Category: Swamp Thing
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Abby gets busy with the mindless clone Alec left–apparently all he programmed it to do was get busy, as it does nothing else all issue (and Collins’s understanding of Alec and Abby’s sex life is totally different from Moore or Veitch’s). There’s a lot of narration from Alec about the Green and pollution and other…
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Abby gets busy with the mindless clone Alec left–apparently all he programmed it to do was get busy, as it does nothing else all issue (and Collins’s understanding of Alec and Abby’s sex life is totally different from Moore or Veitch’s). There’s a lot of narration from Alec about the Green and pollution and other…
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Whether intentional or not, the mad scientist lab and experiment in this issue remind a lot of The Return of Swamp Thing. Collins has embraced a–pardon the expression–comic book goofiness in her villain, General Sunderland’s daughter. It often plays like a parody of a good Swamp Thing comic as opposed to a real one. For…
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Dick Foreman coming in to do a guest writing spot gives Swamp Thing the break it needs. Even Eaton does a little better, since he’s not drawing people as much as grandiose cosmic events. Though he does take the chance to mess up Linda Holland. Alec stalks a cartoonist he used to read–or Alec Holland…
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It’s an anniversary issue and Collins brings back Arcane. She makes him somewhat comical, as he possesses baby Tefé and has her running around resurrecting his “evil dead.” I couldn’t believe they used that phrase. Clearly Sam Raimi doesn’t trademark well. Abby and Alec freak out, the dead jazz guy shows up to help them,…
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Talk about anti-climatic… Collins grows Swamp Thing to Godzilla-size for a reveal and then has him pass the buck at the end of the issue. The story’s not bad. Presumably a former Swamp Thing made a deal with some South American natives who worshipped to the elemental (including blood sacrifices, which Alec reveals taste good…
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I think Eaton thinks he’s doing a Steve Bissette impression. If so, it’s not producing any good art. Lots of static panels and busy line work don’t make up for some actual movement. There’s story movement though. Collins sends Chester away this issue–after Eaton’s practically turned him into an action hero, at least physically–and the…
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Collins doesn’t improve here. Eaton might a little, even though his pencils become incredibly static. He finally puts noses on the cast, which outweighs his other inabilities at a talking heads issue. But Collins. She splits the Sunderland threat apart–one from the maniacally evil Sunderland daughter herself and another, tangentially related one from the gubernatorial…
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Oh, good grief. All those nice things I said about Collins and this issue’s how she repays me. Lady Jane has moved in. She apparently knows to read Tefé storybooks; there’s an implication Abby never did. Collins seems to have forgotten how she wrote Abby just a few issues ago (you know, as a protagonist…
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Bad news, good news. Eaton’s the regular penciller. In addition to Tefé’s undocumented nanny, Lady Jane, not having a nose, none of the other female characters seem to have much of one either. Certainly not enough to make their faces three dimensional. Good news is Collins can write, which I already knew, but she choses…
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For the entire issue–which is incredibly fast paced as Alec and Abby try to find a kidnapped Tefé–Scot Eaton’s pencils are fine. There aren’t any amazing panels, but it all flows rather nicely. Until the final reveal, where Eaton goes entirely flat. It’s a full page too. It ends the issue poorly. Otherwise, the issue’s…
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For the entire issue–which is incredibly fast paced as Alec and Abby try to find a kidnapped Tefé–Scot Eaton’s pencils are fine. There aren’t any amazing panels, but it all flows rather nicely. Until the final reveal, where Eaton goes entirely flat. It’s a full page too. It ends the issue poorly. Otherwise, the issue’s…
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A couple big things happen this issue. First is Collins’s handling of the Parliament of Trees. They haven’t been in the book since she came on and she handles them much differently than her predecessor. There’s practically a line of dialogue about it, about how things are going to be different from now on. And…
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It’s a strange issue and should be a better one. Alec, Abby, Chester and their friends go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Alec acting like a regular guy plays really well and the issue seems fun. Jan Duursema’s pencils are straightforward, handling the realistic, fantastical nature of the parades and costumes. Then Alec goes…
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Guest writer Dick Foreman tries a little hard to be precious, but the issue’s still a success. Foreman and Shawn McManus tell a traditional boys’ story. A kid with a crappy, absentee father discovers a Swamp Thing body and plants a still living tuber. The tuber grows into something magical–Foreman doesn’t mention it, but the…
