The Swamp Thing, Vol. 3: The Parliament of Gears

It's a good thing that this run had the extra six issues tagged onto the end that this volume contains, because this is the strongest part of the series - it took time to get going and, perhaps, to decide what it wanted to do, but the payoff works. Indeed, it's noteworthy that it feels like a proper conclusion, and not something tacked on when they realised they had extra space to fill. Here we have a new Parliament arising, challenging the Green (and, by implication, the others we've seen down the years) for dominion over the Earth. It's a good expansion to the Swamp Thing mythology and deals with themes that the series often did in the past.

There are some tie-ins to other parts of the DCU, with appearances by Green Lantern and by a major character from previous Swamp Thing comics. However, this is far from your typical superheroic story (and with the horror present, but relatively subdued, too) focusing more on philosophical reflection as Levi completes his journey to becoming a successful avatar and comes to understand both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Parliament of Trees. New character Trinity is a nice concept, too, fitting with this new vision even if she doesn't have any great depth as a person. Given that the fights are all pretty much tangential to the plot, and often largely off-screen, it's pretty epic, too. A good wrap-up that feels like it should always have belonged in the series.