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alibi_shopSwamp Thing #110-119 (1991-92)
Written by Nancy A. Collins, except #116 by Dick Foreman
Art: #110 by Tom Mandrake/Bill Jaaska/Kim DeMulder, #111 by Mandrake/DeMulder/Shawn McManus, #112-113 by Tom Yeates/Sheperd Hendrix, #114-115 by Mandrake/DeMulder, #116 by McManus, #117 by Jan Duursema/DeMulder, #118-119 by Scot Eaton/DeMulder
This isn't the first time there's been a new Swamp Thing writer who hasn't written any comics before—Doug Wheeler apparently came out of nowhere—but Nancy A. Collins makes more sense, in that she's published two horror novels and she's lived in Louisiana. So, where might she take the series? One possible clue is that John Higgins is now doing the covers, and compared to the moody and surreal stuff we got from Totleben, these are more like really good pulp paperback art, very lurid and cartoony. Another is that in her first issue before #110 (Swamp Thing Annual #6, which I haven't read), she creates a big ugly toothy monster that's made out of a bunch of murder victims from Houma and stalks around the swamp seeking revenge. So we're going more old-school, staying around the hometown and doing horror stuff.
At the same time, baby Tefé is still necessarily a big deal in the story, and a lot of these issues revolve around either her supernatural significance or the domestic life of the Holland family. Some of this stuff is much cuter than the series has ever been before, and I don't mean that in a bad way; it does get a little cloying once in a while, but after Wheeler's exhaustingly exposition-heavy antics, it's nice to see some time given to just hanging out and having a life. I don't know if Collins has children but I like the way she writes these parents—Abby in particular is a more believable character than she's been in a long time (even though it's still a shame that she never really had a chance to develop a personality prior to getting into this relationship, and now her whole job is to raise a magic kid). And the cuteness allows you to almost forget how horribly dangerous Tefé is, until she does something awful—on a much smaller scale than her previous murder spree, yet with more impact for the reader, I think because Collins just has a better grasp of emotional effects.
There's some mundane action that's not bad. Collins recognizes that the Chester-Liz relationship only made sense when Liz was a basket case; Liz leaves him for a woman*, and we get to see Chester not being 100% chill for once. And there's a totally absurd but not un-fun issue where someone tries to run Swamp Thing as a protest candidate in the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election, leading to a lot of very unsubtle satire with thinly fictionalized stand-ins for Edwin Edwards and David Duke**, as well as a reporter referring to Swampy as "Mr. Thing". Also, Collins seems a lot better at writing the Cajun characters—I don't know for sure but I suspect that her approach to the dialect might be a bit more accurate than Wheeler's "change every third word to French" system, plus they just have more individuality.
Oddly, what I expected to see the most of, the horror stuff, so far isn't super interesting. It's still nice in principle to see a bunch of crazed murderers and Louisiana folktales and Lovecraftian ghost pirates, but those stories just aren't set up in a particularly suspenseful way and they play out predictably. There's also a little light fantasy, involving Pan and Santa Claus(?!), which is OK but it feels like Collins is filling time till the real story starts... and on the last page of #119 we meet a new character who's probably going to be key to that.
Inventories
Non-human animals: Many! The art in this section is uneven, with different artists every couple issues, but they're all doing pretty well with being in the swamp and drawing lots of trees and critters. The hummingbirds feeding off of Swampy's shoulder-flowers are a nice touch. Also, there's a very cute kitten that... maybe you shouldn't get too attached to.
Backstory recaps: None for Swampy, but the revenge monster from Collins's first issue gets at least three origin recaps later.
Grossest things: ...kitten... (sob)
Next: the plot thickens quickly
Written by Nancy A. Collins, except #116 by Dick Foreman
Art: #110 by Tom Mandrake/Bill Jaaska/Kim DeMulder, #111 by Mandrake/DeMulder/Shawn McManus, #112-113 by Tom Yeates/Sheperd Hendrix, #114-115 by Mandrake/DeMulder, #116 by McManus, #117 by Jan Duursema/DeMulder, #118-119 by Scot Eaton/DeMulder
This isn't the first time there's been a new Swamp Thing writer who hasn't written any comics before—Doug Wheeler apparently came out of nowhere—but Nancy A. Collins makes more sense, in that she's published two horror novels and she's lived in Louisiana. So, where might she take the series? One possible clue is that John Higgins is now doing the covers, and compared to the moody and surreal stuff we got from Totleben, these are more like really good pulp paperback art, very lurid and cartoony. Another is that in her first issue before #110 (Swamp Thing Annual #6, which I haven't read), she creates a big ugly toothy monster that's made out of a bunch of murder victims from Houma and stalks around the swamp seeking revenge. So we're going more old-school, staying around the hometown and doing horror stuff.
At the same time, baby Tefé is still necessarily a big deal in the story, and a lot of these issues revolve around either her supernatural significance or the domestic life of the Holland family. Some of this stuff is much cuter than the series has ever been before, and I don't mean that in a bad way; it does get a little cloying once in a while, but after Wheeler's exhaustingly exposition-heavy antics, it's nice to see some time given to just hanging out and having a life. I don't know if Collins has children but I like the way she writes these parents—Abby in particular is a more believable character than she's been in a long time (even though it's still a shame that she never really had a chance to develop a personality prior to getting into this relationship, and now her whole job is to raise a magic kid). And the cuteness allows you to almost forget how horribly dangerous Tefé is, until she does something awful—on a much smaller scale than her previous murder spree, yet with more impact for the reader, I think because Collins just has a better grasp of emotional effects.
There's some mundane action that's not bad. Collins recognizes that the Chester-Liz relationship only made sense when Liz was a basket case; Liz leaves him for a woman*, and we get to see Chester not being 100% chill for once. And there's a totally absurd but not un-fun issue where someone tries to run Swamp Thing as a protest candidate in the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election, leading to a lot of very unsubtle satire with thinly fictionalized stand-ins for Edwin Edwards and David Duke**, as well as a reporter referring to Swampy as "Mr. Thing". Also, Collins seems a lot better at writing the Cajun characters—I don't know for sure but I suspect that her approach to the dialect might be a bit more accurate than Wheeler's "change every third word to French" system, plus they just have more individuality.
Oddly, what I expected to see the most of, the horror stuff, so far isn't super interesting. It's still nice in principle to see a bunch of crazed murderers and Louisiana folktales and Lovecraftian ghost pirates, but those stories just aren't set up in a particularly suspenseful way and they play out predictably. There's also a little light fantasy, involving Pan and Santa Claus(?!), which is OK but it feels like Collins is filling time till the real story starts... and on the last page of #119 we meet a new character who's probably going to be key to that.
Inventories
Non-human animals: Many! The art in this section is uneven, with different artists every couple issues, but they're all doing pretty well with being in the swamp and drawing lots of trees and critters. The hummingbirds feeding off of Swampy's shoulder-flowers are a nice touch. Also, there's a very cute kitten that... maybe you shouldn't get too attached to.
Backstory recaps: None for Swampy, but the revenge monster from Collins's first issue gets at least three origin recaps later.
Grossest things: ...kitten... (sob)
Next: the plot thickens quickly
