Saga Of The Swamp Thing - Book Four!

In this fourth volume of Saga of the Swamp Thing the grand scheme that Swamp Thing has been battling with the guidance of John Constantine comes to a vigorous climax. Also the Swamp Thing does his bit in the sprawling universe altering event known as Crisis on Infinite Earths. That's the cosmic stuff but on the home front Abigail must confront a threat of another kind. 

With artwork by Stan Woch and Ron Randall, Alan Moore fabricates a very curious story in which some of Swamp Thing's "fruit" is discovered by a hippie drug dealer named Chester Williams. He's reluctant to bite into this unknown tuber but a woman who is dying and an addict who is less scrupulous are not. The effects of their tasting this "forbidden fruit" are quite different and quire remarkable. 

Swamp Thing must battle the "Bogey Man", a serial killer who imagines himself to be part of some grand mythic pantheon of night dwellers. We see much of his story though the killer's eyes and we are there when the scales fall from them and he must confront the truth of what he truly is. 

This issue is all about ghosts, particularly ghosts who have been killed in some or other by a particular type of rifle. In the sprawling abandoned house of the family who manufactured the weapons, two couples find themselves up against threats they could hardly imagine. Not all of them survive and those who do have Swamp Thing to thank, though they hardly see it that way. 

The forty-sixth issue finds Swamp Thing along with John Constantine aboard the Monitor's orbiting spaceship along with just about every other DC hero of the era. We get a view of this grand assembly from Swampy's point of view as he is not actually quite sure why is there. Nonetheless he does his bit to battle against time lost creatures and save time lost people. He also learns for the first time from Constantine of the "Brujeria", a South American all-male death cult who have been the cause of many of the menaces Swamp Thing has struggled against in his time since learning of his true nature. 

The forty-seventh issue of Swamp Thing is easily the best in this volume. It's the totally awesome first encounter by Swamp Thing with his wooden kin the "Parliament of Trees". Located in the lushness of the Amazon all the "swamp things" which have been are assembled in a grove. They have mostly lost the power of movement and most have lost the ability to communicate in any manner one would describe as traditional. They have taken root among their peers and simply are. Their fundamental notions about the world at large and their extreme long view come in handy later for Swamp Thing who is properly in awe of what they are and what he will become. Among this group is Alex Olsen from the original Swamp Thing story in The House of Secrets. Also recognizably on hand is The Heap and if you  squint just right you might be able to see Man-Thing as well. On the downside of things the romance between Swampy and Abigail has been photographed and that will prove traumatic for her. Stan Woch and Ron Randall handle the art. 

Swamp Thing is in full command of his powers when he and Constantine and what remains of Constantine's team strike at the Brujeria. Things do not go as planned when a traitor is revealed and despite Swamp Things potent talents the threat which has so concerned Constantine is about to be summoned. This is an issue drawn  completely by John Totleben and it's lush, though truth told it's a very hard story to tell visually for any artist. Abigail is arrested. 

With the menace on the way, Constantine assembles a team of mystics such as Sargon, Zatara, Zatanna, Dr.Occult, as well as former Doom Patrol sidekick Mento  to confront the enemy on this side of things while Swamp Thing is joined by Deadman, Phantom Stranger, the Demon and possibly the Spectre to fight on the frontlines with other assorted magical beings. It's quite a muster to face against a threat which is still little understood or frankly understandable. Stan Woch is back and joined by Alfredo Alcala on the artwork. 

Stephen Bissette is back with partner Totleben and newcomer Rick Veitch to wind up this long Swamp Thing saga. This is Bissette's farewell to the character and as much as I want to thoroughly enjoy this wild and action-filled finale it's difficult because the inchoate nature of the threat makes the visuals hard. The assembled heroes and otherwise are up against darkness, a darkness which is reluctant to be seen in its entirety until the very end. It's hard to draw that which cannot be seen. The battles are rough and tumble and some vintage DC favorites don't survive. It will some as no surprise that Swamp Thing's journey has prepared him to perhaps save the day, if such a thing is possible. Cain and Abel show up to add a little light-hearted mayhem to the darkness. And that's a wrap on a saga which guess has been dubbed "American Gothic" save for a one more issue in the next volume that winds it all down. There's no time for Abigail's troubles this issue but she will be front and center next time. 

