If you like your superhero comics with a whiff of weird, DC Comics has a feast of rot for you. Mashing together characters who roam the fringes of the DC Universe and crossing them into a multi-issue epic titled Rotworld, the company calls it a “War of the Elementals,” Ed Katschke, comic corraller for Monarch Cards & Comics, calls it a “tale of stark horror.”

“Since DC began its New 52 reboot back in September 2011, there have been several instances where it has crossed titles between one another. For the most part these efforts have been typical superhero-meets-superhero tales with little to recommend in the way of true excitement. This month, however, begins a saga that crosses between Animal Man and Swamp Thing and it promises to be a doozy. Writers Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder have been slowly bringing the titular heroes of their respective dark super hero fantasy books together to face the horrifying threat of The Rot.

“Swamp Thing, representing the Green and all of Earth’s vegetation, and Animal Man, representing the Red and all of Earth’s animal life, have been dealing with the forces of entropy in their own titles for several months and they must now team up to stop The Rot from engulfing the world. Both Animal Man and Swamp Thing are part of DC’s ‘The Dark’ line of comics and both hold true to their horror-tinged roots. Artists Steve Pugh and Marco Rudy do a great job at ratcheting up the terror and overall grossness of The Rot while Snyder and Lemire move things along at a good pace. As horror comics go, one could do a lot worse then checking out the current Rotworld crossover.”

Lemire is one of the industry’s go-getters. His career is relatively young, but he is zooming to the top at a rapid pace. A native Canadian, he first struck out as a self-publisher in comics, won a few prestigious awards for his personal, introspective work, then attracted the attention of the big boys. Lemire writes and draws an acclaimed Vertigo series, the post-apocalyptic Sweet Tooth, which has been called “Mad Max meets Bambi,” as well as scripting other DC titles and producing the occasional creator-owned graphic novel. He stands as an example of the homespun comic fan who has made good in a tough industry.

Tags: Animal Man, Comic books, DC Comics, Jeff Lemire, Jim Beard, Marco Rudy, Monarch Cards & Comics, Rotworld, Scott Snyder, Steve Pugh, Swamp Thing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Comics, Star.
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