Swamp Thing: New Roots #7 is a chapter in the digital-first series Swamp Thing: New Roots (Volume 1 (Digital)) with a cover date of June, 2020.
Synopsis for "The Winter Quarters"
This story is reprinted from Swamp Thing Giant (Volume 2) #2.
Gracie and her pa are out looking for Eldon Guillory after he had gone missing. After spotting a fifolet spirit, they decide to flee but Swamp Thing who was observing the scene decides to follow it. He comes upon a bunch of clowns kidnapping Eldon and pursues them until he reaches a locked circus gate. A voice from the speaker warns him away, but he breaks down the gate regardless.
Swamp Thing is soon attacked by an elephant while investigating, but it shatters apart after he breaks one of its tusks. He realizes it was a mummified elephant and while investigating further, is contacted again by the circus voice which apologizes for having Brutus, their mummified elephant, attack him, and freely allows him to enter their tents.
Swamp Thing after initially believing he had found Eldon, realizes he is a hall of mirrors which show him what is, was and could be. The voice states that they were once a successful circus but had to take in a witch practicing black magic, after their fortune started declining. The witch however died when the circus was travelling in-between towns and didn't stop to have her checked by a doctor. After her death, her son gifted them a replica of the circus but it was cursed.
The replica took the life force of its viewers and gave it to the circus members, which kept them alive, However, they kept getting older and their audience dwindled further, due to which they took to abducting people to feed off their life force. Now that Swamp Thing is here though, they no longer needed do that and made him view the replica. Eldon however smashed it causing the circus members to disintegrate. As the circus started to fall apart, he and Alec escaped with the help of fifolet.
Appearing in "The Winter Quarters"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Eldon Guillory
- Fifolet spirit
Antagonists
- Three Penny Family Circus & Show members (Die)
- Brutus (mummified elephant) (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Gracie
- Linda Holland (As an illusion only)
Locations:
- Louisiana
- Terrebonne Parish
- Terrebonne Parish
Synopsis for "The Courser"
This story is reprinted from Swamp Thing Giant (Volume 2) #3.
Professor Aliyah Wallis' fiancée Justin tells her to evacuate due to the incoming hurricane Oya, however she remains adamant about tethering a buoy yo the anchor of the slave ship "Le Coursier", likely the most intact shipwreck of that era, otherwise it will become irrecoverable once Oya hits the coastline. She however tells him to take her students back to the bus, stating she only needs twenty minutes and the storm will take some time hitting the coastline as she can still see the navigation buoy's light.
Swamp Thing has come to witness the storm as his powerlessness in front of it reminds him of his humanity. Emerging in front of Aliyah, he asks her to reconsider staying there and states the light she saw is actually from a fifolet which guides him to people who need help. Aliya however states that she can't leave until she tethers Le Coursier's anchor and in return he has it lifted out of the water for her to tag. The two however suddenly hear gunshots from the dig site where Justin and her students were at. They spot the expedition's funder Ammon having the students executed and it reminds him why he doesn't want to be like humans.
Swamp Thing attacks Ammon's goons but is subdued by his magic. It turns out that Ammon requires human victims to replenish his power and after having Justin executed, raises Le Coursier from the waters while revealing that he's its only surviving passenger. Swamp Thing requests Ammon that he free the others in exchange for giving him back whatever the ship took, but Ammon states he's not the first one to claim so and it never brought him any peace. Stating that he was once a powerful and immortal magician due to whom the Oyo empire flourished, Ammon reveals that he was drugged and sold to the French as a slave by a jealous king.
Ammon performed a dark magic to free himself by offering the lives of all other slaves aboard Le Coursier as sacrifice, however he started hearing the clanging of the ship's chains, something that never left him. After learning about the hurricane Oya, he believed it to be an omen and decided to find the ship in order to destroy its chains. Finding himself unable to destroy the chains with his own strength, he prepares to kill Aliyah, but is tossed into the sea by Swamp Thing who has the seaweed use the ship's chains to hurl him. Swamp Thing then tells Aliyah to follow the fifolet to safety, but the storm gave him what he wanted - a short reminder of his humanity, but one too long to bear as he carries Justin's corpse.
Appearing in "The Courser"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Aliyah Wallis
- Fifolet spirit
Antagonists
- Ammon the Immortal (Flashback and main story)
Other Characters:
- Justin (Dies)
- Linda Holland (Mentioned only)
- Olorun (Mentioned only)
- Oya, the guardian of the dead (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Africa (Flashback only)
- Oyo Empire (Flashback only)
- Atlantic Ocean (Flashback only)
- Louisiana
Vehicles
- Le Coursier (Flashback and main story)
See Also
- Write your own review of this comic!
- Discuss Swamp Thing: New Roots Vol 1 7 (Digital) on the forums
- Cover gallery for the Swamp Thing: New Roots series