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Saga Of The Swamp Thing - Book Three!

According to the introduction to the third volume of The Saga of the Swamp Thing stories by artist Stephen Bissette, both he and John Totleben (especially the latter) were significantly involved in selecting and developing stories for the Swamp Thing. Alan Moore crafted the script with great care and at times innovative techniques, but it is somewhat of a misnomer to label these stories as being the product of one mind alone. But as Bissette also relates, Moore was able to write more than the artists were able to draw and so other talents were brought in by editor Karen Berger as necessary. It's remarkable how many of the talents involved with is comic hailed from Joe Kubert's school. 

This volume kicks off with a two-part tale about a chap dubbed merely "Nukeface". Apparently he was a creation of John Totleben's and now is worked into a rather creepy and dismal tale about the effects of toxic waste and other kinds of poisons which were and are routinely dumped and pumped into the natural environment. Nukeface is a crazed drifter who has come to live off toxic radioactive waste, but who unmindful of his state roams the land spreading disease and death. He's a powerful fellow and his touch is enough to even "kill" the Swamp Thing. But as we'll see Swampy recovers in a most unusual way. 

Because of his unusual plant nature it's difficult if perhaps impossible to kill Swamp Thing. Using abilities he was heretofore unaware of, Swamp Thing's consciousness empowers another body to take root and begin to grow. It is a relatively slow process and takes seventeen days for him to recover his previous mature state. While Swamp Thing is growing, attended to by Abigail, we also encounter a new character by the name of John Constantine. Constantine (who looks like Sting) is a mystic of some kind who has a network of agents who keep him informed of mystical doings. Something dangerous and deadly is looming and he will consult Swamp Thing to help solve the problem. 

The first problem concerns the town of Rosewood which was inundated by Swamp Thing in an effort to kill off the plague of vampires which had overrun the town. It seemed to work at the time, but some escaped and took refuge in the town now hidden beneath dark waters. There the vampires conspire to create a brood which will be even more deadly than they themselves are. Locals fall victim to these underwater vampires as Swamp Thing struggles to find a way to end this immediate threat. While full of enigmatic information, Constantine proves relatively unhelpful in the actual fight itself. Of note is that Stan Woch, another Kubert School grad fills in on the first half of this story. And while the full title of the series had been Saga of the Swamp Thing, with the thirty-ninth issue it is changed to merely Swamp Thing. 

The fortieth issue of the comic is  my favorite in this particular volume. It deals both bluntly and tenderly with a reality of our existence which almost never spoken about -- menstruation. I can think of no aspect of normal life which is deemed so verboten yet is a normal part of the life of nearly every woman in the land. In this story the concept of monthly cycles is connected to lycanthropy and not in a snide or sarcastic manner, but rather in a fashion which allows the idea to dealt with and still create a fascinating menace for Swamp Thing to contend with.  At this point the Swamp Thing is sending his essence all over the country at the behest to some extent of John Constantine, though he seems to be getting little in exchange in this one-sided partnership.  

Alas the volume closes with a two-part tale that is not very convincing at all. It suggests that a plantation is teeming with ghosts and other unsettled undead and that those spirits are all too happy to invade and pervert the psyches of living folks who themselves are rich with many of the racial prejudices that still inform the fabric of our society much to its everlasting detriment and shame. These are noble concepts to attempt to discuss, but the vehicle here is not at all compelling and rarely scary in any real way. Of all the Swamp Thing scripts by Moore to date, these two seemed to be the most preachy. I did like the zombie who ends up selling tickets in the grindhouse movie theater though -- that was at once profound and downright funny. More to come next week. 

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Saga Of The Swamp Thing - Book Two!

Alan Moore's reign as writer of The Saga of Swamp Thing continues in this second volume. Having dealt with loose ends and having created some potent horror tales, he uses some of the next issues to switch up the atmosphere a bit. There's no doubt that the storytelling in Swamp Thing stories has changed, become more internal and at times completely character based. That will continue in this volume. 

