blogging by Andrew Wickliffe
Millar hits a home run with the final issue. He ties up all sorts of things, the little things he’s done throughout his run, the bigger things no one ever could have done without his arc. He rewards the faithful reader, with more than a few nods to memorable events in long ago issues. The […]
MorePoor Chester and Liz, they only get a page together. But Millar does give Chester just about the only joke in the entire issue. It’s Alec–turned into a human Alec Holland again–versus the Word. The Word is the embodiment of God’s power (they call him the Voice here, probably as not to alienate any readers). […]
MoreIt’s the big Constantine issue. Oddly, Millar hasn’t really given his own new characters much to do. Instead he relies on the classics to wrap up the comic. It’s appropriate and all, but one might think a writer would be selfish. If Millar’s writing this finale dispassionately, he’s a master faker. Besides some subterfuge on […]
MoreMillar continues killing off Parliaments this issue. Between that subplot, Arcane’s return and Abby preparing for her visit, it’s a full issue. Most talky is obviously Arcane’s return, since he really does only come back to lecture. Millar also reveals the new Arcane ties into something in his first issue–he’s doing a really good job […]
MoreLots of returning faces this issue–Millar’s first (and last?) regular appearance of Chester. He and Abby go to a McDonald’s stand-in and discuss the world’s predicament. Millar positions their relative calm against everyone else, who are all expecting the world to end. Most of the issue follows Timothy Raven. Millar’s setting up this arc like […]
MoreMillar brings in Jason Woodrue, who hasn’t been around for quite a while, and Constantine, who Millar hasn’t written in this series before. He also jumps ahead a year in the present action. Alec had built himself a Hearst Castle and cut himself off from the world. Woodrue’s journals fill the reader in on the […]
MoreThe wonderful Chester Williams issue. I remember it from reading it years ago–though I forgot Curt Swan pencilled it. It’s a joke issue, with Millar turning Chester into a neo-con cop who’s fed up with all the dirty hippy stuff going on around him. It actually follows the character’s history pretty close–though Chester was always […]
MoreTo become the rock elemental and the water elemental, Millar put Alec through a whole bunch of grief. But to become the wind elemental, there’s really not much to it. He has to solve one of the easier riddles I’ve ever read. It’s probably not even a riddle. He just has to find a clue. […]
MoreIt’s a nice, full issue. Alec meets the son of one of the Cajuns he killed–not his fault, of course, Parliament of Trees banished his human side–and has a very interesting encounter. He bonds with the kid, but also gets to talk to some of his victims. Millar has almost made the victims a Greek […]
MoreIt’s a particularly awesome issue, even if the Abby thing doesn’t work out. The evil druid from another dimension has Alec trapped while he’s burning down a building with a bunch of hostages in it. Millar doesn’t go easy on characterizing the hostages. He makes sure the reader knows how scared and desperate they are […]
MoreSee, I say Tefé doesn’t get mentioned and Millar all of a sudden mentions here. This issue features the first time Millar has written the regular Abby solo (before he was working with Morrison). She drops by the swamp for old times sake–and because she and her human lover have split up. Abby’s always been […]
MoreMillar splits the issue between Alec and some old guy named Jim Rook. I don’t think he’s an existing character, but basically he’s a burnt out rock star who used to be a sword and sorcery hero in an alternate reality. What’s strange is how Millar will go from the comical rock star–the situation’s serious, […]
MoreAs much as I like Hester and DeMulder, the beauty of the art this issue surprised me. Alec finds himself meeting the Parliament of Waves, who themselves are quite wondrous, but the art is also very expressive as Millar reveals the secret of “River Run.” Even though there are a couple big forced foreshadowing moments, […]
MoreHester’s back and he and DeMulder do a fantastic job illustrating Anna–she’s the author of “River Run”–and her life as it all falls apart. Millar might be explaining how she found herself in the predicament of being stuck in her own stories, but it’s not clear. He might be fooling. Bad things happen to her, […]
MorePhil Jimenez pencilling Swamp Thing. I sort of get it–he’s realistic and the story this issue is set in the real world. It’s a real world retelling of the first Swamp Thing comic only this time the Hollands have a daughter… and Swamp Thing arrives from another dimension to save them. There are, not surprisingly, […]
