Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Swamp Thing Volume 2 - Issue 28: "The Burial"

Go To

"How deep...do you need...to bury...the past...before...it will stay...dead?"
The Swamp Thing

One autumn day, two weeks after the previous issue, a much more cheerful Abby visits the Swamp Thing. She says that not only is her job going well, but Matt has stopped drinking and is looking for a house for the two of them. She is curious, however, as to why their hotel room is full of flies, as they should've died off by now.

As Abby poses that question, the Swamp Thing is shocked to see Alec Holland's ghost in the distance. When Abby, noticing his distractedness, addresses him as "Alec" out of habit, he snaps at her to stop calling him that, and runs off in pursuit of the ghost. Charging furiously through the swamp, he shouts that he's not Alec Holland, and won't be haunted by himself. Seeing the ghost again, walking sadly away, he changes his tone and begs him to wait, then follows him, eventually discovering the ruins of the Hollands' house/laboratory.

The Swamp Thing enters and sees a vision of Alec and Linda talking happily in bed, and then a vision of Mr. E's hitmen knocking Alec out and planting the bomb in his lab. The Swamp Thing, unaware at first that no one can see or hear him, tries to stop the tragedy from happening, but can only watch helplessly as the vision plays out with Holland burning to death and landing in the swamp. After some time, the Swamp Thing's past self emerges from the water. Able, unlike the previous visions, to see and hear the current Swamp Thing, it points under the water and vanishes. The Swamp Thing digs a grave and waits for something to show up that he can bury.

Eventually he realizes what his past self was getting at: Although Holland's body is gone, his bones are still there, under the bog floor. He retrieves the intact skeleton and buries it, using one of his root "bones" as a marker. Sensing correctly that Holland's ghost is now smiling, the Swamp Thing, content that he's finally laid him to rest, walks off without looking back.


Tropes:

  • Continuity Nod: The past Swamp Thing is silent, just as the first, one-shot character by that name (from House of Secrets #92) was completely mute, and the subsequent, ongoing character in early issues could speak only with difficulty and thus rarely did.
  • Due to the Dead: The Swamp Thing gives what's left of Holland's body a proper burial, which allows his spirit to rest in peace at last.
  • Filler: "The Burial" doesn't advance the ongoing plot to a great extent, as the protagonist had in effect already accepted, with the end of the Woodrue arc, that he and Holland were two separate beings. However, the regular Bissette/Totleben art team needed extra time to complete the following, art-intensive issue, so Moore scripted a fill-in story for guest artist Shawn McManus to illustrate.
  • Foreshadowing: Abby wonders why, so late in the fall, her hotel room is full of flies. The answer, as she'll soon find out, is that her uncle Anton, whose malevolent presence attracts said insects, has possessed Matt.
  • In Harmony with Nature: Abby notices that, with the coming of autumn, the Swamp Thing's "skin" is changing colour, something she's never seen it do before. He explains that in the past (while he still thought he was human), he wasn't in touch with the seasons yet. The brief appearance of his past self (drawn, as noted below, according to the original character model) further emphasizes this difference. Whereas the past Swamp Thing's body is smooth and uniformly green, that of the present Swamp Thing is shaggy like actual grass and moss and, as mentioned, partially browned with fall's approach.
  • Intangible Time Travel: The Swamp Thing's visions of Holland's life and death appear to be a form of this, as he can't interact with anyone in them, but can only watch what's already happened.
  • Internal Homage:
    • The scene recapping Holland's death uses Len Wein's dialogue from Swamp Thing Vol. 1, Issue 1.
    • The Swamp Thing's past self is drawn in the style of Bernie Wrightson, who co-created the character with Wein.
  • Invisible to Normals: The Swamp Thing can see Holland's ghost, but Abby can't.
  • Shared Mass Hallucination: Abby says this was the official explanation for the Monkey King incident. She's okay with this, because it enabled Elysium Lawns to remain open and her to keep her job there.
  • Unfinished Business: Holland's ghost has stuck around because his body never received a proper burial.

Top