REVIEW | The Saga of Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
[SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING written by ALAN MOORE illustrated by STEPHEN BISSETTE/ JOHN TOTLEBEN/ RICK VEITCH and others]
Greetings plants and veggies,
We're working on posting some regular picks from our favorite media to rant about them, perhaps recommend them and kill the monotony of quarantine.
Today we're highly recommending taking a bite out of The Saga of Swamp Thing. In spite of whatever objections the writer might have with being associated with the show, Moore has been blipping back on fans’ radars' since the HBO adaptation of Watchmen aired. In the mid 70's, before he started working on Watchmen, DC Comics hired him from the UK to revitalize the wilting Swamp Thing title.
Vol 1. Saga of Swamp Thing
Moore trims our grassy protagonist into a grotesque Southern Gothic icon. A Frankenstein monster in tune with the natural environment undergoing great changes in his understanding of humanity. This series isn't full of juvenile "eat your broccoli" allegories and Adam West dialogue. It is branded as "Sophisticated Suspense" being able to sensitively broach social topics such as nuclear pollution and gun violence, while dragging the reader thru the swamp to some truly chilling moments.
The team of artists including Rick Veitch, John Totleben, Stephen Bissette and a ton of others also need a healthy serving of recognition. You’ll see many of their first hand experiences collaborating on the comic and what went into rendering Moore’s lush imagination and all that greenery. We even see precursors for the themes that will become transmuted to other characters such as Dr. Manhattan of the Watchmen universe.
We see the characters, an ensemble of tragic victims, misunderstood misfits and bad apples, grow in depth and feeling as the whole comic shift in genre from classic horror to some brilliant Golden Age sci-fi. You'll encounter lake-dwelling vampires, radioactive interlopers, a sentient space ship in the middle of space and familiar faces from the DC universe. Some of whom are deliciously rotten.
As a series that doesn't get a ton of daylight, definitely consider ordering a copy. You can easily get a kindle edition from Amazon, but I do recommend ordering a solid copy. I ordered mine thru Pop Cultured in Lowell. I definitely suggest checking them out when they re-open. If you want to order a gift card from them ahead of time, you can support them here: https://squareup.com/gift/YPZEMC9Z6YETG/order
Since our apocalyptic production of Endgame and the outbreak, one seeming to suggest the other, we halted productions on our end to reassess what routes we want to explore given our new climate and how to practically approach them. Now we've started revamping our work. While we have a couple things we know we’d love to accomplish, we’d love to hear what kind of stories you like and you’re working on too! So please reach out in the comments section, email or social media.
Thanks for listening about our mossy friend, and good luck. Now more than ever we need some quality engaging projects and stories that stimulate the mind and keep us from entering our own vegetative states.
sincerely,
wednesday
