Swamp Thing #9

Part of DC's New 52 initiative, Swamp Thing #9 arrives in 2012 with a cover by Yanick Paquette that's genuinely unsettling: a massive, shark-like creature of pure rot and sinew lunges forward, jaws wide open, clutching what appears to be torn green plant matter in its clawed grip — the tagline "The Queen of the Rot… Feeds!" leaving little to the imagination. Skulls litter the ground below while a fiery red sky fills the background, setting a tone of dread and decay that the Green versus the Rot conflict does so well. With Scott Snyder writing and both Paquette and Marco Rudy on interior art, "Broken Bones" looks to be a chapter where the Parliament of Rot's power is very much on full, terrifying display.