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A review by cesspool_princess
Saga of the Swamp Thing, Vol. 6: Reunion by Alan Moore
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.