As we last saw our cabbage breathed hero, Alec was at the mercy of Abigail Arcane. This issue starts with a doctor talking to a child named Williamn who is deathly allergic to Cholrophyll (anyone else see where this is going? good, if not you need to think really hard) and confined to a bubble for his own safety. The doctor encourages William to try to socialize more with the other children at the hospital, even though he can’t leave the safety of his bubble he should still try to make friends, and explains that he likes to go scuba diving. During the conversation William hears a mysterious voice calling his name from one of the trophy fish on the wall. The doctor calls in some orderlies and has William moved to one of the play rooms where of course there is a bully who wants to pop the enclosure and threatens to do it that night at midnight. Back to Abigail holding Alec at gunpoint ordering him to “do something.” Alec eventually calls on the green, unconsciously i might add, to tie up Abigail. Abigail explains that she now believes he is who is claims to be. She says she was once in love with Swamp Thing when it was using his body. She asks for Alec’s help and says she is taking him to a hospital in Texas, there’s a boy she needs to save.
Back at the hospital William is awakened by his name being called, once again from the many trophy fish mounted on the wall while the bully is about to puncture his bubble. The voice says to take up arms in his name and William somehow kills all the children that were threatening him in a sick and violent manner, their bodies looking much like victims of the insects from the previous issues with blood coming from their orifices. An attitude change comes over William as the doctor rushes in, he goes from frightened to almost overconfident, from shaking with fear to calm. William orders the doctor to wheel him out, commenting that the doctor shouldn’t smoke which makes the doctor cough up blood.
Abigail and Alec are discussing the boy, Abigail says he can control dead matter. Just as Alec is connected to the Green, this child is connected to the Rot. She mentions her uncle Anton cultivating the Rot, how she is different now than she was back then because back then she couldn’t hear the Rot but now she can and its calling to her. Theswamp dampens the voice because the Rot is weak there, but she knows its calling to her and the boy. As they arrive at the hospital Abigail says when Alec becomes Swamp Thing he is the most powerful Green Knight on the planet and the boy is the same thing for the opposite side, if he bonds with the Rot he’ll be a force of disease and decay not seen since the Biblical plagues. They encounter the doctor now with a tumor the size of a small child emerging from his mouth as he falls down dead at their feet. Abby says she brought the boy here so he’d be safe because he’s her brother, but it seems he wasn’t safe enough. We then see William Arcane walking down a road wearing the doctor’s scuba equipment to protect him from the chlorophyll in the air. Abby says that if William joins with the Rot then it will be Hell come to Earth as we see the tagline “Come Hither, Child” and the issue comes to a close.
WHOAH! So it seems that the Rot, the force Seethe is working for or that works for him (not sure on how it works yet) has its own avatar and that its going to be a child. This is getting really interesting really fast. The overly obvious foreshadowing about the kid being allergic to chlorophyll was easy to see, i figured he’d have something to do with the Rot right off the bat, but this is totally awesome. Will William become an evil Swamp Thing? Abby having been in a relationship with the former cabbage-head while it was using Alec’s body comes as a surprise to me, i don’t remember that from the previous comics but I admit i didn’t read every issue back then and maybe its a change for the New 52 but whatever it is i like it. It brings back memories of Anton Arcane who is one of my favorite DC villains so i’m ok with it. Will young Willliam join with the Rot? Will Alec and Abby find him and stop him in time? Will Alec ever go Green and save the planet? Guess these are just questions that we’ll have to plant now and hope the answers grow in the near future.
