Rot is the Soul of Death

Why this one is so late, well I couldn't find a good Shakespeare pun. (Why I'm still running on those, I don't know. But hey.) Good news the one I'm using last, I already know, I've known since I started this series. Of course, this is also earlier than the others. Since I don't have to wait till Wednesday to put out this series, because of Frankie. And that makes me happy I don't have to read it. I will read the final issue of the run since, well I'm still going to get it. I'm horribly curious. But neither here nor there. ROTWORLD Time.

So we come to Animal Man and friends. Plus the Green Lantern who has bee imprisoned under Metropolis. I thoroughly approve of a the bit of bait and switch here. Not only was it not Superman (Thank god) but it isn't even one of our GLs, but a plant based one, since the Guardians weren't 100% insane by the point of 1 year previous and knew that keeping the Rot in check was important. So...where were we? Found a GL, and in the Past, Maxine was confronted by the Rot possessed parents. Let's go with Maxine for once, to shake things up.

Well, Maxine essentially gives herself to the Rot to save her family. That's it. It's a good heart wrenching moment. And if you kill Socks Mr. Lemire, I will hate you. Forever...still read your books, but I'll hate you.

So back to Buddy. Well Our lantern is being held hostage by Thorn, a Mad Wizard, seen in the pages of Justice League Dark...Also written by Jeff Lemire. Well moving on, It's pretty easy for them to take Thorn down, as Buddy burrows into the wooden avatar and attacks the crazy old man. Win/Win. Medphyll, our plant GL, needs his battery, which he's hidden in the Daily Planet Globe. (Wasn't that destroyed in Superman #1?) And well he finds it, blasts the Rot, and they travel to the evil fortress of Anton Arcane to find Maxine Baker. (Presumably rotten to the core) What they find there is quite distressing. The Justice League is Arcane's personal guard. And the Flash does quick work with Frankie's Golem Army. Also, blasts his fist through Constantine. Well...Balls.

Onto Swampy and...no friends. So, let's look at this, Batman has been blasted in the face by Barbara Gordon, who is a batwoman. (Literally) And Abigail Arcane is trapped in the bowels of Arcane's castle. How will our Heroes Escape. I'll start with Swampy...For a good reason, I think Abigail's Cliff hanger is better.

So, turns out that Batman tried to steal the Man Bat Formula because of the connection to the Red so he could possibly Survive. Well, he still got infected and gave the serum to Batgirl, Barbara Gordon. Seems Things have hit the fan, but Batman was prepping a cure, of sorts. And well, only Alec Holland can save them. Turns out that Bats was trying to weaponize the Bio-restorative that "technically" killed Alec Holland. Well, Alec can do it, and he has hope it will work. But the bad guys attack the base at Arkham and we cut away, and find Swampy facing down a Rot possessed Superman, equipped with a Bane backpack full of the restorative, and an army of people with Water Pistols full of the stuff, to storm Anton Arcane's base. (Presumably at the same time as Animal Man and Co.)

So Abigail. How is she doing? Well not good. She's figured out that since she gave up the mantle of Avatar of the Rot, Anton was able to take control again, and suppress the Rot Council. And that isn't good. Well, Abigail can hold her own for a while, but is finally captured by Anton. And...Well, turns out the the Parliment of Trees weren't lying...We see Anton hold her head up, spine still hanging from the base of her neck...

So next month is the end of Rotworld and all and all I'm loving this story. It's probably the best cross over of this/last year. Certainly feels more thought out than any other one I've read. (I'm not looking at Frankie's books for that.) Speaking of Frankie, even as an aside, why did he have his own side book? I know it was a cool idea, but it had nothing to do with Rotworld, not really. It was as if Jeff Lemire had a plan, than the jackhat who took over did something awkward and made me want to kick him in the balls. We don't even see Nina in Animal Man, so he entire aside at the end of Frankie's Rotworld is pointless. the book is being cancelled, (rightly so, bastards) and even then, Rotworld isn't going to have really happened. I stand by the rewind of time affect. Making that EVEN MORE pointless. And let's ignore that Frankie shouldn't be able to do that anyway.

Speaking of the rewind theory. That may seem cheap to some, but only. ONLY if no one remembers it. If Buddy has to deal with the after affects of finding his family dead, Daughter a Rotling, and all that, well it should effect story. And of course, whatever backlash Swampy has coming. It also begs the question of when will the time have changed. When the two entered the Rot, or at the "One year earlier," Mark of the stories. Also, why they have to rewind, because this is too massive of a hit to the DC Universe for it to actually stand. Essentially the world is destroyed and all the heroes dead? even brought back to life, it would leave lasting effects. But we wait till next month.