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This is the fifth attempt (two movies and two previous shows) to adapt a four-decade horror-fantasy comic that, in its simplest form, is about a heroic moss-monster who develops from the remains of a murdered scientist in rural Louisiana and decides to defend people against other monsters and magical problems; in its not-simplest form, it's about everything under the sun. The comic had its ups and downs to say the least, but having written a little under 30,000 words about it, it's safe to say that I'm a fan. I was cautiously curious about the show, knowing that it's very easy to make this material stupid, and... I was pleasantly surprised, but I can also see why it got cancelled early, because it's an elaborate and expensive mess and only half in a good way. If it ever rises from the swamp again, which would be nice, they'll need to work on a few things.
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Convergence: Swamp Thing #1-2 (2015)
Swamp Thing #1-6 (2016)
Written by Len Wein
Art by Kelley Jones

Swamp Thing Winter Special (2018)
Written by Tom King
Art by Jason Fabok
With an unfinished story by Len Wein and Kelley Jones

Well, Kelley Jones is still a cool illustrator but otherwise the eight issues of 2015-16 are pretty weak. They give the impression that Len Wein's fame was not due to his skill at writing prose or telling stories—but since I'm not familiar with much of his work in between, it's hard to say if that means that he really hadn't developed in 43 years, or just that he wasn't trying very hard. I think it's the latter, because this seems like it was conceived as pretty much the least ambitious Swamp Thing revival ever. But if you want a happy ending, skip to the end of this post.
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Swamp Thing #19-27 (2013-14)
Written by Charles Soule
Art: #19-20/22 by Kano, #21/23.1/25-27 by Jesús Saiz, #23 by Kano/David Lapham, #24 by Andrei Bressan

That pattern I mentioned seeing with new Swamp Thing writers is still in effect: Charles Soule starts off with some really strong character-based writing and some creative twists on the mythology, and handles the superhero stuff well in small doses too (the first two issues have the best-written Superman I've seen in a long time)... but once the big conflict kicks in, the ideas get sillier and the plotting incoherent. Maybe one of these days, when they hire someone who's good at quieter stories, they'll let them just tell quieter stories.
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Swamp Thing #1-11 (2011-2012)
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Yanick Paquette except #3 by Paquette/Victor Ibáñez, #4 by Marco Rudy/Sean Parsons/Michael Lacombe, #6/11 by Rudy, #8-9 by Paquette/Rudy, #10 by Francesco Francavilla

Surreptitiously ditching older ideas and making up new explanations for everything has always been a big part of superhero comics. But literally announcing that you're doing that, and releasing new versions of everything where lack of continuity is actually a selling point, seems different somehow—more gimmicky, and kind of a bummer for fans who pride themselves on having memorized all the old plots, but still there's something attractive about clearing the decks and not having to keep track of decades of stuff by hundreds of writers. I never followed the Marvel Ultimates, and I still haven't seen most of the DC New 52 things, and I admit that like many readers I tend to cling stubbornly to however things were when I was 12. But, sure: a New 52 Swamp Thing, why not. We've gone back to issue #1 four times already. Bring on the fifth issue #1.
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So apparently someone leaked a lot of Republican National Committee internal documents containing their opinions of various people Trump was thinking about hiring in 2017 (and, in most cases, did hire).

There are certainly a few issues there and it's hard to say who comes off looking the worst.

Anyway: the White House response discussed how Trump has allegedly been very successful in various ways... and it ended by saying that "no disgruntled, establishment, D.C. swamp creature's cowardly leaks can change that."

I don't know, the DC swamp creature has had a lot of responsibilities so you could say he's the establishment, and he's definitely gone through a lot of changes so you never know what he might do next, but this just doesn't seem like his style.

Swamp Thing #1-14 (2004-2005)
Written: #1-6 by Andy Diggle, #7-8 by Will Pfeifer, #9-14 by Joshua Dysart
Art: #1-6/9-12 by Enrique Breccia, #7-8 by Richard Corben, #13-14 by Timothy Green II

Maybe it's fitting that a comic that was originally about a person getting blown up and burned up and then recreated as an unrecognizable monster would spend the next 30-plus years being repeatedly cancelled and then dredged up and handed off to a random assortment of writers, like: "Here, maybe you can make something out of this." It's no longer possible to really do a continuation of Swamp Thing—it's been demolished and reimagined too many times—but you can absorb some of its memories.

The new main writer, Joshua Dysart, and the two others we get before him, seem to understand this; they all have some new ideas and have grafted pieces of Swamp Thing history onto them, and the results vary but a lot of them are good. But the biggest asset in this latest go-round is the art of Enrique Breccia. I had never seen his work before, but his father Alberto Breccia was one of the greats not only in South American comics but worldwide, and there are obvious parallels in their styles: there's an effortless precision in line and texture and composition, but also a looseness that lets forms and spaces become more abstract at times, and the inking is wonderfully alive. For US readers, the way he draws faces may take a little getting used to—it's not really any more cartoony than for instance Wrightson's or Petersen's, it's just a different tradition where eyes, noses, etc. are stylized in a somewhat different way—but it all feels like part of a cohesive vision. He's an incredibly good choice for this comic, and all of his several different versions of Swampy are great.
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Swamp Thing #160-171 (1995-96)
Written by Mark Millar
Art: Phil Hester/Kim DeMulder, except #165 by Curt Swan/DeMulder

Unlike some of the previous writers, Millar gets to finish off the big story arc that he and Grant Morrison had planned before he leaves. Was it worth it? I'm really not sure.
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Swamp Thing #140-150 (1994-95)
Written by Mark Millar, except #140-143 by Grant Morrison/Millar
Art: Phil Hester/Kim DeMulder

I have to admit I didn't show up with an open mind: when I saw Mark Millar was going to write this, I cringed. I've only read a few things of his, but they were full of the kind of edgelord attitude that I would've thought was awesome when I was 14. But this is very early Millar (he's 25), so who knows, maybe it's different. Well, kind of.
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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.
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Swamp Thing #99-109 (1990-91)
Written by Doug Wheeler, except #101 by Andrew Helfer
Art: #99 by Pat Broderick/Alfredo Alcala, #100 by Broderick/Alcala/Kelley Jones, #101 by Mike Hoffman/Alcala, #102 by Hoffman/Peter Gross, #103 by Hoffman/Doug Hazlewood/Mickey Ritter, #104 by Hoffman/Bill Jaaska, #105-107 by Hoffman

Doug Wheeler just isn't a good writer, at least not for this, and I'm running out of ways to say that, so I'll try to think of things I liked about this second half of his run.

I have to admit I'm a sucker for excessively complicated SF/fantasy plots. I didn't like the time-travel storyline (especially since Wheeler's ending for it basically made Swamp Thing into the most important being in the whole history of Earth), but it's kind of fun to see him keep elaborating on the consequences of it, and trying to make it somehow make sense—even if that means we get tons of expository dialogue from ancient beings telling us what's what, and massive retcons of all kinds of things for no clear purpose. Similarly, the cosmic SF setup of the Green's war against the Grey produces elaborate detours that make it feel like there's more of a plot than there is, and gives the artists some different stuff to draw*, so that's nice.
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