NOTE: I begin this article with a bit more context of my reading journey. If that does not interest you, skip down to the review!
My DC Journey – An Update
I have continued down my path of reading DC highlights from Crisis to Flashpoint, and have finally finished Alan Moore’s run of Swamp Thing, issues #20-64 of the series.
Taking a look at my Reading List, that means that I have read the following so far (I have included some I accidentally read out of order before my list grew so extensive).
No Full Review:
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Batman: Year One
Batman: Long Halloween
Batman: Dark Victory
JLA: Year One
Killing Joke
A Death in the Family
Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying
Death/Return of Superman
To Be Reviewed:
The Question #1-11
Justice League International #1-8
And, of course, Swamp Thing #1-64 (See review for #1-19 here)
On this blog, my intention is to review primarily series from here on out (writing reviews after finishing an omnibus or collection). Single stories and events I will likely review and rank at checkpoints throughout my long reading process. I found 44 issues to be a bit much – I will likely write more at around 30 at a time in the future. Because of this, I have split this review into two parts!
I will not be including spoiler-free sections in these reviews usually, but I will always alert when I am beginning sections that contain them!
With that settled, let’s dive in.
The Review
Spoilers for Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing ahead
At this point, I have read 64 issues of Swamp Thing. That is over 1,500 pages watching this character grow and change, and I have fallen in love with this story and its characters. I will certainly be continuing until it loses my interest. It is not a stretch to say that Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing is some of the best fiction I have experienced recently. It is legendary for being excellent, and it certainly lived up to expectations. In my review of the first 19 issues of Swamp Thing, one of my gripes was the overuse of the phrase “the creature that was once Alec Holland”, which is even more amusing now that Alan Moore rewrote the very DNA of the original stories.
I am going to go arc by arc here, talking about some major plot points, and then talk about some standout issues at the end of the review, in order to get through all 44 issues of this incredible series!
First Arc – Reinvention and Woodrue (#20-24)
It’s weird to go back to the beginning, because this series has so many shifts and changes tonally as Alan Moore spins his showstopping yarn. In my review of Pasko’s run, I mentioned that Alana Moore completely changes Swamp Thing’s character in only a few pages. The art is a major leap above, with outside-panel interaction and well-executed symbolism throughout. Pages and panels are sometimes full-on works of art that would fit in an art gallery.
The “Loose Ends” from #1-19 are tied up cleanly, with Tremayne and Barclay unceremoniously written in a sinister sendoff and Sunderland claiming victory over the creature that was once Alec Holland.
That’s when Alan Moore completely shifts everything we knew about this character in one of the best fictional transformations I have seen. Issue #21 sets up everything Alan Moore seeks to accomplish in this series by answering a burning question – what actually happened to Alec Holland? The answer? Alec Holland is dead. His consciousness was imprinted upon the vegetation, creating a being that is NOT human at all, and instead completely and totally plant, with a mind that was once that of a man’s.
Alan Moore has Swamp Thing grow from this, grappling with his identity. He also brings Abby Cable to the forefront, who will remain a mainstay in this 44 issue run. Woodrue is the antagonist of this mini-arc, as he takes over the vegetation of Earth and causes a spread of horror across the land.
These issues served to set up the rest of this series quite nicely (including bringing in other DC characters, making Swamp Thing feel like he exists in a bigger universe instead of his own world), and introduced us to the concept of “The Green”, the interconnected vegetation all across the Earth.
Second Arc – The Monkey (#25-27)
This arc gives us a taste of the type of horror we can expect from this series going forward. The first issue of the arc introduced Jason Blood, who is one of my favorite side characters on the darker side of DC, so this excited me greatly. Etrigan, of course, plays a big role in the events of this story, and it effectively sets up the American Gothic storyline (one of the best parts of this series) and the Arcane storyline (one of the most disturbing).
Third Arc – The Return of Arcane (Again) (#29-31)
Some of the most disturbing content in this series comes from these three issues – they definitely stick with you. Alan Moore turns Arcane from a sideshow monster into something far more terrifying, and kills him off (this time for good, as long as Moore is concerned). It also, for the time being at least, puts Matt Cable into a coma, setting up the relationship that blossoms between Abby and Swamp Thing in this series.
What follows is a series of one-offs (including a two-parter where Swamp Thing is killed) that cement the romantic element between Abby and Swamp Thing and go back to the House of Secrets where Swamp Thing originally appeared, setting up Moore’s smooth enveloping of previous canon into his own image. We then continue into what I am going to call Arc Four – Prelude to Apocalypse (American Gothic: Part One). But as we are approaching the halfway point, I am going to end here and go back to revisit some of the best one-off issues.
One-Off Issues
#28 – The Burial
This issue is a standalone story, and allows us to see Swamp Thing finally lay to rest his previous identity, fully embracing his new role as an Elemental (though we don’t realize this is what his new role will be until a bit later). It is a great character piece that demonstrates Alan Moore’s skill lies both in the big and the minute.
Annual #2 – Down Amongst the Dead Men
This story sets up a ton of stuff for later on in American Gothic, so much so that it could be considered a prequel. It includes some fantastic side characters, including Deadman, Phantom Stranger, and once again Etrigan, as well as The Spectre. Swamp Thing plays the role of Orpheus the Musician here as he dives into the depths of the underworld to save his beloved, who has been unjustly sentenced to a life of torture by Arcane. This issue explores the afterlife, setting up an unexpectedly large number of concrete rules that Alan Moore then follows throughout his tenure writing Swamp Thing about the world beyond.
Swamp Thing is successful in rescuing Abby, and returns to the world with her soul in tow (there are some interesting symbolic pieces here with Matt Cable and Abby both becoming vegetables that are not highlighted too intensely by Moore but exist nonetheless, something that Moore is very good at accomplishing [including symbolism without bashing you over the head with it]).
#33 – Abandoned Houses
I have not read House of Mysteries or House of Secrets, but have a rudimentary knowledge of them both. The deconstruction of them in this issue was fascinating and well done, and the rehashing (and canonizing) of the original Swamp Thing is clever and sets up significant lore for the rest of the series.
#34 – The Rites of Spring
This issue has some of the best art in the entire series, and is a very moving story. It was one of my favorite issues in the series.
#35-36 – The Nukeface Papers
This was one of Moore’s best one-off two parters that was not connected to a larger story. He handles pollution well, delivering the message about dumping waste without making his whole story an agenda. Instead, he looks at a world full of superheroes and monsters created through scientific mishaps, and asks the question “what if one of these monsters was created out of nuclear waste?”. Nukeface is not a “villain” per-say – he doesn’t seem to have evil intent. He plays simply a vagrant drunk, who happens to spread death around him without understanding what he has caused. There are some truly chilling scenes in this two parter, including a woman exposed to radiation, a man’s death after accidentally drinking radioactive waste, and the death of Swamp Thing!! Again. This time, though, his body is permanently destroyed, leaving readers to wonder how Alan Moore is going to bring him back this time.
It turns out that Moore is setting up here a new ability that Swamp Thing has that will radically change his story from here on out – his ability to destroy his body and grow another one. This, however, I will discuss more in Part Two!
I loved this series, and it made me much more interested in reading more of Moore’s content (including revisiting Watchmen, which I haven’t read in a while). However, with this under my belt, I am excited to start Green Arrow (up next on my list)!
I will be writing reviews for DC sporadically as it is largely dependent on me reading through them, but if I keep this pace you can expect quite a few articles on this in the future! What are some of your favorite lesser-known DC stories? Let me know in the comments below.
A Thinker in Space 
What do you think?