The primary artists on the series continue to be Stephen Bissette and John Totleben, but in this issue artist Shawn McManus fills in on a tale which almost literally puts to rest the Alec Holland aspect of Swamp Thing. Since discovering that he was a plant trying to become Holland, there has been a question about the disposition of Holland's body. Swamp Thing must confront this new reality as well as come to terms with his old identity. 

The next issue by the regular team beings arguably the most disturbing story yet told in the pages of Swamp Thing. It begins with Abigail Arcane Cable who has learned a terrifying truth about her husband Matt Cable, that truth being that Matt is no longer himself. Who has become "Matt Cable" has been a husband to Abigail in all ways and that causes her to want to shred her own skins. 

 

Swamp Thing comes to her rescue, as much as she can be rescued from the terrible truth of what Matt has become. And Swamp Thing must confront one of his oldest and most relentless enemies as he uses the full range of his newly understood powers to withstand an assault from all directions. 

He attempts to save Abigail from her "husband" who has become a monster. Matt Cable does return in a manner of speaking for a moment or two and he does help end the threat, but it's been at a terrible cost. With Matt turned ironically into a vegetable and Abigail are dead we are running dangerously low on characters. But the Swamp Thing is able to use his new mastery of nature to revive Abby's body, he cannot alas bring back her soul. That's a tale for the 1985 annual. Also of note is that this is the last issue of Saga of the Swamp Thing to have the full title on the cover. The phrase "Sophisticated Suspense" is now used above the logo. 

To rescue Abby's soul, the Swamp Thing must undertake a dangerous journey into the underworld. Like Dante before him he needs guides and at various times he is led by Phantom Stranger, Deadman, and ultimately The Demon. Swamp Thing must brave the most dangerous regions of hell to find and reclaim Abigail Arcane's soul. He is ultimately successful. It required the swollen pages of the second Swamp Thing Annual to tell the tale.  

Next Swamp Thing must meet some aliens who are more than a tad familiar in a Walt Kelly kind of way in a story simply titled "Pog". These sundry animals have come to Earth in a spaceship that resembles a turtle to find a haven where they can live without the threat of carnivores. These creatures are oddly wise and at the same time naive. That naivete causes a grim tragedy before the story ends. Shawn McManus is tapped to draw this tale, his style being ideal for the subject matter. 

The next issue is an odd one indeed as it tells both secrets and solves mysteries. Able and Cain, the brotherly hosts of The House of Secrets and The House of Mystery return for a special engagement to tell Abigail how there have been other Swamp Things in other times, one of those times a tale told long ago in the pages of The House of Secrets by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. It was not Alec Holland's identity which was the template for Swamp Thing then but a lover named Alex Olsen. This tale reprints the original Swamp Thing story and Ron Randall is tapped to draw a frame story featuring the violent brothers. 

Underneath a gorgeous cover by John Totleben, the Swamp Thing enters a new phase in a gorgeous story by Moore, Bissette and Totleben when Swampy and Abby admit to their affection for one another and that despite the profound differences in their circumstances, they attempt to find intimacy. That intimacy is by means of Abbigail consuming  part of Swamp Thing and joining his consciousness on a rather tender acid trip. This is easily my favorite issue of the run by Moore and his assorted artists so far. 

The notion of a romance between human and plant is picked up and is a feature element of The Return of Swamp Thing from 1989. This movie is one I both love and hate. It's got a really good Dick Durok creature outfit and some choice scenes here and there. I like the performance as a somewhat daffy Abigail Arcane by Heather Locklear and that of  her demon uncle by the almost always grand Louis Jordan.  For the most part but the overall attitude of comedy seems to undermine any remote mote of tension or sadly sensitivity the movie might attempt to create. And there are two loathsome children in this one who are so crummy I want them to be eaten by the monster that threatens them at one point. 

By the end of this volume, the saga of the Swamp Thing is a whole other deal. But for more we'll have to wait for the third volume next time. 

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Saga Of The Swamp Thing - Book One!

