DC's Future State: Swamp Thing #1 is a diesel engine of a story; slow to warm up but powerful once it gets going! Issue Two cannot arrive soon enough! Read Full Review

Whether this book ties into the forthcoming Swamp Thing series or not, it's an intriguing and thoughtful issue that invokes classic greatness, be it Alan Moore or Rod Serling (yes, Serling wrote the orginal script for Planet of the Apes.) It works completely on its own without prior knowledge of the character or concept, and may even work a little better if the character is new to the reader. This already promises to be one of the best books of the Future State event. Read Full Review

Although it takes place in a decimated world, the first issue of 'Future State: Swamp Thing' strikes a hopeful tone and is full of the joy of discovery. Read Full Review

Future State: Swamp Thing is an exciting new spin for this decades-old character. It breathes new life into him with an entirely different status quo and all kinds of dangers awaiting around every turn. It's one thing to be the avatar of the Green and protecting all plant life, but it's quite another when those plants walk and talk. Swamp Thing has a family of sorts here and he has to protect them from the monsters (not to mention mankind) that may be lurking out in the world. Read Full Review

So by standing apart from the rest of the line, both on a visual and narrative level, Future State: Swamp Thing #1 makes a compelling case for being one of the best of the first wave. Empowered with a singular look, dark expressionism, and reverently cool take on Alec Holland, Future State: Swamp Thing #1 means business, both as a series opener and an example of this team's prowess with the Green. Read Full Review

In the opening week of Future State, DC has rolled out some engaging fresh stories featuring iconic characters in new settings. Swamp Thing might not immediately be on your radar, but Ram V and Perkins make a strong case this is one worth following. Read Full Review

This creative team works with one of DC's non-A-list characters, but they deliver one of the most inventive and compelling stories of the event so far. Read Full Review

Mike Perkins delivers some beautiful art in this issue. The character scenes are brilliantly drawn and detailed. The anatomy panels are gorgeous. There is a vibrancy to the art that even the darker moments exude. Read Full Review

FUTURE STATE: SWAMP THING #1 throws readers into what feels like an ancient world. It might be our first time learning about it, but there's a sense of its rich history on every page. Read Full Review

A captivating Swamp Thing tale from a creative team that clearly knows that Swamp Thing's tenderness is at the core of the best stories about the character. Read Full Review

Future State: Swamp Thing #1 is a smart take on one of DC's most beloved characters as well as being a holistic take on the "dark future" genre, and it even adds a touch of mystery at the end. Read Full Review

The curiously grand setup in Future State - Swamp Thing #1 (V, Perkins, Chung, Bidikar) becomes slightly unwieldy as we explore Swamp Thing's place in this new time, delivering an issue that is certainly good, just not great.#DCComics Read Full Review

If there was any Future State book that I would recommend most, it would have to be Future State: Swamp Thing. This one is fueled by imagination and undeniably can stand on its own. You don't need to know anything extra about Swamp Thing to just jump right into this story. Read Full Review

It should be fascinating to see what sort of judgment it delivers on a species bent on their own destruction as well their planet's. Read Full Review

Future State: Swamp Thing #1 features brilliant characters but is let down by its confusing beginning. The script is terrific, as is the art. Swamp Thing and his followers are all immensely likable and leave the reader eager to read more. The opportunities for conflict are already ripe. But the first few pages take several attempts to understand fully. More will probably become clear as the series grows, and the comic absolutely has promise. Read Full Review

Despite being slow at points and the storytelling being a little shaky, this was an okay issue that the more I think about the concept of it the more I like it. You get a solid idea of who the members of this new family are (at least the three important ones) and I like them. And I like the existence of them. Swamp Thing is human under all that, and we need that sense of community or we'll go crazy. Without humans, despite his dislike of them, he's still lonely. Speaking of humans, what our boy Venen has to say at the very end makes me interested in seeing where this is going. But overall? The issue is okay. Read Full Review

This review covers Future State: Swamp Thing #1 and #2.

Future State: Swamp Thing is perhaps the greatest Future State mini-series to find its way to print. Its biggest strength is its disconnect from the rest of the Future State event and the DC Universe at large. You could easily take this story and publish it as a stand-alone graphic novel, and it might become one of the best-selling Swamp Thing tales in years.

In the far future, the Earth lies in ruins and only a few humans remain in isolation. Swamp Thing has been searching for this remainder of humanity but has had no success in finding any survivors. To ease his loneliness, he has created a new group of green creatures much like himself who each take a small piece of his power and exist as a new race of plant-based beings who search the ravaged wastelands of the planet for remnants of humanity.

The biggest problem the green face is that humans see these green creatures as monsters and continue to set traps for them, thinking that these creatures are going to kill them. Little do they know that Swamp Thing, the supernatural creature of the Earth’s green energy who bonded with a human host, longs for humankind and misses having human interaction. When a human is finally subdued and shown that the creatures of the green are not his enemy, the human tells them that the last remaining humans have moved far north into the snow-covered lands where plants can’t grow, into a former S.T.A.R. Labs facility where the military control everything and some new kind of weapon is being developed. He begs Swamp Thing and the creatures of the green to help him free his people and save humanity.

I admit that I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories and this one delivers. I was expecting some sort of climate change mumbo-jumbo or even a tale set in a not-too-distant future that simply pushed along the Justice League narrative, but this story delivered in ways that were far better than anything my lowered expectations could’ve fathomed. Future State was so uneven overall that realized no standards had been set and some writers just weren’t up to the task of creating a new status quo. Ram V, however, nailed it and crafted one of the best comic stories in years, Future State or not.

