Sometimes, similarities can be found in the unlikeliest of things. Take Bloodborne for example. The 2015 PS4 action title developed by From Software is a terrifying journey through a damned Lovecraftian nightmare world. At first glance, it would seem as though Bloodborne would have very little to do with DC Comics' Swamp Thing, a sentient plant elemental that lives in the Louisiana swamps. But both series share a very similar story in their respective comics -- one of impossible journeys and sinister secrets.
Bloodborne, the 2018 Titan Comics adaptation by Ales Kot and Piotr Kowalski, is an original story set within the Bloodborne universe. The Hunter, an enigmatic warrior that battles against the roving nightmare hordes of their world, is cursed with undeath. Every battle they lose results in their waking as if from a nightmare, only to venture forth into the living nightmare of the real world over and over again. As the lines between sleep and reality begin to blur, the Hunter is given an unexpected task: guide a pale, young child to a distant destination, away from the dangers of the city of Old Yharnam.
The Hunter and the nameless child travel through blighted landscapes, hounded by murderous beasts. Eventually, the Hunter and the child reach the coastal village they have been seeking. The child grows weak suddenly and the Hunter picks the child up in their arms. As the child guides the Hunter through the limbs of massive, unseen monsters, the Hunter realizes that the child is no longer human. A many-fanged ghoul rests in their arms, its distorted voice broken and weak. But before the Hunter can bring themselves to strike the monster down, they remember the words of another Hunter: the humanoid terrors were once human and deserving of mercy. The Hunter remembers the child for what it was and spares its life.
In Swamp Thing Winter Special by Tom King and Jason Fabok, also released in 2018, a strange blizzard has gripped the bayou's that Swamp Thing calls home. The snow falls endlessly and countless warm-blooded creatures die in the cruel cold. But adrift in the white expanse Swamp Thing finds a young boy, lost and alone. Swamp Thing vows to protect the boy until the blizzard relents. As they travel, an unseen beast that the boy simply refers to as “The Snow Monster,” follows them through the white wasteland.
Neither Swamp Thing nor the boy know for certain how long they have been walking through the blizzard. The exhaustive walking, the disconnection from the Green and the frigid cold weakens Swamp Thing nearly to the point of death. But it dawns on Swamp Thing that for the years they have marched through the snow and ice that the boy would have died a long time ago. He realizes that the boy himself is the Snow Monster, the source of the malevolent snowstorm. Despite the boy's cries and protests, Swamp Thing embraces him gently and kills him, thus ending the years long spell of snow.
It's interesting how both Bloodborne and Swamp Thing released such incredibly similar stories in the same year. Both focused on dark heroes guiding a weakened child through a supernatural hellscape. While Bloodborne is in a world that is not Earth, the bleak endlessness of the blizzard Swamp Thing navigates effectively removes him from the parameters of the Earth he lives in. In an unexpected turn of events, it's Bloodborne that contains the happier of the two endings; despite the child revealing itself to be a monster, the Hunter decides to spare the child's life and continue their journey with it. Swamp Thing, however, is filled with remorse in his decision to kill the child, despite it not truly being a child at all. Fans of supernatural horror will find much to enjoy in both comics traversal of a tale exploring themes of loss, existentialism and redemption.