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A review by jayspa65
Swamp Thing, Vol. 4: A Murder of Crows by Alfredo Alcalá, Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben, Stan Woch, Ron Randall
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I love plants. Plants that beat the crap out of bad guys are even more awesome.
While Moore almost certainly didn't intend it, "A Murder of Crows" is a foundation stone for what eventually became DC's Vertigo line. Various writers, chief among them Neil Gaiman, picked up many of the ideas Moore threw into the Swamp Thing pot and ran with them in other books, and certainly the existentialist approach to super-heroics Moore brought to Swamp Thing has been a common thing in all super-hero books since (for good and for ill).
As to the merits of this volume: the overall quality is good, but the presence of the rest of the DCU tends to deflate some of the strong horror elements that Moore had incorporated into the series in previous volumes. The dark threat is tied into the Crisis, however indirectly, and so the overall tone is far more the conventional adventure story. The art, by a collection of top notch talent, is still surreal and just a tad creepy, which is generally a good thing, except for scenes depicting the gathering of super-heroes, where it looks out of place.
Swamp Thing always borders on the old horror comic take, which is a nice departure from superhero stories. Advise keeping this away from younger readers, as the content can be a little disturbing.
While Moore almost certainly didn't intend it, "A Murder of Crows" is a foundation stone for what eventually became DC's Vertigo line. Various writers, chief among them Neil Gaiman, picked up many of the ideas Moore threw into the Swamp Thing pot and ran with them in other books, and certainly the existentialist approach to super-heroics Moore brought to Swamp Thing has been a common thing in all super-hero books since (for good and for ill).
As to the merits of this volume: the overall quality is good, but the presence of the rest of the DCU tends to deflate some of the strong horror elements that Moore had incorporated into the series in previous volumes. The dark threat is tied into the Crisis, however indirectly, and so the overall tone is far more the conventional adventure story. The art, by a collection of top notch talent, is still surreal and just a tad creepy, which is generally a good thing, except for scenes depicting the gathering of super-heroes, where it looks out of place.
Swamp Thing always borders on the old horror comic take, which is a nice departure from superhero stories. Advise keeping this away from younger readers, as the content can be a little disturbing.