So as it turns out, the Swamp Thing stories that had been so carefully crafted by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson and Nestor Redondo and Marty Pasko and Tom Yeates and others as well were the stories of a man who had becomes a plant. The stories told by Alan Moore and Stephen Bissette and John Totleben and others are the stories of a plant who seems to want to be something of a man. No small change that. I have long read of the impact of these stories, stories which supposedly changed the nature of comic book storytelling. I guess so, maybe, but I've never read them  until now. As it turns out I rather like them. 

The first Alan Moore story was drawn by Dan Day and inked by John Totleben (who it turns out was a key player) and it transitions the series away from the science fiction and magic intrigue yarn that Pasko and Yeates had been spinning to a more personal internalized kind of storytelling. We have to reset our players though a bit and some of them leave the board entirely. Liz Tremayne and Dennis Barclay are removed, not to live happily ever after but to live still. The Sunderland Corporation makes its move to kill the Swamp Thing and as it turns out they succeed. 

But they had not counted on the schemes of Jason Woodrue. Woodrue, better known in DC comic book circles as "The Floronic Man" is brought in by Sunderland to dissect the seemingly dead Swamp Thing but it turns out the reports of his demise were incorrect. Woodrue makes the discovery that Swamp Thing is not Alec Holland but a plant (or colony of plants rather) that wish to become Alec Holland. And since he wasn ever alive in that limited human sense, it comes as little surprise to the reader though a dreadful to General Sunderland when the Swamp Thing rises to exact his justice. 

Woodrue's plans though continue as he heads to the swamps to seek his solace in the plant world. He wants to be as the Swamp Thing is, but his self-loathing as a human (at least in part) means that he wants to gain some measure of control of "The Green", the inchoate world of plants and using them shuffle off the human race from the planet Earth. Meanwhile Abigail Arcane becomes enmeshed in his schemes even as Matt Cable slips further and further from the world as we know it. 

Woodrue's plan is to isolate human beings behind impermeable barriers of plants and then have those plants oversaturate the environment with oxygen, oxygen which will all readily catch flame. He wants to burn out the human race altogether. It's a dreadful scheme and only Swamp Thing is in a position to confront the villain. 

Even the stalwart Justice League is at a loss to know what to do as they watch helpless from their satellite as the world is covered and oxygenated. The analyze but are shown to be incapable of finding a successful course of action. The world is doomed until Swamp Thing reveals to Woodrue how little he knows of "The Green" after all. The story ends with Swamp Thing coming into full bloom in the understanding of his role on the planet. Tom Yeates has continued to provide covers for the series, but as elegant as his art is, it doesn't properly advertise the strangeness beneath those covers. 

As the friendship between Abigail Arcane and Swamp Thing deepens, Matt Cable is lost utterly to demons he has little control over. He has a power which he abuses and then something changes inside him. All this and the arrival of Jason Blood, the Demon as well mark the beginning of a trio of truly terrifying tales which will involve autistic children who have peculiar insights into the dangerous world all around us. The look of the comic becomes more fluid with Bissette and Totleben handling the covers at last as Karen Berger takes over the editorial reins on the comic. 

The Demon comes to fend off a monstrous "Monkey King" wo has slipped into our universe and is ravaging the lives and souls of men and women and children. The Demon who has come to fight this evil is a powerful but sour creature, a hero from Hell who spouts poetry and is all too ready to kill. Swamp Thing rises up to stand both with and against this Demon. 

As the Demon and Swamp Thing find a way to end the threat of the Monkey King, Matt Cable loses control and after a horrific car crash becomes something utterly terrible and terrifying. The horror that Alan Moore has promised will grow even more grotesque and ugly. But that's next time. One word about the artwork by Stephen Bissette and John Totelben in these issues, it's simply magnificent. I've been a Bissette fan for many years, finding him in his post-Swamp Thing phase on his Indy comic Tyrant. His essays in sundry places about monsters and such are always ripe with information and teeming with insights. And I've learned that Totleben, an artist I'm little familiar with was very much an important player in this creation. Great stuff, potent and compelling and there is much much more to come. 

