alibi_shop (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alibi_shop) wrote2019-06-08 01:56 pm
alibi_shop) wrote2019-06-08 01:56 pm
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Swamp Thing reread, part 16
Swamp Thing #151-159 (1995)
Written by Mark Millar
Art: Phil Hester/Kim DeMulder, except #153 by Chris Weston, #156 by Phil Jimenez, #159 by Jill Thompson
This story arc is basically an excuse for Millar to play with a different subgenre premise or theme each issue—a structure Moore used twice and Veitch once. Swamp Thing meets the ghost of Anna, a woman who wrote a book of horror/fantasy stories*, and she needs for him to travel through the stories for some reason. These stories are fairly representative of Millar's work so far, in that they're reasonably well constructed, and can be funny... and very often remind us that Millar doesn't know the meaning of the word "gratuitous" (or knows, but thinks it's a good thing). Like: hey, what if there's a world where Abby is evil and Anton Arcane is a nice guy and she does lots of gross evil things and kills everyone—heh heh, wouldn't that be outrageous? Or what if there's a Nazi planet and Swamp Thing refuses to destroy it because there are still good people on it, but then it gets destroyed anyway just because? Or what if there's a hard-boiled private eye** and he's an asshole like Mike Hammer, but now it's 1995 so he can make jokes about blowjobs and abortion? Or what if Harold of Harold and Maude pressured Maude into a suicide pact? Whatever, Mark. These ideas go nowhere and they're not particularly surprising or scary, they just seem kind of like Millar jerking off.
Anyway, it turns out this was all pointless since the solution to Anna's problem has nothing to do with the book, Swampy just needs to find out that she's really a failed water elemental (a twist that I don't think was set up in any way, we just find out), which ties into what I guess is the main plot: our guy keeps acquiring new elemental powers, like he's leveling up in a videogame (a metaphor that, in case it didn't occur to you, is depicted literally at one point), and Odin and the other mysterious guys are involved with this somehow, and Swampy is told that if he gets all the powers then there will be "a new golden age"—so you know it's really bad news.
I presume Millar doesn't really plan to turn the character into Earth-Air-Water-Fire-and-Plants-Thing as a long-term solution but is setting him up for a fall somehow, and the premise provides some interesting moments and some nice visuals (I really like this art team), but I'm getting pretty tired of coming back to the mysterious guys all the time and never getting the slightest clue as to what their deal is. It's very reminiscent of how Alan Moore kept withholding information in the Constantine/Brujería story, but... we've done that already. Seeing Swamp Thing get constantly bamboozled and manipulated by ultra-powerful all-knowing entities can get a little old. He must be smarter than someone.
When it's time for a fill-in issue before the big plot picks up steam, Millar gives us a thing about evil aristocrats straight out of The Invisibles* (which started last year) who ate a kid's dog and then they're going to eat the kid because his parents traded him for cash but then Swamp Thing turns into a dog and kills them.
I almost wish Millar were less competent; he's effective at presenting his ideas. They just tend to be crass and juvenile, at least when humans are involved.
In the exclamations department, "oh God" and "Jesus Christ" are still getting a lot of play, but we also have "dog ho" (from a character who's living backwards) and "Judas H. Priest!"
Next: Millar goes big and goes home
Written by Mark Millar
Art: Phil Hester/Kim DeMulder, except #153 by Chris Weston, #156 by Phil Jimenez, #159 by Jill Thompson
This story arc is basically an excuse for Millar to play with a different subgenre premise or theme each issue—a structure Moore used twice and Veitch once. Swamp Thing meets the ghost of Anna, a woman who wrote a book of horror/fantasy stories*, and she needs for him to travel through the stories for some reason. These stories are fairly representative of Millar's work so far, in that they're reasonably well constructed, and can be funny... and very often remind us that Millar doesn't know the meaning of the word "gratuitous" (or knows, but thinks it's a good thing). Like: hey, what if there's a world where Abby is evil and Anton Arcane is a nice guy and she does lots of gross evil things and kills everyone—heh heh, wouldn't that be outrageous? Or what if there's a Nazi planet and Swamp Thing refuses to destroy it because there are still good people on it, but then it gets destroyed anyway just because? Or what if there's a hard-boiled private eye** and he's an asshole like Mike Hammer, but now it's 1995 so he can make jokes about blowjobs and abortion? Or what if Harold of Harold and Maude pressured Maude into a suicide pact? Whatever, Mark. These ideas go nowhere and they're not particularly surprising or scary, they just seem kind of like Millar jerking off.
Anyway, it turns out this was all pointless since the solution to Anna's problem has nothing to do with the book, Swampy just needs to find out that she's really a failed water elemental (a twist that I don't think was set up in any way, we just find out), which ties into what I guess is the main plot: our guy keeps acquiring new elemental powers, like he's leveling up in a videogame (a metaphor that, in case it didn't occur to you, is depicted literally at one point), and Odin and the other mysterious guys are involved with this somehow, and Swampy is told that if he gets all the powers then there will be "a new golden age"—so you know it's really bad news.
I presume Millar doesn't really plan to turn the character into Earth-Air-Water-Fire-and-Plants-Thing as a long-term solution but is setting him up for a fall somehow, and the premise provides some interesting moments and some nice visuals (I really like this art team), but I'm getting pretty tired of coming back to the mysterious guys all the time and never getting the slightest clue as to what their deal is. It's very reminiscent of how Alan Moore kept withholding information in the Constantine/Brujería story, but... we've done that already. Seeing Swamp Thing get constantly bamboozled and manipulated by ultra-powerful all-knowing entities can get a little old. He must be smarter than someone.
When it's time for a fill-in issue before the big plot picks up steam, Millar gives us a thing about evil aristocrats straight out of The Invisibles* (which started last year) who ate a kid's dog and then they're going to eat the kid because his parents traded him for cash but then Swamp Thing turns into a dog and kills them.
I almost wish Millar were less competent; he's effective at presenting his ideas. They just tend to be crass and juvenile, at least when humans are involved.
In the exclamations department, "oh God" and "Jesus Christ" are still getting a lot of play, but we also have "dog ho" (from a character who's living backwards) and "Judas H. Priest!"
Next: Millar goes big and goes home