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This story eventually has a very familiar feel… ghosts in the swamp fighting. It’s unclear if Collins meant to pay homage to Wein and Wrightson. One hopes, because otherwise it just seems like a repeat episode. There’s a really cute short at the end about the Cajun Santa, which cements the domestic feeling Collins has…
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Nice art from Tom Mandrake and Kim DeMulder on a weird issue. Collins introduces a bunch of demonic pirates–there are ties to Cthulhu-like gods, something not in the previous DC versions of Hell as far as I remember–who go after Swamp Thing and family. Except they have no real reason to go after Abby and…
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Collins goes for humor again. Not a little humor either, but full pun humor. It’s like “I Love Lucy” all of a sudden. Except bad people still get killed. It’s a very strange mix of things. Collins is concentrating on making the characters fun to read–Abby and Chester trying to escape the press hounding them,…
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Shepherd Hendrix is a very stranger inker (or finisher) for Tom Yeates’s pencils (or layouts). The art’s not bad at all, but Hendrix removes most of Yeates’s personality from the pencils. It’s an awkward amalgamation. Collins continues her uptick, with Chester going through an emotional crisis and Alec (unknowingly) getting drawn into the Louisiana governor’s…
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Collins shows off a lot this issue. She turns the comic into a domestic–it’s young parents Abby and Alec bantering about the baby. Unfortunately Collins dumbs down Abby–she’s just a mom now instead of a development of her previous self; still, Collins writes new Abby well. But then the couple runs across a swamp ghost…
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Three big things I noticed. Abby’s still from Eastern Europe, everything uses the word “elemental” a lot and Collins is definitely presenting a more disinterested Alec. I’m not sure why I expect him to intercede and save the bad guys, but the way he stands back… it’s sort of disturbing. There’s also a lot of…
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For her first Swamp Thing, Nancy A. Collins brings back the real horror. By real horror, I mean people being scared by real threats (supernatural ones, sure, but real). It reminds a little of early Alan Moore, with these murdered people joining together into a swamp monster out for revenge. And the monster does get…
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This issue’s pretty trippy. I think, in the final estimation (this issue’s his last), I like what Hoffman did for this Quest for the Elementals arc. He changed up his style, moved Swamp Thing away from horror to the psychedelic. Maybe he realized mushrooms can be scary, but they can be trippy. As for Wheeler…
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Abby’s story comes to its predictable cliffhanger. Wheeler foreshadowed it way too early and then spends the rest of the issue building it into a cliffhanger for the whole issue. He never brings Abby and Tefé back to the others, so now Alec’s got to go on a rescue mission. There’s also a reasonably good…
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Abby’s story comes to its predictable cliffhanger. Wheeler foreshadowed it way too early and then spends the rest of the issue building it into a cliffhanger for the whole issue. He never brings Abby and Tefé back to the others, so now Alec’s got to go on a rescue mission. There’s also a reasonably good…
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Didn’t Wheeler just do an issue where Alec’s in trouble in one place and Abby and Tefé are in trouble in another? It’s apparently just how he structures Swamp Thing. This issue Abby and the baby are stuck at the Parliament, where she may or may not have unintentionally fallen into the Grey’s clutches. Meanwhile,…
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I still can’t decide about Hoffman’s art. When he does the scenes of Alec interacting with the other plant people, it really does seem like he’s going for a particular style. When he’s drawing Abby, he can’t manage perspective or proportions. It’s all very confusing. The issue itself is rather lame. Wheeler isn’t writing any…
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What is the deal with Hoffman’s art? If his style–which occasionally reminds of sixties and earlier comics–is unintentional, he’s incompetent. But if he’s intentionally doing this issue’s war comic scene like Swamp Thing is an old war comic, it’s fantastic. And Hoffman’s Swamp Thing looks a lot like the Wes Craven movie costume. And if…
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This issue, establishing even more asinine backstory, really shows Wheeler’s problem. He’s interested in making his mark on Swamp Thing, not making his mark with Swamp Thing. He’s trying to wow with details instead of actions. This issue, Alec and Abby learn the Parliament contrived his birth as plant elemental in order to guarantee he’d…
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Wheeler answers a reasonable question–why such a long break in Earth Elementals before Alec Holland (the previous Swamp Thing was thirty years prior)–with a silly, contrived answer. The Parliament of Trees did try… only the evil fungus god got them. Or something along those lines. It’s a dumb, obvious plot point. Wheeler’s retconned a lot…
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