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Swamp Thing - The Bronze Age Volume Three!

The Swamp Thing had made a big splash in the early 70's but like its muck-brother Man-Thing at Marvel had failed to find a lasting place on the comic book racks of the day. Critical acclaim did not add up to robust sales and like the monster fad that to some extent gave birth to it, the Swamp Thing had sunk beneath the murky waters of the black waters from which it had sprung. 

And then they made a movie for release in 1982. Swamp Thing the movie is not a great movie by any means, but it's a decent flick with abundant action and some decent actors and a Swamp Thing make-up that ain't half bad for the day. Swamp Thing the movie did decent business, or at least I went to see it and enjoyed it for the most part. I find I rather like any movie which features Adrienne Barbeau, a zoftig actress who can hold you utterly spellbound if she dons just the right blouse. But this movie also has Ray Wise as Alec Holland and Louis Jourdan as Arcane so it's not all Adrienne's assets. The story as we know it from the comic books is pretty much changed with Barbeau playing the Matt Cable part and Holland being a romantic interest for her since his sister and not his wife is his research colleague. Arcane is an oily rich guy who doesn't doesn't have "Un-Men" but does have some distinctive henchmen nonetheless. With Wes Craven on board as the director, this movie had some cache as a horror film, but it's not really. It's more of an action fantasy and that's okay. It did well enough to spark a television show at least. 

And as it turned out it also sparked a one-shot adaptation from DC Comics. Truth told the adaptation by Bruce Jones on the typewriter and art by Mark Texiera on the pencils and Tony DeZuniga on inks is not all that good, though it is true to the movie. It's like all too many mainstream comics of the era from the "Big Two", just rather bland. It's not good and it's not really bad, it just is. But it served its purpose and it's incorporated in the back of this third volume of Swamp Thing tales from the "Bronze Age". 

The movie also sparked a new ongoing series dubbed The Saga of the Swamp Thing. The editor for this series as it had been for the adaptation is Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein and the writer for the first nineteen issues was Marty Pasko who working hard to take Swampy in a somewhat new direction. The stories begin much like what had come before, episodes in a broader narrative, but as the series chugs along the storyline becomes more and moe dense and the cliffhangers never end. The artwork on these issues is a real winner with Tom Yeates doing both the pencils and inks and getting a decent approximation of what had come before from Berni Wrightson and Nestor Redondo. It's not the same, but it's similar enough and worthy in its own rights. In the debut Swamp Thing rescues a mute young girl from being slain by her father and then feels an odd compulsion to stay with her. 

Yeates does all the covers for the regular issues in this run save for the second issue which features the Swamp Thing from the movie. One can see here Dick Durock looking pretty fine in his turn as the bog beast. Durock would go on to play the Swamp Thing again and again on television and in the sequel film which had to wait until 1989 to get to theaters. In this issue Swamp Thing is hunted by a hitman named "Grasp". 

Swamp Thing gets separated from his young charge in this issue which has him taking on a town named Rosewood which is teeming with vampires. These early issues have introduced new elements to the mythos such as the mysterious Sunderland Corporation which wants Swamp Thing dead for reasons which are not well explained at all at first, but will be eventually. 

As Swampy battles demons in another place, he is also introduced to his new supporting cast. There's a TV news woman named Lizbeth Tremayne and a strange older man named Harry Kay who at first seems to be a villain. 

Swamp Thing is captured and taken to a hospital run by the Sunderland Corporation where all manner of weird experiments are going on, some which allow folks to live arguably forever. A doctor there named Dennis Barclay along with Liz helps Swamp Thing to escape the hospital but it means they are all fugitives on the run from the deadly Sunderland group. Barclay also determines that something is interfering with Swamp Thing's natural processes and is slowly killing him. 

In what becomes a somewhat relentless chase story our heroes find themselves aboard a Sunderland ship, but not for their good. The Swamp Thing is smuggled aboard but doesn't succeed in staying hidden long when he confronts deadly menacing tentacles and something more sinister still. 

