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cesspool_princess's review against another edition
5.0
Ok remember when I said Swamp Thing was at its best when we forget it is a superhero comic book, when it is straight up horror? Ok well what if we forgot that Swamp Thing was a superhero comic book but it it was actually SCIENCE FICTION ??? That's what this volume is. Having been booted from the Green, our boy must wander through space and in space he has some very interesting adventures.
Ok the first arc where he has to save that planet from being completely arid whole also fending off imperialist hawk people was probably the weakest one of the bunch. It was still good, the world building was cool and I enjoyed learning about the geopolitics and ecology of this planet. My favorite part was the water pools that were actually like guard dogs.
Next (and I may be going out of order I don't remember exactly) was when ST landed on the planet that was ruled by sentient plant life. This is a case where we think, "awesome, he is going to learn so much and he is going to be able to reconnect with the green and hes surely going to be able to go home after this" but then the horror of realization hits us when we think through what a being who can phase and reform into any plant matter would do to a society composed of sentient individuated plantlife. He basically accidentally creates the plant version of an enmangled flesh monad. All the plants are combined into one and are forced to inhabit this chaotic frightened unified consciousness where they can feel eachothers feelings and thoughts as if they were their own. Its another situation like Nukeface where Swamp Thing isnt even doing anything on purpose it is just by the nature of what he is that he must necessarily be the ultimate horror for this society. This was a very very well done chapter in my opinion.
Then we get to the best chapter in the entire run, the crown fucking jewel. The one where that robot fungus colony thing uses swamp thing to have demented torturous robot alien fungus sex. Not only is this by far the most visually stunning chapter, but the stylistic departure from comicbook panels to full pages, how abstract the world of the fungus robot colony's body is. The sexual tension, the torture, the narrative style this KKNOCKED MY SOCKS OFF! Like I don't even know how to explain this chapter you seriously just have to read it.
Finally we have swamp thing's run as a flying chair for that celestial guy trying to make it to the core of the universe. This one was good, very visually stunning but I just don't have much to say about it. It was cool to see the Darkseid cameo and it was interesting to see these ultra powerful beings' commentary on Swamp Thing, just what he is exactly etc.
Ok now we are at last back to Earth, Swamp Thing and Abby reunite and it is v satisfying. The last but with the guy from the Bayou was the perfect lil ending imo. This run was amazing.
Ok this one is an imperfect 5. Like I think taking the entire volume into account Vol 3 is superior to this, its more consistently high quality but bc this volumes highs are soooo high and the rest of the chapters are still very good Im going to also give this a 5. I still however, maintain that Vol 3 is the PERFECT encapsulatory volume of Swamp Thing period. But I like weird abstract fungus robot torture sex too much to dock this any points.
Ok the first arc where he has to save that planet from being completely arid whole also fending off imperialist hawk people was probably the weakest one of the bunch. It was still good, the world building was cool and I enjoyed learning about the geopolitics and ecology of this planet. My favorite part was the water pools that were actually like guard dogs.
Next (and I may be going out of order I don't remember exactly) was when ST landed on the planet that was ruled by sentient plant life. This is a case where we think, "awesome, he is going to learn so much and he is going to be able to reconnect with the green and hes surely going to be able to go home after this" but then the horror of realization hits us when we think through what a being who can phase and reform into any plant matter would do to a society composed of sentient individuated plantlife. He basically accidentally creates the plant version of an enmangled flesh monad. All the plants are combined into one and are forced to inhabit this chaotic frightened unified consciousness where they can feel eachothers feelings and thoughts as if they were their own. Its another situation like Nukeface where Swamp Thing isnt even doing anything on purpose it is just by the nature of what he is that he must necessarily be the ultimate horror for this society. This was a very very well done chapter in my opinion.
Then we get to the best chapter in the entire run, the crown fucking jewel. The one where that robot fungus colony thing uses swamp thing to have demented torturous robot alien fungus sex. Not only is this by far the most visually stunning chapter, but the stylistic departure from comicbook panels to full pages, how abstract the world of the fungus robot colony's body is. The sexual tension, the torture, the narrative style this KKNOCKED MY SOCKS OFF! Like I don't even know how to explain this chapter you seriously just have to read it.
