Review – Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees #1 – Horror in the Woods

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Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees cover, via DC Comics.

Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees – G. Willow Wilson, Writer; Mike Perkins, Artist; Mike Spicer, Colorist

Ray – 9.5/10

Ray: For this oversized Halloween team-up issue, it makes a great deal of sense that we’re seeing the writer of the ongoing Poison Ivy series and the artist of one of the best Swamp Thing runs in recent decades. Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing, obviously, are characters with a lot in common, but they’re worlds apart – something that comes into play a lot as they investigate a dark mystery in the woods outside Gotham. A man walking his dog in the woods falls prey to an aggressive conifer – something that has been happening repeatedly, in the dead of winter, when the trees should be dormant. Ivy knows this will likely be attributed to her and needs answers, while Swamp Thing senses a disturbance in the Green and wants to set it right. As the two descend into the forest, Swampy asks some hard questions about whether Ivy is truly part of the Green or if she’ll always have a foot in the human world.

Lost in the woods. Via DC Comics.

This issue starts compelling – and becomes brilliant by the end, as it delves into some concepts that haven’t been explored in the comics since the legendary Vertigo run that initially defined Swamp Thing under top writers like “The Original Writer” and Rick Veitch. There are so many great callbacks here, but also a very human story at the core as it turns out that the entity causing this isn’t some eldritch horror, but rather a servant of the Green who never got the chance to live up to their potential. This story is brimming with righteous rage at the fact that some people are born with no chance and are simply left behind by the world, and the ending is one of the best tear-jerkers I can recall in a comic in a long time. It’s also a perfect summary of what Swamp Thing was saying – despite Ivy’s rage at what humanity has done to the environment, she’s never been able to let go of her humanity. This is more like a classic Annual than anything, but it’s a must-read for fans of Ivy’s series.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.

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