What’s so funny about this issue is how Collins clearly thinks she’s telling it from Abby’s point of view. Besides the physiologically unlikely scene where Alec cries, most of the comic–the significant bits anyway–follows Abby. And Collins also does have Chester perv on her. Literally a moment after she has a big fight with Alec. No wonder Liz left him.

Oh, and Collins does touch on Abby abandoning Tefé. Alec mentions it and Abby tells him not to “throw it in her face” or something to that effect. But she never talks about it. If Collins were telling the story from Abby’s point of view, her decisions would make sense. They might not seem rational, but they would make sense from the character’s viewpoint.

But not here.

It’s a weak issue. Luckily, with Eaton’s hit or miss (mostly miss) art, it almost never reminds of good Swamp Thing.

CREDITS

She’s Leaving Houma; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.

Is Eaton trying visually infer romantic feelings between Chester and Abby? It’s the first such occurrence and I’m sure it’s unintentional, but it’s far more interesting than anything else this issue.

Except maybe the stuff with Tefé. When she gets tough towards the end of the issue, Collins writes the scene rather well. Otherwise, the issue’s a mess.

One character dies in front of a sheriff, who doesn’t even file a report, then Abby runs off in the middle of a huge tragedy. She abandons Tefé, which seems somewhat unlikely. Then there are all the scenes with the giant petal monster. They don’t work because it’s viciously killing a bunch of people instead of being a fun giant monster fight.

It’s not the worst issue Collins has written lately, but it’s far from good or even mediocre.

And Swamp Thing still rocking his inexplicable, dumb-looking, shaggy grey hair cut.

CREDITS

Daisy Chain; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.

Collins can’t write a fight issue, especially not one where she desperately needs one side to win to progress Swamp Thing. Or maybe it should have gone the other way. She’s got Alec fighting clone Alec. Regular Alec now looks grey with antlers, clone Alec is the traditional green Swamp Thing.

They fight for seventy-five percent of the comic, then Alec ends the fight in a page. He just didn’t know his elemental powers.

It’s really lame and not just because Collins has made Alec so unaware of himself he’s a painful protagonist. The other lame things involve a former Nazi gubernatorial candidate trying to take Tefé away (through the law). It’s both odd and inept, with Collins’s attempts at social commentary flopping.

The best part of the comic is how fast it reads. I am not entirely which of the many options I would pick for worst part.

CREDITS

Home Body; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.

I don’t remember Swamp Thing ever having a costume change before. Except for special occasions, like when he went through space or time. Collins and Eaton give Alec a costume change, complete with rock star hair and spikes… it’s awful and it’s dumb. Even though Alec can travel from place to place, he can’t grow his body in some other way.

More of Collins’s convenient power limitations for the character.

Most of the issue is spent getting Alec well again after the toxic waste. He meets some elves and they use magic to fix him up; he looks funny because of the elf magic. Collins’s pacing of the issue is atrocious. The introduction of a strange race reminds of the old Wein clockmaker children issue except Collins grossly misspends the issue’s time.

And these days, it’s always bad when Swamp Thing reminds of older issues. Collins’s stuff is never better.

CREDITS

Folk Remedy; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.

I think I figured out what Collins is doing with Abby. She’s turned her into a generic nagging wife character; gone is the Eastern Europe history, gone is motherhood, gone is her strength as a person. Even though writers have occasionally been incompetent when it comes to Abby… Collins is the first to reduce her to a gender role. It’s odd. And rather unfortunate, because Swamp Thing needs Abby.

There’s one good bit when Tefé’s little flower people getting free will and warring with one another. It’s almost enough to offset the continued indication Alec and Abby have “regular”–let’s try mammalian–sex. Maybe I was wrong, maybe Collins hasn’t seen Return of Swamp Thing because even it got that activity right. By using the Moore explanation, of course.

Speaking of Moore, Collins continues to break apart lots of his work. It’s an okay issue in a now clumsy series.

CREDITS

Home Sick; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.

Eaton (and Collins) give Swamp Thing long hair. Why? Because he’s losing control thanks to toxic waste and forgetting he’s not a man. Or something along those lines.

Apparently Alec can reanimate dead wood–a baseball bat–but he can’t get rid of this toxic waste. And Abby’s allowed to leave the swamp to visit Chester but Alec can’t leave to save the world.

Oh, can’t forget–Chester never thinks to say goodbye to Alec too.

Reading Swamp Thing is now just watching Collins make every single character unlikable and unsympathetic–hell, she never rehabilitated Tefé from killing her cat. It doesn’t offer anything else, except endless bad narration from Alec.

Someone else probably could have made the mundane plot work, but Collins isn’t cutting it. There’s nothing in the comic she seems to like. One can’t blame her, there’s nothing to like.

Well, it does read fast, I suppose.

CREDITS

Swamp Fever; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.

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 malarkey. It’s all pointless, all questionably written, all a waste of time. Collins’s writing is stale at this point. She clearly didn’t have the mileage for an ongoing; it’s quite unfortunate as she started strong. Maybe editorial was just bad.

Eaton has some bad art this issue I’m sure, but the rest of the comic’s so lame it doesn’t matter.

Collins is doing whatever she can to make Abby the bad guy, even when Alec is wrong too. There’s no communication between them anymore. Collins unfortunately just uses their dialogue to propel the plot.

CREDITS

Toxic Shock; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, DC Comics.

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 example, Alec promises Abby he won’t leave the swamp early in the issue (their first scene, actually). Of course he does by the finish. Collins doesn’t trust the reader to remember. It’s shockingly contrived.

Ditto for Chester, who is again announcing he’s leaving the comic. I find it hard to believe he and Abby hang out at diners when they need to gab. All of Collins’s inventiveness is gone at this point.

Maybe it’s because Eaton’s so weak. His art is terrible this issue, either awkward or static or both.

It’s very lame.

CREDITS

Project Proteus; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Scot Eaton; inker, Greg Baker; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, DC Comics.