With Liz Tremayne dressed like the slave Princess Leia, the Swamp Thing finds himself battling an ancient alien who long ago came from the stars and into the depths of the ocean where it became a huge sea monster. This kraken from the stars sinks the ship and our hardy trio survive to find a beach and on that beach --dinosaurs. The sea monster evokes something of a Lovecraftian quality but not much is done to develop this. 

After escaping the schemes of evil men and evil monsters on the high seas, the trio find themselves on an island which is not at all what it seems at all. Swamp Thing must battle dinosaurs and even finds himself up against the familiar threat of King Kong. Kong gives way to Rick's Place when they learn that some tormented Vietnam vets have manufactured a world as needed to save their lives and their tattered sanity.  

The threat of Sunderland Corporation resurfaces when it turns out Harry Kay is not on the wrong side after all, or not now anymore, and he leads a group of powerful mutants with telepathic and telekinetic powers to defend the world against the little girl that Swamp Thing saved so long ago. As it turns out she's no longer a little girl, but a suddenly-grown woman who threatens the very existence of the world itself as the harbinger of a the devil itself. Jan Duursema and Tom Mandrake fill in for regular artist Yeates on this issue. 

Tremayne, Barclay and Swamp Thing become part of Harry Kay's forces when they try to find a way to stop the impending apocalypse. Harry Kay reveals some of his secrets and we learn that he is attempting to redeem himself for his crimes during World War II. The battle against the apocalypse goes poorly. 

The Jewish legend of the Golem is activated by Harry Kay's group and sent against the woman-child who threatens the world. But not before Swamp Thing has to do a little battle with it himself.  

The long saga nears its end as we learn the real truth about Harry Kay and his motivations and we also are reintroduced to the villain Grasp, who has a very important part to play in the grand scheme. 

It's the end of the world as we know it, but it will come as no surprise that the apocalypse was cancelled when Swamp Thing and his allies win the day but just barely and at great cost. All through this long sprawling tale, the story has seemed at times a bit tortured and overwrought, taxing artist Tom Yeates to the maximum. His handsome stylings are compressed into pages which wriggle uncomfortably at times with overwhelming narrative and sometimes burdened by just words. Marty Pasko's story has depth and heft, but has gotten somewhat unwieldy by it s conclusion. 

It then comes as a bit of a refreshment when writer Dan Mishkin and artist Bo Hampton step in for a two-part tale about a man who loses his humanity to the world of computers and digital information. He is presented in these issues as a high-tech version of Swamp Thing, but one with more malign intentions. The Phantom Stranger guest stars in these two issues. 

With the defeat of the demons who threatened the Earth, the trio are still left with the menace of the Sunderland Corporation which has wanted Swamp Thing dead from the beginning and now his two allies as well. The Swamp Thing though finds a village which greets him with open arms and allows him to see himself as Alec Holland. It's less than it seems and he must return to his friends. 

He returns to find old friends Matthew Cable and Abigail Arcane, who has become Cable's wife. She is working trying to help Matt overcome his demons which prove to be both those of demon rum and more literal as well. Swamp Thing tries as always to help. Pasko is joined by new artists Stephen Bissette and inker John Totleben. Yeates stays on as cover artist, but needed relief from the regular grind of a series. 

That grind shows up as all too real when the eighteenth issue is mostly a reprint of issue nine of the original Swamp Thing series. This volume only reprints the pages which are produced as a wraparound for the reprint of Swampy's second battle with Arcane, 

That second battle was one which was thought to have been the end of Arcane but as all loyal comic book readers know all too well, the demises of villains is a rare thing indeed. Arcane is back in a new weird form with new insect-inspired Un-Men. He seeks revenge on Swamp Thing and the Cables. He wins the day, but barely and only with aid of the tragic Harry Kay. Liz Tremayne and Dr. Barclay have been somewhat absent in the story but we see that they have their own issues to attend to as they to some extent turn their back on Swamp Thing for the time being. This is Pasko's final issue. Editor Len Wein, Swamp Thing's co-creator needs a new writer. He will find one  in a fellow from across the waters by the name of Alan Moore who will turn in the next issue to attend to loose ends. More on that next week. 

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