth. Under the control of Anton Arcane, the Rot consumed nearly all life on Earth, including most of the world’s greatest heroes. It became up to Animal Man and Swamp Thing to separately gather the forces of the Red and the Green for an assault on Arcane’s castle compound.

The seventeenth issues of Swamp Thing and Animal Man are billed as the two-part finale of the “Rotworld” storyline that kicked off months ago. The threads of this story have connected the two titles since both launched at the kickoff of DC’s New 52. The story sees Buddy Baker and Alec Holland rejoin forces as they try to defeat Arcane once and for all. With so much build-up, then, it’s unfortunate that “War of the Rot” wasn’t more satisfying.

Writers Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder co-write the two issues, and they work together very well. The transitions between fronts of the battle before Animal Man and Swamp Thing join up, and the interaction between them once they do, all feels spot-on to the characters. The battle is an epic one, and its conclusion is well-executed, but it ultimately does nothing to resolve the larger picture of the “Rotworld” storyline. Buddy and Alec are still a year in their future. A victory over Arcane’s forces in Rotworld is very nice, but it doesn’t change the fact that they still need to somehow go back to the present and stop Rotworld from ever happening. This is something that one would reasonably expect to see from what is billed as the finale of “Rotworld,” and yet it doesn’t happen. Part of it is accomplished in the form of a final-page deus ex machina from the Parliament of Decay, but the story still ends on a big “to be continued.” Presumably the next issues of both series will serve as the actual finale to the story, because it certainly doesn’t happen here.

The art on Animal Man is as solid as it has been throughout the story. Steve Pugh and Timothy Green II swap back and forth, with Pugh focusing on Animal Man and the forces of the Red and Green handling Swamp Thing and his Green soldiers. The creatures of the Rot are truly horrifying, and the way that our heroes dispatch them is necessarily disgusting. They do a great job capturing the frantic energy of the battle.

Over on Swamp Thing, things get more complicated. Andy Belanger is a great artist with a fun style, but it doesn’t really fit the tone of this story. Up until this point Yanick Paquette and Marco Rudy have traded art duties on this title. The two have similar looks, so the art shifts haven’t been jarring. Belanger’s style is vastly different, though. His cartoony style works elsewhere; he has even worked on Swamp Thing before, having drawn a framing sequence in last year’s Annual #1. To draw the final chapter of a dark storyline that has consistently looked one way in an entirely different art style, though, distracts from the story itself. It’s a shame that neither Paquette nor Rudy was available to see this storyline all the way through.

There’s a lot to like in this two-part story. Snyder and Lemire’s character work is excellent as always, and they manage to give all of the principal characters a moment or two to shine. The battle itself is strong and its outcome satisfying. Uneven art and a lack of resolution to the overall storyline, though, leads to “War of the Rot” ultimately coming up short.