Swamp Thing: New Roots

Swamp Thing: New Roots #1-9

by Mark Russell (Writer), Phil Hester (Writer), Andrew Constant (Writer)

Deep in the Louisiana bayou, a terrifying monster stalks the waters, strangling life before it can grow and leaving a trail of death in its wake. And the Sunderland Corporation is coming for Swamp Thing next. Swamp Thing alone stands to defend his community from the growing menace of an evil corporation ready to turn the earth to barren soil if it helps their bottom line. But Sunderland’s reach stretches further than even the Swamp Thing can grasp…their plans for destruction will affect not just the swamps he calls home, but the entire planet! And Swamp Thing is not the only strange spirit alive in the bayou. When a fifolet-a ghost light, a will o’ the wisp-leads him to strangers who need his help, Swamp Thing must discover what this restless ghost’s true purpose might be…if he can survive long enough to find out.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Fiction, Superheroes, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book

160 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2021

About the author

Mark Russell is the author of God Is Disappointed in You and Apocrypha Now. He also writes the comic book series Prez and The Flintstones for DC Comics. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Big agriculture is putting out genetically modified seeds that’s harming the natural environment - not on Swamp Thing’s watch!

Mark Russell’s take on Swamp Thing is really, really bad. A lot of his books tend to have very superficial/banal political commentary and New Roots is no different. Get this: Big Business = BAD. Woah. What a bold position to take - and so thoughtful, original and nuanced!

The entire story is cartoonish capitalists (of course there’s a Trump caricature) pointlessly fighting an absurdly powerful plant god - guess who wins? When is shooting fish in a barrel ever interesting? Besides the obvious and inane political position Russell takes, he hasn’t got anything else to offer. Swampy gets kids momentarily, there’s a “... and it was all a dream!”-esque story - it’s all boring.

The remainder of the book is made up of even shorter stories by Phil Hester, and one by Andrew Constant, all drawn by Tom Mandrake, that manage to be worse than what went before. At least Russell’s story had bland politics - Hester’s drivel is just instantly-forgettable pseudo-horror filler. A haunted carnival, an African wizard, a psychic girl, aliens, a spirit granny, and a ghost light - terrible, every one.

Swamp Thing: New Roots is the worst Swamp Thing book I’ve read yet - don’t waste your time with this unentertaining rubbish.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Russell writes the main story where Swamp Thing goes to war with the Sunderland Corporation. Surprisingly, it's lacking any of the social commentary or humor Russell is known for. Instead, it's a straight forward story. Santucci's art is great.

Phil Hester has went from drawing Swamp Thing years ago to writing the backup stories. He centers them around the Fifolet or Ghost Light that appears around death in the swamps. While these stories looked great due to Tom Mandrake's spooky pencils, they weren't very interesting.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swamp Thing: New Roots collects material from the Swap Thing 100-Page Giant #1-5 and also the Swamp Thing: New Roots #7-9.

I'm a big Mark Russell fan and I bought some of the Wal-Mart Swamp Thing 100-Page Giants so I nabbed this when it came out.

Swamp Thing: New Roots collects two Swamp Thing storylines - one featuring Swamp Thing against an corporation with a genetically modified seed that could eventually wipe out all plant life on earth and another about a ghost light seen above the bayou.

Mark Russell and Marco Santucci handle the creative chores on the first one. I have no problem believing in a corporation jeopardizing the earth's future for short term profit since the fuckers do it all the time. The whole story becomes a protracted dick measuring contest between Swamp Thing and the Sunderland Corporation. It's a pretty good Swamp Thing tale with Mark Russell's trademark cynical humor and absurdism.

The Ghost Light story sees Swampy righting all sorts wrongs in the bayou, taking on an undead circus and a three hundred year old slave, among other threats. There's also a short story featuring Tom Fucking Mandrake on art.

New Roots isn't going to make anyone forget Alan Moore's run or even Len Wein's. Speaking of which, is Swamp Thing back to formerly being Alec Holland or are we still doing the Alan Moore "Plant who dreamed he was a man" origin for Swamp Thing?

