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Swamp Thing #33-45 (1985-86)
Written by Alan Moore, except #33 by Alan Moore/Len Wein
Art by Steve Bissette/John Totleben, except #33 by Bissette/Totleben/Berni Wrightson, #37 by Rick Veitch/Totleben, #38 by Stan Woch/Totleben, #41 by Bissette/Alfredo Alcala, #42 by Bissette/Ron Randall/Totleben, #43 by Woch/Randall, #44 by Randall/Bissette/Totleben, #45 by Woch/Alcala
Moore's first 13 issues clearly took Swamp Thing in a new direction, but in some ways he was still working within what he'd been given: we've seen two apocalyptic threats so far, one science-fictional/ecological and one demonic, and those are both types of conflict that are broadly in line with what you might expect a horror/SF/superhero comic to do. Moore is now starting from a clean slate, with the full support of editor Karen Berger (who arrived partway through the previous arc), and he wants to keep making things weirder.
So it might seem odd that many of the next 13 issues are devoted to one-off or two-part stories of the monster-of-the-month kind, often resembling monsters we've seen in past issues, or even being the exact same ones. There are vampires, there's a werewolf, there are ghosts of slaves, also lots of other ghosts, there's a serial killer, there's... a hobo who drinks nuclear waste, OK well maybe that one is less familiar. What makes these new, besides being better written than before, is not only the extremely unsubtle social commentary* but also the way they're integrated into the ongoing story arc. Basically, there's a conspiracy whose evil plan is not yet clear, but it requires pumping up psychic anxieties in North America—specifically, belief in the supernatural. So, for instance, the more people believe in vampires, regardless of whether vampires really exist (they do), the more there's a problem.
( Read more... )
Written by Alan Moore, except #33 by Alan Moore/Len Wein
Art by Steve Bissette/John Totleben, except #33 by Bissette/Totleben/Berni Wrightson, #37 by Rick Veitch/Totleben, #38 by Stan Woch/Totleben, #41 by Bissette/Alfredo Alcala, #42 by Bissette/Ron Randall/Totleben, #43 by Woch/Randall, #44 by Randall/Bissette/Totleben, #45 by Woch/Alcala
Moore's first 13 issues clearly took Swamp Thing in a new direction, but in some ways he was still working within what he'd been given: we've seen two apocalyptic threats so far, one science-fictional/ecological and one demonic, and those are both types of conflict that are broadly in line with what you might expect a horror/SF/superhero comic to do. Moore is now starting from a clean slate, with the full support of editor Karen Berger (who arrived partway through the previous arc), and he wants to keep making things weirder.
So it might seem odd that many of the next 13 issues are devoted to one-off or two-part stories of the monster-of-the-month kind, often resembling monsters we've seen in past issues, or even being the exact same ones. There are vampires, there's a werewolf, there are ghosts of slaves, also lots of other ghosts, there's a serial killer, there's... a hobo who drinks nuclear waste, OK well maybe that one is less familiar. What makes these new, besides being better written than before, is not only the extremely unsubtle social commentary* but also the way they're integrated into the ongoing story arc. Basically, there's a conspiracy whose evil plan is not yet clear, but it requires pumping up psychic anxieties in North America—specifically, belief in the supernatural. So, for instance, the more people believe in vampires, regardless of whether vampires really exist (they do), the more there's a problem.
( Read more... )