The art from Mike Perkins and June Chung was a great fit for this yarn. Perkins not only had the ability to tell a great story and keep the characters independently recognizable, but he also provided some amazing “anatomy” drawings of the green creatures to sit alongside Swamp Thing’s narration of their creation that mimicked the anatomical drawings of Leonardo Di Vinci. I found myself often just staring at the linework and detail of these “fake” bodies and I think it really helped to sell the creation of these creatures. Chung’s colors are rich and moody with the ability to be dark without becoming muddled and confusing. She shows a tremendous grasp of the color spectrum by using different tints and shades of green for the creatures that help to keep them distinguishable and recognizable, even when they are grouped together.

I don’t plan on reviewing any more Future State comics because I don’t expect any others I read to move me to love or hate them as much as the ones I’ve already covered. But especially after reading Swamp Thing, books like Dark Detective and Superman: Worlds of War anger me with their spectacular crapulence. It’s painfully obvious that the powers-that-be in charge of DC Comics have no idea how to pilot the ship and the “big name” writers they paid big dollars for are woefully underprepared to write the characters that they’ve been given. At least Ram V hasn’t been let go from DC Comics yet, and hopefully he’ll be moved to a book of greater prominence once the others have failed and been let go from the company.

Do yourself a favor and buy these two comic books. They will make you see why the medium works.

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Swamp Thing is one of the few established mainstream characters that I've never seen involved in a bad comic. That doesn't mean that they don't exist I just haven't read them. I'm happy to report that this issue doesn't let me down and is actually my favorite Future State title so far.

I'm not 100% of the exact timeframe Future State falls into but If appears that Swamp Thing is even further along in the timeline. and exists in a post-apocalypse scenario. The setting reminds me a lot of The Walking Dead. Swamp Thing is still alive and has created a group of Swamp creatures that exists with their own distinct personalities. They travel the world and act as his family and tribe.

He leads this group in the hope of finding any signs of human survival. Something has caused them to disappear while leaving behind the traces of their society. Some of the tribe agree with Swamp Thing as he is their elder. Others see him as delusional and feel that he loves humanity more than he loves his creations. The search continues until the group happens upon a frightened Human that manages to kill one of the group members.

I liked this issue a lot and think the next issue will be even better. I watched a "Comics Matter" video which basically spent 10 minutes calling the pitch "woke" or "SJW" I didn't pick up on that at all while reading and if you did please point it out to me.

The cast is very diverse in appearances and personalities. Even with the knowledge that the group is basically an extension of Swamp Thing himself you get a lot of different perspectives on the journey they embark on. We've seen similar scenario's before in Tom King's Vision run and even more recently in Dan Didio and Shane Davis's "Metal Men" mini-series.

The comic also includes painstakingly intricate art detailing the anatomy of Swamp Things creations. The infographics provided by Ram V/Perkins reminded me of what we get in Jonathan Hickman's "Dawn of X" run at Marvel. The focus here is a lot better than what we're getting in other books that attempt to use the storytelling format. I felt Iike I was reading the notes of Victor Frankenstein as he detailed the creation of his monster.


The cliffhanger of Future State: Swamp Thing #1 promises more action but earns the switch in tone as the setup and payoff in this issue is actually great. The art also shines as Mike Perkins makes all of the Swamp Things distinct in appearance. He also manages to explore several abilities that I didn't even know the character had.

All of this comic goodness is housed in a pretty bleak setting which begs the question of what the hell is going on. I can't wait for the second issue. Swamp Thing is definitely at the top of the Future State pile.

Rating: 9.5/10 more

This is exactly what I want out of this event. This was just terrific. I loved the whole thing but seeing the character on the final page was a special treat for me. Between the compelling new characters in this issue and in FS: Wonder Woman, I'm really beginning to see the value in Future State.

I really enjoyed this. Between Ram V's JLD annual and this issue, I am very excited to see what he has in store for Swampy.

This truly has an "at the end of the world vibe" and I enjoyed it immensely. It's not a deconstruction of tropes but rather an insight into them that I appreciate. Very solid start. The art by Mike Perkins fits the uncanny vibe.

Really good. The story is very compelling and the artwork fleshes it out in a great manner. Cannot wait for more Swamp Thing stories by Ram V.

Breakout writer of 2020 takes on Swamp Thing!

Very intriguing and well written story; Mike Perkins' art really complements it. Will definitely be picking up next issue as well as the ongoing.

It's great when authors take their opportunities to create actual elseworld tales, unrestrained by any canons or established tropes, crafting unique, creatively free tales. That's how I feel about Ram V's Swamp Thing, which is its own thing and doesn't try to be anything else.

While it may not be the most action packed comic out there, nor one which would drown you in a sea of worldbuilding information, it's something that slowly, but carefully unravels itself to you. It leaves many questions unanswered for now, or in some cases maybe forever. And that's the beauty of it - it's something unique that shouldn't be compared to anything else out there, not at the moment. Go and read it, and see whether or not it's your cup of tea - to me it most certainly is, and I look forward to see where this story goes. more

This was pretty good. It's certainly kinda engaging.

There were some nice moments, but the whole felt like less than the sum of its parts and I can't say as I care about the characters or their world. Like all the Future State comics I've read so far, even the best ones, this feels like it doesn't have enough space to really develop any depth.

I just can't get into anything Ram V writes, the guy has a pretentious writing-style with very little substance at the core of it and very few ideas that he repeats throughout everything he writes.

I have so much hate for this book. I love Swamp Thing and prior to this my only exposure to Ram V was his few books at the end of Justice League Dark which I only thought were “ok.” But man. This book was awful. I am definitely avoiding Ram V from now on.