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A review by godyssey
Reunion by Alan Moore
4.0
Very interesting finish. The episodic formula peaks here, with some utterly stellar issues like the plant society End-of-Eva apocalypse one and the densely prosaic and abstract celestial space sex one, but the ending itself is a somewhat bold choice. I personally don’t mind the reversal of the grief arcs, I feel enough time passed since the losses that the ‘resurrection’ doesn’t remotely diminish their effect. I do however feel a bit mixed about the final issues handling of the Swamp Thing as a character and its themes. In its attempt to both humanise and deify the character, the crossover between the 2 roles sends some rather strange messages from the protagonist, largely championing teachings of abandonment of the betterment of society and humankind, the opposite of what it’s preaching out loud to “humanity”.
It’s of course true that he’s not literally a human so it shouldn’t technically be doing this, but (1) a large part of the issue is spent highlighting and exploring the humanity of his sex and the following acknowledgments of his inhumanity don’t disperse the subtextual implications of these parts, (2) he is the protagonist of a story aimed at, wait for it, humans, so whether intentional or not the messages he relays are relayed through the proxy of his own perspective, and (3) the human here, Abigail, also departs from society and leaves her environmental help group, so clearly there’s not really even a mistake made here it’s just a bad message.
It’s my understanding that Alan Moore is an anarchist, and while I’m not really interested in starting a political rant in this here comic book review I do think this articulated the motivation behind this thematic issues. Like I get it, the message is to allow humanity its flaws in order to accept the world and nature as it is but also reject those shortcomings, but frankly this is a shortsighted message to deliver and my aforementioned problems with certain issues in my other volume reviews strengthen my lack of faith in the ideological airtightness of the author. Pair that with the fact that the conflict is wrapped up by revenge-murdering all of the guys who plotted against him and the happy peace-loving and enlightened ending feels rather unsatisfactory for me.
ALL of that being said, the reason I fixate so much on such flaws is in order to fully justify them, because largely the volume is very compelling; aesthetically, as in artistically and prosaically, Swamp Thing is probably the most striking comic I’ve read, so it takes careful thinking to see past that to its flaws. Still an incredible comic overall
It’s of course true that he’s not literally a human so it shouldn’t technically be doing this, but (1) a large part of the issue is spent highlighting and exploring the humanity of his sex and the following acknowledgments of his inhumanity don’t disperse the subtextual implications of these parts, (2) he is the protagonist of a story aimed at, wait for it, humans, so whether intentional or not the messages he relays are relayed through the proxy of his own perspective, and (3) the human here, Abigail, also departs from society and leaves her environmental help group, so clearly there’s not really even a mistake made here it’s just a bad message.
It’s my understanding that Alan Moore is an anarchist, and while I’m not really interested in starting a political rant in this here comic book review I do think this articulated the motivation behind this thematic issues. Like I get it, the message is to allow humanity its flaws in order to accept the world and nature as it is but also reject those shortcomings, but frankly this is a shortsighted message to deliver and my aforementioned problems with certain issues in my other volume reviews strengthen my lack of faith in the ideological airtightness of the author. Pair that with the fact that the conflict is wrapped up by revenge-murdering all of the guys who plotted against him and the happy peace-loving and enlightened ending feels rather unsatisfactory for me.
ALL of that being said, the reason I fixate so much on such flaws is in order to fully justify them, because largely the volume is very compelling; aesthetically, as in artistically and prosaically, Swamp Thing is probably the most striking comic I’ve read, so it takes careful thinking to see past that to its flaws. Still an incredible comic overall