Swamp Thing

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I started reading Swamp Thing from the very beginning... sort of. When I was a kid, I liked superhero comics and not much else (no western, no war, etc.). I also gravitated toward Marvel, so Swamp Thing had two strikes against it right out of the gate (to mix a metaphor or two). I remember seeing titles such as Swamp Thing and Kamandi on the spinner racks but not giving them a second look (or even a first). Even when I walked into a comic book shop for the first time in my life several years later, it took some time for me to overcome my preconceived notions regarding such titles as Daredevil (Frank Miller's) and Swamp Thing (Alan Moore's). Then, in 1986, DC released the Roots of the Swamp Thing reprint series and i started at the very beginning (#1) if not exactly from the very beginning (1972). 

Skip ahead 15 years. I'm now married. My new bride is not wholly unfamiliar with comic books and is willing to read more. I recommended a list of 8 or 10 of my favorites (including the Wein/Wrightson and the Moore/Bisette/Totleben runs of Swamp Thing), most of which she read. I had tens of thousands of comics in my collection at that time, enough to keep us busy reading and discussing for years. But she became interested in comics I didn't have, such as the post-Moore Swamp Thing as well as the complete run of Fables (which I myself still have not read). We spent the next however-many-it-was months collecting backissues of Swamp Thing plus I added those two titles to my pull & hold. 

At this point Tracy has read literally hundreds more issues of Swamp Thing than I have. We don't have every issue (she finally lost interest after the "New 52"), but we have quite a few. Ironically,  it was "Brightest Day" which reignited my own interest, so some of the more recent issues she has not read. I like to "prorate" the cost of my comics by a) reading them multiple times, or b) giving them to my wife to read. We get the best value from those comic we both read multiple times. To that end, we have decided to work our way through every issue we own from 1972 to 2018.

We recently led a discussion through every issue/series in Terry Moore's "SiP-verse" but, if we complete it, this project is more than twice as long. We invite you along for the ride. 

Wein/Wrightson - p1

Nestor Redondo - p2

The "Mopee Thing" - p3

Miscellaneous - p4

Martin Pasko - p5

Alan Moore - p8

Rick Veitch - p25

Doug Wheeler - p31

Nancy Collins - p33

Grant Morrison & Mark Millar - p37

Mark Millar - p38

[Tracy of Moon-T]

I utterly disliked this issue, completely, from the writing style, the art, and especially the content. It was rape. The alien machine captured, with intent, and held Swamp Thing, tortured him, stripped him of what was needed. The whole concept was revolting. 

[Randy Jackson]

Moore occasionally does things like this, dedicating an entire issue to something that's really only if interest to him and could likely be handled in a few panels(I remember something similar in both From Hell and Promethea). For the re-read, I gave up reading the text after a couple of pages and just kept turning pages, hoping it would be over. 

[Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas]

This entity of #60 sort of appears again in about six years time. But not in Swamp Thing stories.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Oh, really? The New Titans it looks like. (I actually have those issues; never read 'em.)

Maybe "Loving the Alien" should have been "Raping the Alien."

[Richard Willis]

Randy Jackson said:

For the re-read, I gave up reading the text after a couple of pages and just kept turning pages, hoping it would be over.

Ditto.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ISSUE #61:

Swamp Thing's next stop is the planet J586 in hope of realigning his electrical field so that he may return to Earth. Unfortunately, that planet is populated by sentient plant life and when he tries to manifest himself he causes unintended harm. This brings him to the attention of that planet's Green Lantern, Medphyl, who has recently lost his mentor, Jothra. This setting allows Moore to explore another alien society, in terms of art, religion, fashion, mating rituals, language and so on. The POV characters are Disma and Loclis (a pair of young lovers), Shurlo (an artist) and Imrel (a priest undergoing a crisis of faith) as well as Green Lantern himself. 

After dealing with the immediate problem of Swamp Thing's initial manifestation, Green Lantern allows him to inhabit the body of his deceased mentor, bringing Medphyl a measure of closure. Moore runs through all the standard super-hero tropes as they relate to J586, including a unique oath for a plant-based Green Lantern, then sends Swamp Thing on his way after teaching him to alter his bio-electric field. Meanwhile, Adam Strange has located Abby on Earth to relay Swamp Thing's message, but she thinks he's crazy and doesn't believe him. 

[The Baron]

Didn't the plant people in this one keep potted apes?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I don't remember potted apes specifically, but Moore threw in all kinds of little details like that. For example, Jothra was J586's version of what would be a "vegetarian" on Earth, eating only animals and refusing to eat lower forms of plant life. 

[Captain Comics]

I was always impressed with how well Moore thought out his world-building, like the society of aquatic vampires and all these alien civilizations. Even his Rann was uniquely his. And who else would have thought all the way through another perspective to give us F-Sharp Bell and "Mojo Doesn't Socialize"? And in "The Man Who Has Everything," he couldn't help but point out that in Superman's fantasy of life on a Krypton that didn't blow up, Jor-El's life would have been ruined. (Instead of over*.) He'd have been labeled a crackpot for life.

* I'm actually not sure what Jor-El's status is. He appeared to have returned, still alive, to mentor Jonathan but that's about when I stopped reading the Super-books.

[Richard Willis]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

ISSUE #61:

Meanwhile, Adam Strange has located Abby on Earth to relay Swamp Thing's message, but she thinks he's crazy and doesn't believe him. 

I hadn’t expected that, but it makes sense.

I don't remember potted apes specifically, but Moore threw in all kinds of little details like that. For example, Jothra was J586's version of what would be a "vegetarian" on Earth, eating only animals and refusing to eat lower forms of plant life. 

On page 10, panel 2, it says “shaking pollen on the potted apes in the public beastorchards,” but they are not depicted.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ISSUE #62:

This issue provides a preview of what this title will look like in a few short months, with rick Veitch penciling and writing, and Alfredo Alcala on art. (Honestly, I hadn't remembered this issue was written by Veitch so it came as a mild surprise.) I'm not sure when the Promethean Giants morphed into the statues affixed to the "Source Wall" but it wasn't a Kirby thing. A guy strapped to a boulder in space, however, is a visual motif Kirby used as far back as the '50s and reused in the '60s. I really like the three pages in which Metron related what he saw within what he thought was "The Source" but ended up being an "aleph"... from a nine-panel page to a 16-panel page to a 25-panel page. Then when Darkseid looked through the memories extracted from the Swamp Thing (and larned about love!), the pages went from 16-panels to 20.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ISSUE #63:

The title of this issue's story is "Loose Ends (Reprise)" which itself sets certain expectations, except this time, instead of wrapping up Martin Pasko's loose ends, Alan Moore is tying up his own. Swamp Thing returns to Earth, but before he reunites with Abby, he seeks revenge against four of the men involved in the attack against him, working his way up the chain to Wicker of the D.D.I. (Swamp Thing "says it with roses" as the the slogan goes... then peach blossoms, then grass, then a sandwich.) While all this is going on, Abby pays a visit to Matt who is still comatose. We look in on Chester, who  meets Liz for the first time. (Liz has progressed to the point at which she is able to sit in a tub filled with four inches of water.) Chester runs into the guy to whom he gave a slice of tuber in #43 whose wife was dying of cancer. He finds Abby at the hospital and decide to take a walk in the swamp, which is when and where Swamp Thing and Abby are reunited.