This is where writer Scott Snyder and artist Yanick Paquette take up the tale. Their spin on the character of Alec Holland is refreshing, and the format established in issue #1 is promising. It’s a little reminiscent of the old Incredible Hulk TV show (this Holland is a man running from his past, haunted by memories of another life as a green monstrosity). We first see Alec Holland working on a construction crew in Louisiana; he’s narrating his own “nightmare” story in flashback. The first issue is full of little references to Swamp Thing’s history – the bulldozer at the construction site is a “Weindigger” (a nod to Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein) and there’s a scene at “Totleben’s Motel” (a nod to artist John Totleben, who inked Stephen Bissette’s pencils and painted gorgeous covers during Alan Moore’s run).

Superman – in his new Jim Lee-designed costume – shows up to check on Dr. Holland, and to ask for some botanical advice about a strange plague that’s killing animal life. Scott Snyder’s dialogue deftly smoothes over the continuity cracks left by Brightest Day and Flashpoint – when last we saw Holland and Superman, it was a different universe. But Superman remembers that Holland needs looking after, and the Man of Steel is worried about the future of the Swamp Thing. Holland clarifies that he’s not the Swamp Thing – he never was. Yet, he has the memories of those lost years – he recalls a woman with white hair (Abigail Cable, daughter of Swamp Thing’s arch nemesis, Arcane). But those memories are a burden, preventing his return to a normal life. This Alec Holland is a haunted man, who tried to take up his old research but found he couldn’t, because he wasn’t the same person anymore.

The most promising thing about Snyder & Paquette’s Swamp Thing is that it’s clearly going to be a horror title. Without giving too much away, the first story involves some fairly effective and brutal horror scenes. At its best, Swamp Thing has always been a horror comic with a fantasy twist (veering occasionally into superheroics), so it’s nice to see that the new team is attempting to honor that. Paquette’s art crisply transitions between a mundane construction site, Metropolis and the Batcave, and some fairly scary monster scenes. Snyder’s story introduces a fair amount of fresh material while carefully tying all of the narrative threads he’s been handed by DC’s recent crises and continuity mix-ups. Most remarkable is a new voice for Alec Holland – the character comes across as authentic, and truthfully, we really don’t know much about him. It’s intriguing to think that we’ll discover this character who’s been bandied about by writers for so many years as if he were a new acquaintance. For Swamp Thing fans new and old, this is a book to watch.

FINAL GRADE: B+