Spoilers for The Swamp Thing #1 ahead!
Swamp Thing has been one of the mainstays of DC’s horror-related characters since the 1970s, and now, in The Swamp Thing, a new Swamp Thing has been born and he shares similarities with another green-hued hero: the Hulk!
First appearing almost 50 years ago, in House of Secrets #92, Swamp Thing is a champion of the Green, the living embodiment of plant life on Earth. The most popular incarnation of the character was scientist Alec Holland, who was transformed into Swamp Thing after being doused with special bio-restorative chemicals that then mixed with the nearby swamp to change him into a monster. Over time, he would learn there was more to his origin than initially suspected and that he was actually a plant elemental, and the next in a long line of avatars of the Green. Alec Holland seemingly met his ultimate end right before Death Metal, but now there is a new, and decidedly different Swamp Thing, roaming the Earth.
Readers meet Levi Kamei, the new Swamp Thing, as he's on a return flight from India to the United States and is being haunted by visions of his childhood, of immigrating to America for school and of his recently deceased father. Intermingled with these visions are other decidedly darker visions of a monster inside of him, struggling to be free, and in some of these, the monster manages to escape, causing much destruction and devastation. Levi lives in fear of these visions, and when drawn to an ancient evil creature living in the desert, Levi transforms into the new Swamp Thing for the first time. The creature knows more about Swamp Thing than Levi, and promises that if Levi is worthy, he will return and continue the lessons about Levi’s true nature. The creature sends him away, and Levi wakes up in Central Park.
The new Swamp Thing continually worries about the beast that lives within him, and the destruction he could cause—a situation Hulk fans will be familiar with. This anxiety stretches out into all sectors of his life, impacting his relationships, something else Hulk must deal with. Both Hulk and Swamp Thing also traffic in body horror—a genre that explores transformations of the body through a variety of methods, mutation being one of them.
There are still many questions to be answered about the new Swamp Thing and his Hulk-like status, and no doubt they will be answered in future issues. The Swamp Thing #1, the first of a six-issue miniseries written by Ram V with art by Mike Perkins and colors by Mike Spicer, is available in stores now and on all digital comics platforms.