Finally we have swamp thing's run as a flying chair for that celestial guy trying to make it to the core of the universe. This one was good, very visually stunning but I just don't have much to say about it. It was cool to see the Darkseid cameo and it was interesting to see these ultra powerful beings' commentary on Swamp Thing, just what he is exactly etc.
Ok now we are at last back to Earth, Swamp Thing and Abby reunite and it is v satisfying. The last but with the guy from the Bayou was the perfect lil ending imo. This run was amazing.
Ok this one is an imperfect 5. Like I think taking the entire volume into account Vol 3 is superior to this, its more consistently high quality but bc this volumes highs are soooo high and the rest of the chapters are still very good Im going to also give this a 5. I still however, maintain that Vol 3 is the PERFECT encapsulatory volume of Swamp Thing period. But I like weird abstract fungus robot torture sex too much to dock this any points.
davidblais's review against another edition
3.0
A nice way to close out Alan Moore's run but definitely not my favorite volume from this series. The space adventures simply didn't do it for me, issue #60 being particularly hard to get through. I kept having this feeling, warranted or not, that Moore wasn't that much into it for most of these issues. The two "fill-in" probably didn't help with that. Thankfully, everything came together for the finale, by far the best issue in this collection and a wonderful sendoff to this era of Swamp Thing.
bigoldan's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
rltinha's review against another edition
5.0
An odyssey inhabited by the unpredictable and creative stunts that only the best are able to pull without losing the reader.
Full closure for a run that deserved no less.
Full closure for a run that deserved no less.
jammasterjamie's review against another edition
5.0
What can I say that hasn't already been said? There's a reason why Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing is legendary.
ostrava's review against another edition
4.0
Yeah, Swamp Thing starts to lose some of its charm towards the end, but not enough to finish off poorly or anything. I imagine that Moore was distracted by other projects and he might have abandoned some of the issues on the other writers of the run, with varying results.
Does it matter?
No.
This is an all-time classic and a wonderful masterpiece. I'm not happy with all of the issues collected here, but I'm definitely happy with the results of the entire run of Moore's Swamp Thing. It lives up to the hype.
Does it matter?
No.
This is an all-time classic and a wonderful masterpiece. I'm not happy with all of the issues collected here, but I'm definitely happy with the results of the entire run of Moore's Swamp Thing. It lives up to the hype.
some_okie_dude27's review against another edition
5.0
All good things must come to an end, as the old saying goes. Though I must say that I am still saddened to see Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing go. Much like the titular muck and crusted monstrosity, I feel like I have come to the end of a perilous journey, fraught with complexities, intense emotions, and a deep feeling of sorrow by the time that it’s come to an end.
I’m saddened to see that there probably won’t be anything that’ll ever come remotely close to the quality of Alan’s strange little run on this swamp creature, despite how hard many people try. There will be good runs after Alan’s run on Swamp Thing, yes. There will even be the occasional great run after Moore’s Swamp Thing. But I find it highly implausible that there will be anything quite like Alan’s Swamp Thing, as hard as we try to recreate it. I don’t believe there will ever be another story quite like The Anatomy Lesson, or another Pog, or another Monkey King. I could go on.
Sadly, the sixth volume is not quite as strong as the other five. Alan was just beginning work on the seminal Watchmen, and one could definitely tell that Alan’s focus was on Watchmen more than it was on Swamp Thing. Yet still, Alan manages to do what he can with what he has left and plays in the science fiction realm, which is my favorite genre. Alan’s knack for playing with conventions plays into this volume as well, but it isn’t quite as strong in this volume. The stories didn’t quite have the flare or touching sincerity of some of the other stories that I mentioned before, though I was quite interested to see Alan bring back more obscure characters like Adam Strange and Hawkman in this volume. As I’ve mentioned before, I often enjoy when writers bring back older, obscure characters. It brings a unique flare to the series and offers new, fresh ideas to be explored with these characters and to also expose these characters to new audiences.
