blogging by Andrew Wickliffe
I’m not sure Collins’s version of adult relationships would even work in a kids cartoon. Odd place to start, but she really does expect after Abby running off with ponytail guy–willfully abandoning Tefé as a freak–Alec would all of a sudden make house with Lady Jane? And then there’s Constantine pointing out if Abby really […]
MoreLet’s see. Of all the lame turns in this issue, I think Tefé all of a sudden being old enough to form questions is the worst. She’s concerned about Alec, who has rooted in his sorrow at Abby’s leaving him. Abby, meanwhile, has already found a new romantic interest thanks to Constantine. It’s all very […]
MoreWhat’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. […]
MoreIs 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 […]
MoreCollins 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 […]
MoreI 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 […]
MoreI 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 […]
MoreEaton (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 […]
MoreAbby 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 […]
MoreWhether 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 […]
MoreDick 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 […]
MoreIt’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, […]
MoreTalk 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 […]
MoreI 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 […]
MoreCollins 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 […]
MoreOh, 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 […]
MoreBad 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 […]
MoreFor 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 […]
MoreA 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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