Swamp Thing: New Roots is a fun collection of Swamp Thing tales. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This digital collection, released to fill a publication gap during the pandemic, consists of two main stories. The first, and longer, is clearly set in an alternate reality, something that becomes more obvious as it continues. It concerns a battle between Swamp Thing and an agri-food company that's inexplicably set on destroying all plant life on Earth. The motivations of the villains (and there's more than just the company) are poorly explained at best, likely because the short length of the individual episodes didn't allow space to do so, but the escalation of the conflict does at least work well - notably in one episode in which we see the US military getting involved.

The second story is more episodic, and evokes the supernatural and horror elements of the regular series rather than the ecological ones. The individual episodes may be short (half an issue each), but they're quite effective for their length, arguably making better use of the format than those in the first story, which feels like it needs more space. The series concludes with two further, very short stories, one of which adds little, and one of which doesn't make much sense. On the bright side, the art is more consistent - and generally good - than in some of the other similar pandemic-era digital series.

[A.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

I kinda liked Mark Russell’s story arcs, but once Phil Hester came on, I almost fell asleep trying to finish most issues. Pretty meh and definitely not a memorable Swamp Thing read by any means.

[Mason Cantwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tom Mandrake and Phil Hester portion of this trade is what really shines to me. Ghost Light is one of the coolest characters I've seen in awhile. Great addition to the world of Swamp Thing. Tom and Phil's efforts captured the spirit of Swamp thing perfectly. The stuff written by Mark Russell in this collection isn't particularly great, but also not terrible. Each issue of his concluded with an "THE END" title, while leaving you at a place where clearly the story was suppose to continue as a straight continuity. And it did, so, why not use a "TO BE CONTINUED" instead. Tom and Phil did the classic thing of three or four separate stories with one comon thread that isn't apparent at first, so using "END" on each issue makes sense to me. Perhaps a small gripe, but it bothered me with the Russell stuff. Anyway, this collection is worth reading and owning for Swamp Thing fans.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acho bastante curioso e irônico o fato de todo encadernado e série do Monstro do Pântano ter a palavra "raízes" no subtitulo. Monstro do Pântano: Novas Raízes poderia ser mais um belo trabalho na tradição de boas histórias contadas com o personagem dos bayous da Louisiana, mas a mania editorial de rechear os encadernados para criar uma capa dura acabou depondo contra essa compilação. Isso porque Monstro do Pântano: Novas Raízes tem duas tramas. A primeira delas, trazida por Mark Russell e Marco Santucci, é muito boa, trabalhando de forma procedural pequenas histórias que funcionam sozinahs, mas vão fucnionando no todo, como a estrutura de uma série de televisão. Sâo as histórias curtas feitas por Phil Hester e Tom Mandrake que puxam a avaliação do encadernado para baixo. Sâo tentativas desastrosas de traças histórias em quadrinhos de horror em que nem sempre fazem sentido com o Monstro do Pântano. Além disso, o traço de Mandrake, que já foi interessante, parece estar em sua pior fase. O leitor, então, terá de pesar essas duas tramas na hora de adquirir este encadernado.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

New Roots was a digital-first series that was released during the pandemic, if I remember right, and is collected in its entirety here.

The first half of the book is written by Mark Russell, with artwork by Marco Santucci. These stories are almost unrelated aside from the through-line of the Sunderland Corporation (though the last two issues connect together), and aren't quite as thought provoking as Russell's other work. They're not bad, but they feel a little bog-standard, especially for Swamp Thing.

The second half is mostly by Phil Hester, with art by Tom Mandrake. These issues are all linked by the Ghost Light, which leads Swampy to the people he should be helping. Most of these are a little more visceral than the first half of the book, especially the final chapter, written by Andrew Constant, which reminds us that nature is unforgiving, no matter who you are.

A decent collection, if nothing particularly noteworthy. Swamp Thing's one of those characters with a lot of really good stories, so if you're just okay, you kind of look worse than you are in comparison.

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly shocked people haven't been hyping and raving about this book!!

Masterful direction from Russell!
Anyone who experienced the pandemic can enjoy this post-pandemic catharsis fueled at the terrible people of our world and a possible better path!

Hester provides stories reminiscent of Swamp Thing's roots of first several iconic writers!

Won't be forgetting anytime soon!

[Eli · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half I would have given 3 stars, but the second part about the Ghost Light wasn't great, so I just took it down to 2 stars. If it hadn't been so close to the end, I probably would have given up.