Rich Veitch’s art still remains to be a worthy successor to Bissette and Totleben’s superbly unsettling artwork, with Alfredo Alcala providing inks that are respectful and allusive to the classic style of this series. But the art also takes a much more psychedelic tone as well, going into some completely new directions in terms of the draughtsmanship. Bissette and Totleben did return for a few issues, with Bissette even writing an issue of Swamp Thing, which he did a very good job with. Veitch would also come to write an issue as well, which was also pretty good as well.
Despite this volume not being as strong, Alan waited until the end to pull out all the punches, writing a heartfelt, tender conclusion to the saga of the titular Swamp Thing. It’s one of the few comics that actually had me feeling emotional during the end. Of course, we never like when a story that we love ends, but Swamp Thing felt like more than just a story that I enjoyed. It was a journey that Alan, Swampy, and I took and it was fun while it lasted...but now it’s all over, and now I must find something else to read.
I’m also saddened by the end as I find that it’s the end of a part of Alan that I wish that we could’ve seen more of. The dreamer who would have completely reinvigorated American comics and sent off its properties into an entirely new direction. We lost the optimistic Alan, who so believed that his beloved medium could be more than the limitations that were placed on it and gave everything that he had in order to do just that. Though I suppose there is a sweetness to it in that Alan did change American comics, as well as comics in general and that his efforts did come to be worthwhile. But of course, I am still saddened that this journey is at an end.
But, as one blue demigod put it, nothing ever truly ends, does it?
ethorwitz's review against another edition
5.0
The Swamp Thing can manifest its consciousness into physical form by manipulating the vegetation of an area. In many of the later stories the forms he takes become increasingly abstract and bizarre as he travels to worlds with stranger and more sparse versions of "vegetation." I think this works as a great metaphor for how Alan Moore managed to get these stories told. DC Comics hired Moore to write a reboot of an obscure superhero and he took that opportunity to craft some amazing scifi/fantasy. But the raw material of superheroes remain awkwardly part of its genetic code. For example there are frequent references to Gotham City and Batman, or other superheroes with backstories the comic assumes you know already will make cameo appearances. I'm a big believer in self-continuity so the sprawling soap opera of superhero comics never appealed to me that much. But even here Moore excels. Even without reading the last one hundred runs of a certain character their personalities, arcs, and general backstories are instantly apparent. I knew nothing of Metron (for example) but his pompous monologue, his casual cruelty, his obsession with his "miracle chair," even his general appearance made him an instantly recognizable foil to the zen and gentle Swamp Thing.
Neil Gaiman managed a similar feat with his Sandman, which also told its own great self-contained story while incorporating elements from DC. Also Moore attempted this again with more mainstream characters like Batman but DC objected to radical changes for their more high profile characters. Instead Moore reworked them into his [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442239711s/472331.jpg|4358649], which is his most famous work but I honestly don't feel like it does as good a job as Swamp Thing.
Neil Gaiman managed a similar feat with his Sandman, which also told its own great self-contained story while incorporating elements from DC. Also Moore attempted this again with more mainstream characters like Batman but DC objected to radical changes for their more high profile characters. Instead Moore reworked them into his [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442239711s/472331.jpg|4358649], which is his most famous work but I honestly don't feel like it does as good a job as Swamp Thing.
has3000's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
With this volume comes a satisfying end to the Saga of the Swamp Thing. As his powers have grown, this book continues Swamp Thing’s journey through space, which lasts longer than I expected. Most comic “deaths” are reversed far too quickly. And while this technically revives him the next issue, it leaves him stranded in space for quite a few issues.
This book goes super weird places and I loved it. Swamp Thing travels through space trying to return home and dealing with completely new issues compared to his time on earth. “Loving the Alien” especially was unique in both story and style, and I’m sure was very controversial.
When it finally comes time for his 64-issue story to end, Alan Moore wraps it in a way that I felt was right for the character.
This book goes super weird places and I loved it. Swamp Thing travels through space trying to return home and dealing with completely new issues compared to his time on earth. “Loving the Alien” especially was unique in both story and style, and I’m sure was very controversial.
When it finally comes time for his 64-issue story to end, Alan Moore wraps it in a way that I felt was right for the character.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Torture, and Violence
bae0fpigs's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75