The Swamp Thing tenderly removes Abby's body from Arcane's tainted house, just in time for Arcane to blow it up and taunt him further. He attempts to trick his enemy by claiming that it isn't really Abby's body, but a mental construct, and suggesting he rip the head off. However, the Swamp Thing knows better, so Arcane tells him the whole truth: not only is Abby dead, but he's cast her soul into Hell. He then boasts about the others he's brought back from the grave, and says they're just the beginning of his "apocalypse." Beset with a cloud of flies, the Swamp Thing, still carrying Abby, turns to run for the swamp.
Meanwhile, on their satellite, the Monitor's assistant Harbinger notes that the wave of psychic disturbance in Louisiana is continuing to spread at an alarming rate. The Monitor is aware of this, and finds himself having to suppress, for the first time, the urge not to watch.
Having reached his familiar surroundings, the Swamp Thing stops running and lays Abby's body down, as Arcane continues to taunt him, addressing him, as always, by the name "Holland." The protagonist then reveals his trump card: he isn't Holland. He's the Swamp Thing, and he's now in his "place of power." And he punches Arcane with all his might.
Arcane is shocked that his enemy is able to hurt him, considering that he had no supernatural powers when he last faced him. The Swamp Thing says that Arcane has never faced him before, and continues to pummel him. Meanwhile, in the middle of seducing a would-be victim, Sally Parks finds herself unexpectedly reverted to zombie form, and bleeding from her old gunshot wounds. (The implication is that she, and the other serial killers Arcane brought back with him, will die once again.) As well, the evil people hypnotized into heading for Louisiana stop in their tracks.
Now that Arcane is psychically weakened, Matt's personality re-emerges within their shared body and seizes control. Undeterred by the consequences for himself, he casts his possessor, now too feeble to resist, into Hell. Matt greets his old friend with a smile. However, without Arcane's will forestalling them, the injuries and wounds from his accident have returned. Matt is dying, but—the Swamp Thing's protests to the contrary—he feels he deserves it as he was weak enough to let Arcane in.
Undeterred, the Swamp Thing asks Matt whether he can use his power to heal himself. Matt declines, but thinks he may be able to revive Abby. He crawls painfully toward her and manages to reverse her slight decomposition and restore her heartbeat and respiration. He then tries to reach her soul in Hell, but his power is spent, and a demon's tentacles pull her away. Matt apologizes to "Alec" and lapses into a coma. The Swamp Thing can do no more, other than leaving his body on the highway, where a couple of police officers find him and take him to a hospital. And mourning Abby, who's still, for all intents and purposes, dead.
Tropes:
- Big "NO!": Arcane lets out one of these as he plummets back down to Hell.
- Book Ends: At the issue's start, the Swamp Thing thinks, "I close my eyes... [...] And then...I open...my eyes...And Abby is still dead." At the end, he thinks, "I close my eyes...And when I open them...Abby is still dead."
- Call-Back: As the protagonist heads for the swamp, he reflects on all the warnings, about Arcane's return, that he's disregarded: from his dreams in Swamped, from Etrigan in ...By Demons Driven!, and from the "dead bird" omen in Love and Death.
- Creator Cameo: Bissette and Totleben draw themselves as the police officers who find Matt.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Swamp Thing, once back in his power base, easily bests Arcane.
- Despair Gambit: Arcane lampshades his motive for killing Abby: "Well, Holland? Have you at last learned despair?"
- Dying as Yourself: Or, in Matt's case, going into a permanent coma as yourself. Not only does he wrest control of his body from Arcane; he also performs a final, altruistic act: attempting to resurrect his wife. He thus exits Swamp Thing's story as he entered it: as a sympathetic person trying to do good.
- Faux Affably Evil: When the Swamp Thing refers to Abby's murder as an "abomination," Arcane puts on a look of mock concern and says, "Oh, dear. Did she mean so much to you?"
- Fighting from the Inside: Once Arcane is sufficiently weakened, Matt's self re-emerges and grapples with him for control. The Swamp Thing, and the reader, perceive the struggle from the outside, as Matt's body writhes around and the right side of his face reverts to its human form, with Arcane's pink ape-like face on the left as the two of them argue. Finally, when Matt succeeds in casting Arcane out, his entire face is restored to normal. See also Juxtaposed Halves Shot, below.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: As Arcane, following behind his enemy, reaches the Swamp, his face distorts yet again: the left side reverts to the ape-like features from his previous incarnation, while the right side reverts to Matt's human features. This happens shortly before the Swamp Thing beats the tar out of him, allowing Matt's personality to re-emerge and, after a brief struggle, retake control of himself and cast Arcane out.
- Foreshadowing: Arcane, stunned that a human-turned-plant-monster (as he assumes) can hurt him, wonders whether his opponent has "some elemental force" within him. This is the first indication in the series that there's still more to the Swamp Thing's nature than he himself knows at this point. He'll begin to find out in Issue 37, "Growth Patterns," and throughout the rest of the "American Gothic" arc.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Matt foregoes saving his own life so that Abby can have the chance to live again. Subverted in that by doing so he succeeds in restoring her vital processes, but not her soul.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: The Swamp Thing doesn't correct Arcane for calling him "Holland," until he's ready to fight. Then he sets him straight:You...have made a mistake...Arcane. Things...have changed...since you...were dead. I... am not...Holland. I am...Swamp Thing. I am of...the clean earth. I am in...my place...of power...AND YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME HERE!
- It's Personal: There was a time when the Swamp Thing, though prepared to oppose Arcane, didn't hate him. He even, as he now recalls to his shame, mourned his latest death. However, now that Arcane has violated, murdered and damned his dearest friend, the Swamp Thing resolves to kill him with neither pity nor regret.
- Juxtaposed Halves Shot: Arcane's and Matt's final exchange of words is accompanied by a close-up of Matt's face, split evenly into a left, monstrous side (Arcane) and a right, human side (Matt).
- Not So Omniscient After All: Arcane, between his return from Hell and possession of Matt's body, seems to have acquired a great deal of knowledge about his enemies. However, he missed one crucial piece of information: that the Swamp Thing is not Alec Holland, but a much more formidable being who draws his power from the Earth itself.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: As the Monitor watches Arcane's psychic shockwave overtaking all of North America, and perhaps the entire Western Hemisphere, he notes that for the first time in his life he has the urge to look away from the screen.
- Put on a Bus: This is Matt's final speaking, non-Imagine Spot appearance for the remainder of Moore's run. Otherwise he only appears as a comatose hospital patient. In Issue 84, written by Rick Veitch, Matt wakes just long enough to bid Abby farewell and pull the plug on his life support so she doesn't have to. Then he finally dies and becomes Morpheus's raven in The Sandman.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Swamp Thing delivers one to Arcane while beating him up:You claim...the Earth...for your own...Arcane...Yet you have not...one tenth...of the Earth's power. You...mock...God!
- Rerouted from Heaven / Dragged Off to Hell: Arcane, not content with having raped and murdered his niece, casts her soul into Hell, a fate he knows she doesn't deserve.
- Spreading Disaster Map Graphic: From their satellite, the Monitor and Harbinger see the spread of Arcane's psychic shockwave as a purple concentric circle pattern.
- Swamps Are Evil: Defied. Whereas Arcane claims that the swamp is his now, to use as he wishes, the Swamp Thing counters that the place is "clean earth" and his Place of Power. And he proceeds to demonstrate by wiping the floor with Arcane.
- Taking You with MeArcane: Cable, you fool, you'll kill us both.
Matt: Good...We both deserve it...Just as long...as I get to send you...where you sent my wife. Good-bye, Arcane. - Took a Level in Badass: The Swamp Thing had Super-Strength even when he still thought he was a transformed human being. Now that he knows otherwise, and can consciously draw on the swamp's power, he's mighty enough to cripple a being sufficiently strong-willed to pull himself out of Hell and now in possession of a near-omnipotent body.
- Zombie Apocalypse: Arcane plans to bring this upon the Earth.