[Alex Sarll]

Mark Russell is best known for comics which, often starting with an unlikely property like Snagglepuss or The Flintstones, build savage, off-kilter satires of human failings and foolishness. And to an extent that's what he's doing here too, with two differences. First, at least since he became Alan Moore's American calling card, Swamp Thing is already established as a way of talking about humanity's crimes against the environment. Second, normally a Mark Russell series is funny. But as yet another statement from scientists stresses quite how late we've left it to get our shit together, only to once again be pretty much ignored, it's not hard to see why even Russell's black sense of humour might have deserted him on this topic. We follow a series of confrontations between Swamp Thing and Sunderland, a typically toxic agricultural business working on terminator seeds that will make them a tidy payday, and who cares about the potential side-effect of wiping out all plant life on Earth through hybridisation? That's not reflected in the quarterly results, after all. These are, sad to say, a real thing which real businesses really make; it's just that in our world, there's no plant elemental to pull the 'don't care was made to care' tricks Swamp Thing can on those responsible. But where this could easily have been played as wish-fulfilment stories of a world where the world can fight back, instead the tone is mostly grim. Humans can be paid a pittance to work against their own interests, betray Swamp Thing and their own future for the stupidest reasons – or, even when they claim to support him, turn out just to be enacting the same nasty human bullshit, the scrabble for power and position, through slightly more roundabout routes. By the end, some flat and false notes of hope and believing the children are our future get wedged in like the Chinese ending to Fight Club, but what lingers is the utter – and utterly justified – disgust of the earlier chapters:
"Were we humans always like this? I can hardly remember anymore, but perhaps this is just who we are. Murderous, shortsighted, deceitful... How can they even trust each other? Perhaps they don't. Maybe they merely trust that everyone else is as broken as they are."

In the back, bonus stories mostly written by Phil Hester take more of a classic horror comics approach, by which I mean they see a local will o' the wisp lead Swamp Thing to scenarios like haunted carnivals, ghost ships and creepy dolls, all of them obviously far less scary than humanity's headlong rush towards its own destruction. But aside from working as a breather after the real nightmares, they also have art by Tom Mandrake, and seriously, who doesn't want to see Tom Mandrake draw a haunted carnival?

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieser Comic ist im Wesentlichen in zwei Teile unterteilt; im ersten Teil schildert Mark Russell eine Geschichte, die im Grunde genommen aus Swamp Thing gegen Monsanto besteht (ein Ersatz für elitäre Firmeninteressen) und im zweiten Teil gibt es größtenteils in sich abgeschlossene Gruselgeschichten von Phil Hester.
Santuccis künstlerische Umsetzung ist solide und Russells Schreibstil trägt seinen unverkennbaren Unterton und Ironie.

Ein Unternehmen für Nutzpflanzen bedroht mit seinen Plänen das globale Ökosystem und Swamp Thing knöpft sich die Firmenleitung ordentlich vor. Das bringt diese in ihrer kapitalistischen Weisheit auf die Idee, Swampie selbst zu nutzen, um noch mehr Profit zu generieren.
Dieser Teil ist höchst interessant, ein frischer Wind weht hier auf jeden Fall durch Swampies Welt, die Moral der Geschichte passt perfekt zu Swamp Things Umstände und mir gefiel seine innere Zerrissenheit darüber, was es bedeutet, ein Mensch zu sein.

Es sind von beiden Autoren nicht gerade die besten Geschichten, aber die von Russell sticht in diesem Band heraus.
Die Begleitgeschichten von Hester sind eher fade und zusammenhängende Kurzgeschichten zum Gruseln unterschiedlicher Qualität, Mandrakes Bildmaterial passt dazu ganz gut.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Swamp Thing: New Roots” is a compilation of one-shots published originally in digital format. There is an over-arching story involving Swampy’s battle against the Sunderland Corporation and the threat of their terminus seed, which is a self-sterilizing seed which ensures that farmers will have to keep buying new seeds. It also has the unfortunate effect of sterilizing any other plant it inadvertently cross-pollinates with, which could inevitably lead to the destruction of all vegetation on Earth. Any resemblance to the company formerly known as Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) is probably coincidental, although I doubt it.

