deactivated-5a162dd41dd64's Saga of the Swamp Thing #1 - Book One review

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    A Solid Four

    The entirety of Alan Moore's run on the Swamp Thing title, which spans something like 45 issues running from 1984 to 1987, is widely known for its quality and also happens to be older than I am. With that in mind, what is there that I can say about Swamp Thing that hasn't already been said?

    Moore's run begins at issue #20, and it picks up from where the previous author left off and ties off loose ends. While the first issue is by no means unenjoyable, it's issue #21 that really kicks off the series, setting the tone and laying down some prevailing themes for future stories, such as the nature of humanity. It's as though issue #20 is a requisite precursor to the story it precedes, and while it isn't boring it certainly can't hold a candle to what follows it.

    The first story arc, The Anatomy Lesson, is an extremely strong beginning to a series, and I was very impressed by Moore's use of descriptive language and excellent narrative. The wording is practically poetic, but not overly so; the descriptive imagery is evocative but manages to avoid being overly so, which is fairly rare, especially in comics. The only real negative thing I can say about it is that the art took some getting used to, as it's fairly outdated and can't really hold its own against some of the more modern art I'm used to, but I've found that's always been an aspect of the comic reading experience and thusly don't really hold it against the artists. Also that the artists don't seem very comfortable drawing actions sequences, which tend to appear stiff and inorganic (but not to a huge degree). Moore gets points for involving the Justice League in the Floronic Man issue, and I was duly pleased that he was a capable enough writer to realize that a villain who is thretaning to wipe out the human race (and is actually kind of effective in his attempts) would be an issue that the Justice League would HAVE to get involved with. Many writers seem to not know when to involve outside characters, and I'm happy to say Moore has proven he is not one of them.

    The second story arc was much less impressive, featuring characters that I didn't really care all that much about and conflict that failed to draw me in. While I feel I should give Moore credit for his fantastic portrayal of childhood trauma and the ensuing psychological damage, I found myself being bothered by the question of whether Paul was autistic or just traumatized by the events involving the summoning of the Monkey King. Which brings me to another shortcoming- the Monkey King failed to impress me as a villain. For a creature that manifests as the greatest fear of whoever sees it, it was only ever very frightening on something like two occasions- those two occasions were magnificently written, however, so that almost makes up for it. Moore manages to make Etrigan actually somewhat entertaining, and he gets credit for the fact that the rhymes he came up with weren't all that horrible. What really impressed me about the arc, however, was Matt Cable, whose descent (or just, you know, continuing decline) into...something (depravity?) was rather compelling. I became surprisingly emotionally invested in the dying relationship between Abby and Matt; despite knowing it was doomed (for a variety of reasons) a part of me kind of hoped they would patch things up because it was just so apparent that the two cared so much for one another. At any rate, Moore very convincingly showed us why the relationship was dying, and that's something many writers don't do very well (or at all), and his depiction of marital strife was very realistic, for lack of a better word.

    Issue 27 ends on a rather suspenseful note, and while I was planning to wait until I wrote this review to read the rest of the series I just had to know what was happening and read the rest of the series anyways. Having not paid much attention to the whole situation with Arcane in the first issue, I had no idea who or what the fly that entered Matt's body was and automatically assumed it was some manner of demon (like in those few good issues of Hellblazer, which actually have a lot in common with this series (for very good reasons)). I turned out to be more or less correct.

    Overall, Book One of Saga of the Swamp Thing is excellent. While it has its flaws, they are nearly inconsequential compared to its strengths, and all in all is a fantastic beginning to what was a truly great series. I give it a very solid four stars.

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