Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 6

Comic Info

Swamp Thing (2) #58

Reprints Swamp Thing (2) #57-64 (February 1987-September 1987).  The Swamp Thing finds himself trapped in space and desperate to get home to his love Abby.  While pushing his powers to the edge, Swamp Thing discovers himself on a trip to Rann and teamed with Adam Strange to save his dying planet.  He joins the New God Metron in a trip to discover the secrets of the Source and might have the opportunity of revenge on the men who crossed him while hoping to be reunited with his love.

Written by Alan Moore, Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 6 contains the final stretch of Alan Moore’s monumental run on the series.  With art by Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala, John Totleben, Stephen Bissette, and Tom Yeates, Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 6 was previously published as Swamp Thing 6:  Reunion.

I love Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, but unfortunately, these aren’t my favorite issues of the series.  The final storyline has Swamp Thing fighting to get back to Earth after his destruction in Gotham while Abby deals with his loss on Earth.  Swamp Thing had much better storylines throughout Moore’s run (probably with Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 1 and Book 2 being the best), but the series is still worlds better than many series.

Swamp Thing (2) #60

I do admire Moore’s attempt to pick different characters to team Swamp Thing with.  The trip to Rann was fun, and I’m always up for an Adam Strange story.  I also like smart looks at the New Gods and his teaming with Metron was interesting.  The problem with the story is that it is building toward a reunion with Abby…and many of the issues feel like filler.  While the mostly text “Loving the Alien” Swamp Thing (2) #60 is interesting, I wanted more since I knew the series was ending.

The art for the series continues to be strong but is very standard comic book art.  Comic art hadn’t gone through the Image revolution and it wasn’t as edgy as the early ’90s.  I’m fine with this but some might want less mainstream art and it does feel a bit odd now to have such mainstream art with an artsy comic.

Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing is one of the most worthwhile runs on a mainstream comic.  It can also be credited with bringing about Vertigo and Vertigo changed how comics were scene.  Moore is a great writer and 90% of the stuff he does is interesting…Swamp Thing definitely fits in the “great” category.

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Related Links:

Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 1

Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 2

Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 3

Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 4

Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 5