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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
There is QUITE a genre/tonal shift between this volume and the previous three, with this one being more focused on magic and sorcery than the others seem to be. It was kind of a fun shift, to be honest, and I was particularly delighted since the larger story arc was centered on John Constantine and the Brujeria - the big bad we almost got to in NBC’s Constantine. I very much enjoyed the new direction and focus, even though there were a couple of things that prevented my from engaging with it fully.
Things I Liked
1. Magic/Sorcery: I’m kind of a sucker for supernatural stories that involve magic and preventing some big bad from destroying the world. There weren’t spells and charms - that’s not the kind of magic I mean. Rather, there was a focus on the supernatural and using means to fight it that were paranormal. It felt very much like a Hellblazer comic, and it was fun to follow John around in his earliest adventures.
2. Hippie Storyline: The first issue follows a hippie-like figure who finds one of Swamp Thing’s tubers and gives pieces of them to two different people. They both react to mingling with Swamp Thing’s consciousness in different ways depending on if they are good or bad people. The mirroring between the two people as they feel the effects of the tuber is superbly executed, both in terms of storytelling and the layouts of the page.
3. Swamp Thing vs Evil: I loved that in the showdown between the big bad (Evil) and various characters in the comic, we get a little philosophy mixed in. Etrigan, Doctor Fate, Spectre, and Swamp Thing all get absorbed into the Evil’s body (not sure if that’s even the right term), and each try to define evil in different ways.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Pace: It felt like it took forever to actually get to the battle with the primordial evil. We follow Constantine for a while, then we see him putting together a seance-like thing, then we see a lot of gathering of forces. It took too long, and there was way too much foreshadowing.
2. Pervert Photographer: There’s a photographer who takes pictures of Abby and Swamp Thing together, then sells the photos to a paper, and then the paper publishes them so as to get Abby labelled as a sex criminal. Ew. Gross.
3. Ending: As much as I liked the philosophy of the ending, it felt a bit hollow to me.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in John Constantine/Hellblazer, NBC’s Constantine, magic/sorcery/mysticism, the paranormal, supernatural storylines, and the apocalypse.
Things I Liked
1. Magic/Sorcery: I’m kind of a sucker for supernatural stories that involve magic and preventing some big bad from destroying the world. There weren’t spells and charms - that’s not the kind of magic I mean. Rather, there was a focus on the supernatural and using means to fight it that were paranormal. It felt very much like a Hellblazer comic, and it was fun to follow John around in his earliest adventures.
2. Hippie Storyline: The first issue follows a hippie-like figure who finds one of Swamp Thing’s tubers and gives pieces of them to two different people. They both react to mingling with Swamp Thing’s consciousness in different ways depending on if they are good or bad people. The mirroring between the two people as they feel the effects of the tuber is superbly executed, both in terms of storytelling and the layouts of the page.
3. Swamp Thing vs Evil: I loved that in the showdown between the big bad (Evil) and various characters in the comic, we get a little philosophy mixed in. Etrigan, Doctor Fate, Spectre, and Swamp Thing all get absorbed into the Evil’s body (not sure if that’s even the right term), and each try to define evil in different ways.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Pace: It felt like it took forever to actually get to the battle with the primordial evil. We follow Constantine for a while, then we see him putting together a seance-like thing, then we see a lot of gathering of forces. It took too long, and there was way too much foreshadowing.
2. Pervert Photographer: There’s a photographer who takes pictures of Abby and Swamp Thing together, then sells the photos to a paper, and then the paper publishes them so as to get Abby labelled as a sex criminal. Ew. Gross.
3. Ending: As much as I liked the philosophy of the ending, it felt a bit hollow to me.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in John Constantine/Hellblazer, NBC’s Constantine, magic/sorcery/mysticism, the paranormal, supernatural storylines, and the apocalypse.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Here again there's an incursion of other elements of the DC continuity, and here again the series is diminished for it. Part of what made a series like Sandman so great was that (excepting the earliest days), the DC universe tended not to feature prominently, so the mythology around the cast of the series itself was not overshadowed. When appearances were made by characters from or inspired by the core continuity, they tended to be Easter eggs, or at least re-contextualized in a way that felt necessary and valuable.
I understand the series were made in different times and under different expectations, but still. I think a Swamp Thing not at all beholden to the whims of the larger DC would have been even better.
Oh, this book was still very good, by the way. Loved lots of the single-issue stories, loved the different kinds of horror faced by Swamp Thing. Just think the run as a work of art might have been stronger had DC allowed it to exist as its own thing.
I understand the series were made in different times and under different expectations, but still. I think a Swamp Thing not at all beholden to the whims of the larger DC would have been even better.
Oh, this book was still very good, by the way. Loved lots of the single-issue stories, loved the different kinds of horror faced by Swamp Thing. Just think the run as a work of art might have been stronger had DC allowed it to exist as its own thing.
The longer this series has developed the better it has got. Wonderful scenes with the Parliament of Trees and the epic finalé. Glad I persisted after volume 1.
