Taking out Batman with a Single Punch!

The Swamp Thing story I reviewed last week did end with an unresolved plot point--government agent Matt Cable and his unofficial assistant Abby Arcane had been captured by the criminal organization known as the Conclave. So it only seemed right to review the next issue as well, so we don't leave Matt and Abby forever imprisoned.

Swamp Thing #7 (November-December 1973) was also written by Len Wein and drawn by Bernie Wrightson. It opens with Swamp Thing riding the rails to Gotham City, accompanied by a dog that had been in the company of Cable. What S.T. doesn't know is that the dog is an undercover agent for the Conclave. Well, sort of. The poor little guy is microchipped, which had allowed the head of the Conclave to listen in on Cable's conversations.

Anyway, it's hard for an 8-foot-tall plant monster to go unnoticed, even in a city where weird stuff like that seems to be a daily occurance.  While he's outfitting himself in something he hopes will be inconspicious, the cops show up. The cops, though, soon discover that bullets don't do him much harm. Swamp Thing avoids hurting anyone, but he does trash a couple of police cars, creating enough confusion to allow him to getaway.

In the meantime, Bruce Wayne is heading up a meeting that is also attended by a businessman named Nathan Ellery, who at first seems to be a nice guy, but is in reality the head of the Conclave. Of course, Ellery would have no idea Bruce is Batman, but why he would set up the headquarters for an international crime organization in a city protected by Batman is a bit of a mystery.

After the meeting, Bruce puts on the costume and goes on patrol. The story here is nicely paced, with the action switching back and forth between Batman (as he takes out some smugglers and finds clues about the Conclave) and Swamp Thing (who is also tracking down clues about the conclave).

The Swamp Thing scenes are a bit on the contrived side. He hangs out at a bar, depending on his hat and coat to hide the fact that he's a monster, and listens in on the conversations of nearby thugs. Eventually, someone just happens to mention he's been hired by the Conclave as he waves around a piece of paper with an address written on it.

Wein was a great writer and I'd bet real money he knew this was contrived, but he only had 20 1/2 pages in which to tell the story, so was obligated to move the plot along quickly. He probably had no choice. This is, overall, a great one-issue story and stretching it out to two issues to make Swamp Thing's investigation less contrived would not have worked. Besides, the story involves an almost-mute plant monster trying to track down a super-scientific criminal cartel. There's only so much realism you can jam into it.

Anyway, Swamp Thing eventually finds out where Matt and Abigail are being held. He frees them and also overhears a phone call that tells him the Conclave is responsible for his wife's death (and the explosion that turned him into a monster). So now he really wants to find the Conclave's leader.

In the meantime, Ellery has sent a signal to the dog's microchip to recall the animal. Batman spots the dog and, recognizing it as the animal seen earlier with Swamp Thing, follows him. This brings the two heroes together near the building in which Ellery lives. Naturally, there's a fight.

And Swamp Thing manages to do something that every villain in Batman's Rogue's Gallery has dreamed about on a nightly basis. He knocks out the Dark Knight with a single punch.

The dog ends up giving away Ellery's status as a criminal. Swamp Thing confronts the villain, but is unable to bring himself to kill him, even to avenge his wife's death. It's an epic moment for the character--after all he's gone through, he still retains his true humanity and an understanding of right and wrong.

Ellery, though, stumbles into his pet baboon, which reacts in fear, bites him and sends him tumbling off the balcony to his death. (Well, his supposed death. Like most comic book villains, he's not quite dead yet and returns in a later issue.) Swamp Thing leaves Gotham and Batman calls the night a wrap, sensing that the monster is done mucking about his city.

As I said, this is a great issue. The contrived nature of Swamp Thing's "investigation" is a bump in the road, but Wrightson's art and Wein's script hit the right emotional notes to make it work anyways.

Next week, I think we'll travel into the future to visit Dr. Magnus, Robot Fighter.