It’s a good, but far from profound, issue. Much like Moore and Veitch, Millar has sent Swamp Thing on a multi-issue themed adventure. Not through time or space, but through genre fiction. Here he appears in a supernatural noir world, aiding a private detective on a case involving a devolving man.

The detective’s actually the lead; Alec being reduced to a guest star in his own comic (for these reasons, anyway) reminds of the series’s glory days. It can’t be unintentional on Millar’s part, especially not since he writes the detective and the strange world of zombies, werewolves and witch doctors so well.

It probably could be its own comic, but there’s no sign Vertigo was using Swamp Thing to soft pilot comics. Too bad.

There’s a lot of blood, a lot of implied gore, but mostly just great storytelling from Millar, Hester and DeMulder. The comic oozes mood.

CREDITS

River Run, Chapter One: City of the Dead; writer, Mark Millar; penciller, Phil Hester; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, Richard Starkings; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.