Written by Tom King
Penciled by Mitch Gerads
Cover by Mitch Gerads
Published May 17, 2017
Cover by Mitch Gerads
Published May 17, 2017
As an old bearded man sits in his Gotham apartment, someone breaks in through the window. And as he recites a familiar poem, the perpetrator shoots him twice in the face. By the time Commisioner Gordon brings in Batman, the clues are sparse. A drivers license from Louisiana and neighbors who can only report the man kept to himself. Slowly a hand protrudes from a large clump of soil and Alec the Swamp Thing stands behind the two detectives. As nothing really shocks Gordon anymore, the previous acquaintance of Batman explains that the dead man was his father.
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| Just another day in Gotham. |
At Wayne Manor, Alfred constantly cleans up after their guest. Alec the Swamp Thing reveals that he visited his father once and they would communicate via letters. Batman tells him he doesn't seem upset and Alec asks should he be? Lloyd McGinn was a proton caught by a weed. He was born in a swamp and moved to Gotham, dying from gunshots to return to the earth. He tells Bruce he doesn't know what he's doing there. Killed by someone breaking into the 84th window is revealing however, and the two seek out Kite Man.
As he's plunging to his death, he tells Batman he sold a kite. Falling even faster, he tells him it was a Pawn Shop. The two go hunting even deeper, talking to the shop owner and reviewing the surveillance footage. There Bats sees local weapons supplier Nat the Gnat who isn't talking. He notices a new necklace however and realizes it was the Headhunter. A very hard to find assasin who just so happens to be entering the Gotham Museum of Art. Swamp Thing knows because the grass told him so.
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| That grass is my boy! |
The two race over in the Batmobile and there they find him. He admits to Batman that he did kill the man. He was singing a tune that the criminal had never heard before - a song his son Swamp Thing had sang before. Stewing on it long enough, he found the man's address and killed him for it. Hearing this, Alec can't hold back. Branches extended, he wraps the punk in vines, twigs, sticks, and leaves. Reciting the stanza, he pierces the mans body - finally his head, poking out his eyes and protruding from his nose and mouth. All the while Batman yells for him to stop but he does not.
Batman is enraged. He helped deliver the man. Where was the change? Where was the descending light? Swamp Thing tells him it was his father.. He wouldn't understand. Batman screams "WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?!" As he yells, Alec wilts and slowly disappears amongst Batman screaming. What about his mother and father calling back to the earth. Coming back to life. He calls him a coward once more and with that, this story comes to an end.
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| Remember that time Batman was calling a pile of leaves a coward? |
One-off stories are always so refreshing and easy and quick. It's almost a disappearing artform though. Perhaps writers don't rely on them much due to the inability to write a complete story in 23 pages. Maybe they're under orders to not do it from editors. Who knows? But Tom King is clearly an exception and a gem in this industry. I ragged on him in the early issues of this book and looking back, I must have been just trying to find a flaw. But in a comic world of Brian Michael Bendis burnout at such an alarming rate, this is a breath of fresh air. The only regret I have is waiting so long to finally start reading this book. I give it a 10/10.
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Until next time, thanks so much for reading.
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