The one where Moore started getting more into the love story. But what’s so fascinating about it is that it talks about the feeling that someone’s love is abnormal by making us feel the same emotions. Because we, like the other people in the story, feel that the love between these two creatures (one of them alien but familiar in a way that makes it weirder) is so abnormal as to be repellant, perhaps even sickening. But unlike the people around them, we have empathy with them. So we have conflicting feelings - both the feeling like it’s something bad but also that it’s good. And by telling this story in this kind of a way, it allows us to experience in a safe environment feelings that very much exist in the real world. Through this story we can become aware of having this kind of reaction and yet have the awareness to understand its problematic nature. What I’m saying is that it’s a story arc that can make us into better people.
So the book would get top marks already before we get to the great art and the fantastic imagination and all the other thrilling stories (though his heart isn't quite entirely there with the crossover). I just love the Saga of the Swamp Thing series.
So the book would get top marks already before we get to the great art and the fantastic imagination and all the other thrilling stories (though his heart isn't quite entirely there with the crossover). I just love the Saga of the Swamp Thing series.
I'm glad I decided to pick these volumes up. I don't know why I doubted if I would like it, especially with Moore involved, but it's turning out to be the one that I look most forward to getting. This volume is dark as it takes place in the spiritual realm. The battle to stop an all-destroying force in the land of the dead is fought and only Swamp Thing can stop it. There's great cameos, the Spectre, the Demon Etrigan, the Stranger, Deadman, and others. It all reads like a precursor to the Sandman, but has it's own strength and story. Good stuff.
This series gets better with each volume, as Moore gains confidence with his storytelling. He even is able to take the mandated cross-over of Crisis on Infinite Earths, which affected every DC title of the time, and make it something greater.
The first story, "Windfall," with art by Stan Woch and Ron Randall, presents a fascinating comparison of good and evil using facing pages to illustrate the dichotomy.
"Bogeyman," with art by Stephen Bissette, Ron Randall, and John Totleben, demonstrates that human monsters are far more frightening than supernatural ones. Additionally, Swamp Thing continues to find new ways to disgust us by flowing out from a bathroom sewer drain.
"Ghost Dance," with art by Stan Woch and Alfredo Alcala, uses the real-life Winchester House (here disguised as a run-down mansion) as the inspiration for a scary allegory about the horrors of guns.
The next five stories are tie-ins, to greater or lesser extent, to Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC's mid-1980s attempt to reboot their entire line. While the main Crisis storyline focused on the "real" multiverse, these issues of Swamp Thing concentrate on the supernatural aspects of the multiverse. Moore drags out just about every mystical DC character to help Swamp Thing defeat a power that even the omnipotent Spectre can't control. But before Swamp Thing can do that, he goes through some revelations in "The Parliament of Trees" (art by Stan Woch and Ron Randall), a key issue in Moore's run. The remaining issues are filled with unspeakable horrors in the plane of the dead. The climax is a deus ex machina resolution that probably leaves some readers scratching their heads, but until that point it is a tense and powerful conflict. Among all this, Moore also plants the seeds for what is sure to be major struggle for Abby in the issues to come.
The artwork is surprisingly consistent even though a number of fill-in artists worked on it. I would have preferred the cover art to be full pages included with their respective issues, but at least they are all here, even if in reduced size at the end of the volume.
The first story, "Windfall," with art by Stan Woch and Ron Randall, presents a fascinating comparison of good and evil using facing pages to illustrate the dichotomy.
"Bogeyman," with art by Stephen Bissette, Ron Randall, and John Totleben, demonstrates that human monsters are far more frightening than supernatural ones. Additionally, Swamp Thing continues to find new ways to disgust us by flowing out from a bathroom sewer drain.
"Ghost Dance," with art by Stan Woch and Alfredo Alcala, uses the real-life Winchester House (here disguised as a run-down mansion) as the inspiration for a scary allegory about the horrors of guns.
The next five stories are tie-ins, to greater or lesser extent, to Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC's mid-1980s attempt to reboot their entire line. While the main Crisis storyline focused on the "real" multiverse, these issues of Swamp Thing concentrate on the supernatural aspects of the multiverse. Moore drags out just about every mystical DC character to help Swamp Thing defeat a power that even the omnipotent Spectre can't control. But before Swamp Thing can do that, he goes through some revelations in "The Parliament of Trees" (art by Stan Woch and Ron Randall), a key issue in Moore's run. The remaining issues are filled with unspeakable horrors in the plane of the dead. The climax is a deus ex machina resolution that probably leaves some readers scratching their heads, but until that point it is a tense and powerful conflict. Among all this, Moore also plants the seeds for what is sure to be major struggle for Abby in the issues to come.
The artwork is surprisingly consistent even though a number of fill-in artists worked on it. I would have preferred the cover art to be full pages included with their respective issues, but at least they are all here, even if in reduced size at the end of the volume.
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unsurprisingly as good as the rest of the run.
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run is the best thing of his I've read. Better than Watchman and Vendetta. Probably my favorite series this side of Doom Patrol. Wide ranging, inventive, exceeding expectations. The fact that Moore can do this much with a plant-man is astonishing.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes