“Of Swamp and Sea” Volume 1 [Review]

A Tale of Swamps and School Girl Crushes

One of the things I’ve loved about The Witcher, in both video game and TV form, is its dark fantasy setting. A perfect backdrop for Geralt of Rivia, the brooding mutant monster slayer who often finds that the real monster is man. Add in stark tones, seductive encounters, and gray areas of moral rights and wrongs, and you get a winning dark fantasy formula. Which is why, if you’re drawn to youthful styled romance and monsters, Of Swamp and Sea might be for you, as it’s pretty much The Witcher just in Lore Olympus form.

With its Webtoon-inspired style, shadowy swamp lands, and slow-burn chemistry, Of Swamp and Sea is perfect for fans of fantasy, monsters, and sappy romances. Created by Mia Jay Boulton and Laurel Boulton and published by 23rd Street Books, the series was a very popular Line Webtoon with over 18 million views and over 300,000 subscribers.

Of Swamp and Sea follows the story of Mercy Gray Harding, whose life is shattered when a spirit wolf kills her father. She hires a mysterious monster slayer known only as Jonah to avenge him, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the hunt goes horribly wrong, and the spirit wolf instead possesses her body. Now a battlefield of mind and memories, Mercy struggles betwixt fighting the monster’s will with her own, though has Jonah at her side to look out for her.

Now, at its core, of Swamp and Sea is a character journey which follows the tale of two strangers brought together by circumstance. Mercy Gray Harding is a shy and deeply introspective young woman haunted by grief and self-doubt. While Jonah, her one-eyed monster hunter compatriot, is her opposite; aloof, detached, and hardened by years of fighting creatures that go bump in the bog. Together, this is their journey.

As for technicalities, Of Swamp and Sea was produced originally in vertical format, meaning atmospheric top-down scrolls, with panels that could feel scrunched on the screen. The print edition from 23rd Street Books reshapes it into something a little more tactile. Wider in depth and with gorgeously featured splash pages that provide the book plenty of room to breathe. If that wasn’t enough of a reason to check it out, the back of the volume also includes concept and promotional art, featuring creature designs for the spirit wolf along with character concepts.

Now, what really draws you into this series is the artwork, with clean linework and elegant color choices that mirror the environmental tones of mossy greens and spectral blues. It’s crisp where it need be, and yet, incredibly soft when the emotional beats hit. I was also a fan of the book’s use of lettering, with onomatopoeias that guide the eye through the newly reformatted panel layouts and enhance the flow of the sequential art.

My only qualms with the book are, yes, there’s a young adult edge here, as Mercy’s schoolgirl crushing over Jonah, along with his hardened bad boy with a mysterious past persona, does feel a lot like YA to me. But what lies beneath is something supernaturally raw, a vulnerable story about the fear of losing control, along with the conflict of what it means to feel seen.

Of Swamp and Sea doesn’t deal in world-ending evil. It lives in the muck, in the places between fear and desire. For readers who love Lore Olympus or The Witcher, this one here is a quiet storm about love and monsters, and definitely a book worth taking a chance at.

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Christian Angeles is a writer and entertainment journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering comics, video games, and digital media. He was senior editor at The Beat during its Eisner Award–winning year and also served as managing editor of The Workprint. Outside of journalism, he writes comics and books.

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