alibi_shop (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alibi_shop) wrote2019-06-03 11:20 pm
alibi_shop) wrote2019-06-03 11:20 pm
Entry tags:
Swamp Thing reread, part 13
Swamp Thing #120-129 (1992-93)
Written by Nancy A. Collins, except #126 by Dick Foreman
Art: Scot Eaton/Kim DeMulder, except #124 by Eaton/Greg Baker
This isn't going so well. I was wrong about the series going in a retro horror direction, and I was wrong to think that the arrival of Lady Jane meant a new supernatural story arc was about to happen. I'm not really sure what is happening.
Basically the main story involves our old all-purpose evil company, Sunderland (AGAIN), now headed by the late boss's daughter Constance. Constance is your basic corporate supervillain and is entirely defined by wanting to kill Swamp Thing and resurrect her father, and despising her underlings; it's clear by now that Collins likes her villains super-pulpy—OK, we can work with that.
So, will the company meet the wrath of Swamp Thing? Not really. Swamp Thing doesn't do very much these days (except for an interlude where he goes to South America due to an Aztec ritual and totally fails to help anyone, and another where he helps out a cartoonist by getting him high). He goes up against his old enemy Arcane (AGAIN)* but is of no use at all, so it's a good thing four supernatural guest stars show up one after another to save the day. Eventually he somehow gets incapacitated by chemicals**, even though he's previously survived having his body utterly destroyed by nuclear waste. Also, the Parliament of Trees is really pissed at him for somewhat unclear reasons. And he made a clone of himself and it's taken his place and Abby is sleeping with it. If the point is just to bring him really low, I'm still not sure it was necessary to make him this pathetic.
There is a little bit of magic-related story as Tefé is learning about her powers (I like that she creates goofy stuff that looks like kids' drawings) under the guidance of her new nanny, Lady Jane, who despite looking fairly human is one of Swampy's predecessors. Abby seems to see Jane as a potential homewrecker in one way or another and I'm not really dying to see where that goes. All of the family stuff seems to have degenerated into artificial squabbling and non-communication.
This means that almost all of the actual plot is devoted to mundane human problems, and in the process Collins gets rid of quite a few characters: Chester decides to go back to college, his gay housemates get chased away by the Klan, and the student activist group that ran the Swamp Thing for Governor campaign is targeted by a Sunderland assassin who kills their professor. The students are cardboard heroes who get to preach about environmentalism and industrial sabotage for about 100 pages while Abby and Chester are like "Great, interesting, tell me more"*; I'm sympathetic to what Collins is trying to do here, but this is... not effective. Also, someone tries to report Abby for indecency (AGAIN).
There are still flashes of interesting writing and I like being reminded that Collins has a sense of humor. The funniest ideas in this section: 1. Constance keeps impatiently approving commemorative flower arrangements for dead henchmen; 2. a South American shaman isn't surprised that the god he summoned (Swamp Thing) speaks only English, because a lot of powerful people are like that; 3. Constance explains that the monster she's created will be profitable because it consumes toxic waste, except it also excretes toxic waste, but they'll deal with that later. And there's an intentionally(?) stupid minor villain named Dr. Polygon, who studies "spiritual ergonomics". I think I prefer this somewhat silly stuff to Doug Wheeler's obsession with huge abstract conflicts, but the story here is so diffuse and the characters are just floundering around and dissolving—either metaphorically or in Swampy's case literally.
The art... eh. I don't like Eaton's and DeMulder's people, and action stuff is very unclear, but they do OK with trees and creatures and the loopy psychedelic scene is not bad. And it's nice to have the same artists for more than two issues in a row.
Inventories
Non-human animals: Tefé explodes a bear. There's a really weird-looking cat that gets tangled up in a plant in Pennsylvania; at least I think it's a cat.
Backstory recaps: A fair amount about past conflicts with Sunderland and Arcane.
Grossest things: Some demon stuff, whatever.
Next: Collins clears the deck
Written by Nancy A. Collins, except #126 by Dick Foreman
Art: Scot Eaton/Kim DeMulder, except #124 by Eaton/Greg Baker
This isn't going so well. I was wrong about the series going in a retro horror direction, and I was wrong to think that the arrival of Lady Jane meant a new supernatural story arc was about to happen. I'm not really sure what is happening.
Basically the main story involves our old all-purpose evil company, Sunderland (AGAIN), now headed by the late boss's daughter Constance. Constance is your basic corporate supervillain and is entirely defined by wanting to kill Swamp Thing and resurrect her father, and despising her underlings; it's clear by now that Collins likes her villains super-pulpy—OK, we can work with that.
So, will the company meet the wrath of Swamp Thing? Not really. Swamp Thing doesn't do very much these days (except for an interlude where he goes to South America due to an Aztec ritual and totally fails to help anyone, and another where he helps out a cartoonist by getting him high). He goes up against his old enemy Arcane (AGAIN)* but is of no use at all, so it's a good thing four supernatural guest stars show up one after another to save the day. Eventually he somehow gets incapacitated by chemicals**, even though he's previously survived having his body utterly destroyed by nuclear waste. Also, the Parliament of Trees is really pissed at him for somewhat unclear reasons. And he made a clone of himself and it's taken his place and Abby is sleeping with it. If the point is just to bring him really low, I'm still not sure it was necessary to make him this pathetic.
There is a little bit of magic-related story as Tefé is learning about her powers (I like that she creates goofy stuff that looks like kids' drawings) under the guidance of her new nanny, Lady Jane, who despite looking fairly human is one of Swampy's predecessors. Abby seems to see Jane as a potential homewrecker in one way or another and I'm not really dying to see where that goes. All of the family stuff seems to have degenerated into artificial squabbling and non-communication.
This means that almost all of the actual plot is devoted to mundane human problems, and in the process Collins gets rid of quite a few characters: Chester decides to go back to college, his gay housemates get chased away by the Klan, and the student activist group that ran the Swamp Thing for Governor campaign is targeted by a Sunderland assassin who kills their professor. The students are cardboard heroes who get to preach about environmentalism and industrial sabotage for about 100 pages while Abby and Chester are like "Great, interesting, tell me more"*; I'm sympathetic to what Collins is trying to do here, but this is... not effective. Also, someone tries to report Abby for indecency (AGAIN).
There are still flashes of interesting writing and I like being reminded that Collins has a sense of humor. The funniest ideas in this section: 1. Constance keeps impatiently approving commemorative flower arrangements for dead henchmen; 2. a South American shaman isn't surprised that the god he summoned (Swamp Thing) speaks only English, because a lot of powerful people are like that; 3. Constance explains that the monster she's created will be profitable because it consumes toxic waste, except it also excretes toxic waste, but they'll deal with that later. And there's an intentionally(?) stupid minor villain named Dr. Polygon, who studies "spiritual ergonomics". I think I prefer this somewhat silly stuff to Doug Wheeler's obsession with huge abstract conflicts, but the story here is so diffuse and the characters are just floundering around and dissolving—either metaphorically or in Swampy's case literally.
The art... eh. I don't like Eaton's and DeMulder's people, and action stuff is very unclear, but they do OK with trees and creatures and the loopy psychedelic scene is not bad. And it's nice to have the same artists for more than two issues in a row.
Inventories
Non-human animals: Tefé explodes a bear. There's a really weird-looking cat that gets tangled up in a plant in Pennsylvania; at least I think it's a cat.
Backstory recaps: A fair amount about past conflicts with Sunderland and Arcane.
Grossest things: Some demon stuff, whatever.
Next: Collins clears the deck