MoreMillar shows off. Admittedly, the constraint of the “River Run” arc–it being a short story collection–let’s him be more writerly than one usually expects from a comic, but this issue is just a fantastic show of talent. The story centers around a Golden Age hero who has grown old, but still does the superhero thing […]
MoreThere’s a cute little reference to Ultraman and Owlman on the news at the beginning of the issue. Alec’s travels bring him to Earth-Three (or something like it) but he doesn’t run afoul of the supervillains. Instead, he finds himself with the Arcanes. Only, Anton’s the good one and Abby’s the bad one. There’s a […]
MoreIt’s a good, but far from profound, issue. Much like Moore and Veitch, Millar has sent Swamp Thing on a multi-issue themed adventure. Not through time or space, but through genre fiction. Here he appears in a supernatural noir world, aiding a private detective on a case involving a devolving man. The detective’s actually the […]
MoreMillar opens the issue with an homage to Time’s Arrow… telling the story of a woman drowning in the swamp in reverse. He rewinds her final day (starting with the autopsy) until she meets up with Alec. An indeterminate period of time has passed since the previous issue. Alec’s back in the swamp, sort of […]
MoreAnd here Millar writes his best issue so far. It’s probably the best Swamp Thing since some time during Veitch’s run–and not just because Millar gives Alec a moment where he can appreciate life in the swamp again (something big during the Moore and Veitch runs). The issue’s about a few things. There’s all the […]
MoreDid Sargon die in a Swamp Thing issue? I can’t remember. I think maybe he did. If so, Millar’s reaching way back to bring forward new plot elements–though it’s not essential for Sargon’s character to be Sargon, it just needed to be a magician with a niece. Speaking of the niece, Millar spends about half […]
MoreHester and DeMulder draw Lady Jane for a scene. It’s interesting to see her show up–Millar uses the scene to establish she has some idea what’s going on with Swamp Thing–it’s also nice to see how well the artists visualize the character. The protagonist this issue is Sargon the Sorcerer’s niece, who travels to Germany […]
MoreMillar doesn’t keep up with the unpleasantness. This issue is far less intense than the previous, even though Alec’s on the run in Amsterdam with Nelson (the big game hunter) after him. It’s an action issue, with interludes to the mystical stuff and a downright disturbing cameo from the Spectre at the beginning–fairly sure Millar […]
MoreMillar goes for as disturbing as possible. There’s no humor in it, no smiles, it’s just Alec trapped in a decaying human form in Amsterdam, surrounded by perversions, desperate to escape. Meanwhile, there’s the big game hunter, who’s a caricature, out to get him. But the big game hunter is the only caricature–the rest of […]
MoreAnd now Millar’s changed his approach. Alec’s not really the protagonist anymore; for his half of the comic–Colonel Strong, the monster hunter, gets the other–Alec’s just the biggest name in a disaster movie. Millar sets up a lot of little characters, quite well too, before putting everyone in a bad situation. While that bad situation […]
MoreNow solo on the book, Millar’s approach is to make Alex the lead. He’s cut off from the Green and, for whatever reason, Millar’s not bringing back the supporting cast from before Collins purged them. And then there’s the new power–Alec can form himself human bodies now. He’s hanging out in New York dressed as […]
MoreThe Parliament of Stones? What’s the Parliament of Stones? Morrison and Millar end the issue on a couple ominous notes, the aforementioned new Parliament being one of them. They also have the handful of strange guys playing handheld video games (the video games have to do with Alec’s quest). The rest of the issue is […]
MoreWell, Morrison and Millar sort of explain how Alec Holland ended up separated from the Swamp Thing but not really. At least not to anyone who has been reading the comic for a while. And it’s not a particularly visual sequence, so it comes off perfunctory. They wrote themselves into a corner and have to […]
MoreMorrison and Millar open this issue with the Alan Moore Cajun dude stand-in getting killed. The new, mindless Swamp Thing kills him. Cajun Alan Moore dies protecting his family. Mindless Swamp Thing is after Abby next. It’s kind of hard not to read into what Morrison and Millar are doing–violently refreshing the series. An indeterminate […]
MoreGrant Morrison and Mark Millar take over the book, starting with Alec Holland–a human one–waking up in Peru. Swamp Thing was just a bad trip but he’s better now. It’s a good idea of how to relaunch the character, only they don’t even keep the concept the entire issue. Abby shows up about halfway through, […]
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