The database software I used to track my collection, ComicBase, uses a lot of title descriptions from S&A. They hate everything!

Sounds like about 90% of all fandoms these days or any fan commenting on comics or any other geek culture property on the internet on any given day (especially things not released yet or they haven't read or seen themselves).

-M

Swamp Thing #20

This is not included in my TPB of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, although it is included in some recent collections. This is more of a bridge issue between the two runs, as Moore ties up some loose ends and sets up some big reveals, to the extent that it's very easy to think his run began next issue with the Anatomy lesson.



There's a good hook here that while the big bad had been defeated at the tail end of Mike Pasko's run and this issue confirms it, other forces decide to go after the weakened Swamp Thing. Obviously this run becomes much bigger under Moore, but at this point he's a completely unknown British writer taking over a book featuring a character who had just been in a movie. At this point, he had a lot to prove just to keep his current audience, and I'd have to think they were on board here.



Artist Dan Day doesn't come back during the Moore run, but he's working with inker John Totlebon and colorist Tatjana Wood, so the style is consistent with what comes next and what the book had evolved into.



One theme here is men expecting women to fall in love with them just because they were in extreme danger together, so Moore is already looking at a new understanding of typical comic book behavior.




We see hints of a later story. It works by itself, but I wonder if it also helps make the big reveals next issue seem more shocking, because so far it seems business as usual. The story is interesting and tragic, with danger to some of the supporting characters, but it seems like this is going to be a bad guy the Swamp Thing's going to have to fight soon enough.



With that in mind, the reader may easily think the military's trap for Swamp Thing is no big deal. Until we see just how effective it is.



Grade: A (Mainly because I know it gets better)

Comics Read So Far From the List: 19/1600

Saga of the Swamp Thing #22-24

I'm going to look at these three issues as a discrete unit. The Floronic Man decides that he is going ot wipe out all animal life to protect the plants. Swamp Thing tries to process last issue's realization that he is not a human being, but some kind of plant consciousness that absorbed something from a human being, and they're not sure what that is. Abby's trying to help and not sure what to do.



This is a story that remains creepy even if in a firmly DC world. Up until this point, Jason Woodrue the Floronic Man had been a minor bad guy. But he's the perfect menace here. His callousness distinguishes him, his mental break builds on both his character and his decision to experience something extraordinary, and he just has some really creepy scenes.



Moore's run on Swamp Thing is largely a romance between the Swamp Thing and Abigail. And it's set up nicely here. She's a supporting character in this title, so she's been through some stuff, but she's still going to try to do the right thing. She's the one who reminds me him that even if he's learned that things he took for granted just aren't so, there's still much to live for.



When there's a threat to life on Earth, the Justice League get involved, but there's a poetic take on the DC icons here. We see that this is an extinction-level threat that they're not necessarily equipped for. The resolution to the story is powerful, and the Justice League's role is excellent, as they're mainly dealing with the clean-up. This element of shared continuity is a bit controversial, as some readers don't like the idea that a story in the DC Universe should consider questions like Superman doesn't just save the day. But we do get a good answer here.



Grade: A+

Swamp Thing #25-27


This three parter might not get the attention of the big stories (the original arc, the debut of Constantine, the consummation, the parliament of the green, etc.) of the run, but it is really noteworthy. If the first volume was mainly about Swamp Thing learning new things about himself, this is about what makes Abigail. And it is also one of the most unsettling stories of any horror comic I've ever read.



Abigail gets a new job working with autistic children. One children in particular is scared of a monster called the Monkey King. This gets to one of Alan Moore's skills, as things that seem a bit silly; an obsession with spelling, visions of a swordfish accident suddenly have powerful payoff.



The monster itself is just creepy. This is probably the best version I've seen of an old trope of fears coming alive, just because of what we see, in terms of what it reveals about character (Swamp Thing has a very reasonable fear), what it hints at (there are clues about what Abigail's afraid of that hint at a life outside of this comic book series) and how it can make us care for characters just introduced for the sake of this one story.

Meanwhile, weird stuff is going on with Abigail's husband, which is one of the most effective subplots I've seen (hmm, noticing a trend of this run featuring pinnacles of a type of story) in serialized horror. Etrigan the Demon guest-starrs, although his willingness to take innocent lives to stop a monster complicates things. It also crystalizes a big part of what this run of Swamp Thing is about, as we have an unflinching (as far as DC superhero comics go) look at what's bad in the world, but it won't stop the people who are well aware of this from risking everything to try to make it better.

Grade: A+

Volume One Grade: A+/ It's easily on of the 50 best comic book trade paperbacks I've ever read.

Comics Read So Far From the List: 26/1600