These stories—-written by Mark Russell, Phil Hester, and Andrew Constant and illustrated by Marco Santucci and Tom Mandrake—-range from clever to goofy. At their best, they are reminiscent of the early Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson stories. At their worst, they are reminiscent of the horrible Wes Craven movie.

This compilation is a prelude to Ram V’s excellent 2021 run of “The Swamp Thing”.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mark Russell's Swamp Thing. What did I even read here? The easy answer is: a mess. This short arc tries to tell an entire history of the Swamp Thing from fighting against Sunderland Corp to remaking the world. It feels influenced by the early Saga of the Swamp Thing (from whence we get Sunderland) and the Nancy Collins run (from whence we get a heavily Louisiana bayou setting) and the Millar/Morrison run (from whence we get the remaking of the world). It's every bit of the mess you'd expect from trying to merge that all into a single short story. And obviously this is in no known continuity, which makes me say: why? [2/5].

Phil Hester's Swamp Thing. These are more stories that are out of time, feeling most like the horror stories of Swamp Thing v1. They're perfectly OK and largely forgettable [3/5].

Overall, this was a waste of a TPB, which has largely been the story of Swamp Thing releases since the New52 volume ended.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is essentially divided into two parts; one storyline by Mark Russell that's kind of Swamp Things vs. Monsanto (a fill-in for elitist corporate interests) and the second half is largely self-contained "spooky stories" by Phil Hester.

These are pretty strong for starting out as digital comics (which sometimes indicates they're filler/fodder--but NOT always the case).

I'm a big fan of BOTH Russell and Hester. It's not their strongest work, but Russell's shines a little stronger as a cohesive narrative. Hester's is more of a bunch of spooky/horror set pieces revolving around Swamp Thing.

[Ronan The Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good! Santucci’s art is solid, and Russell’s writing Carrie’s his signature sarcastic commentary and irony. An agricultural corporation’s practices threaten the global ecosystem and Swamp Thing shows up to give them a talking to. Then, in all their capitalistic wisdom, they see an even bigger avenue for profit, Swamp Thing himself. It’s well written, interesting, a breezy read, and I enjoy Russell’s ironic finishes.

The last third or so of the book is written by Phil Hester and is a few short connected stories of varying degrees of creativity, but fine overall.

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

idk why the goodreads rating for this is so low, this is EASILY a 5 star mark russell book. this had Excellent classic mark russell social commentary AND nearly every single page had a banger one-liner that read like poetry, so precise and deep. i loved this. (and ngl, i skimmed & skipped the other parts that weren’t written by russell bc the phil lester parts was semi-incoherent and violent & a bit dark—and not my style.)

[Jacob A. Mirallegro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main storyline by Mark Russell is the best part, I think his morals are a good fit for Swamp Thing and I liked his internal battles about what it means to be human.
The backup stories by Phil Hester were pretty bland but Tom Mandrake's art was spooky and cool.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swamp Thing attacks!!! This is a great story arc. Swamp Thing attacks the sunderland company that is poisoning the swamp. I was very impressed with the entire story line and how Swampy took out the bad guys!!

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was confused at the low rating and then I began the second half of this and totally understood it. Just read issues 1-5 don't bother with the rest. 1-5 is a complete story too.

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good but suuuper derivative of Dr Manhattan in Watchmen. I did appreciate the anti-corporate angle. Nice one.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plot that is pretty straightforward but lacks Russell's usual comedic/satirical flair about a plant god vs greedy government.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mark Russell stories are solid.

[Aidan]

Pretty standard Mark Russell comics. Russell has turned humorous anti-capitalist adventures into a trademark that I am fully invested in, particularly the inherently hopeful nature of his stories without compromising on difficult truths. As daunting and aimless as the struggle against oppression can be, Mark’s works find the narrative joy in the long hard journey and its final imaginative denouement. Swamp-Thing’s grumpy nature, persistent drive, and burdened immortality make him a perfect Russell protagonist, one part straight man to the absurdity and jokes, other part reluctant hero driving the story forward. While this is definitely not Russell’s best work, it’s another fine addition to the part of his catalogue that allows you to turn your brain off without having conservative propaganda slipped down your throat. Healthy fast food.

Hilarious that the US Government has a contingency plan for Nightwing. I’m guessing it’s in case he accidentally seduces the first lady.