Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 4

Comic Info

Swamp Thing (2) #47

Reprints The Saga of the Swamp Thing #43-45 and Swamp Thing (2) #46-50 (December 1985-July 1986).  Swamp Thing’s encounters with the mysterious John Constantine are increasing as it appears that something is brewing in the mystic world.  More darkness is popping up around the globe and Swamp Thing is just a player in Constantine’s plot to stop it.  When a crisis faces Earth and the Multiverse, Constantine’s enemies are poised to make their move…and it could be the ultimate battle of good versus evil.

Written by Alan Moore, Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 4 continues the collection of Moore’s long run on the series.  The series features a crossover with the company wide Crisis on Infinite Earths and also featured a title change from The Saga of the Swamp Thing to simply Swamp Thing (Volume 2).  The collection was previously collected as Swamp Thing 4:  A Murder of Crows.

Crisis on Infinite Earths was a big deal.  Granted, Crisis didn’t end up affecting Swamp Thing too much, but here we see how it does relate.  Moore dropped in references to the red skies and how the Brujeria uses the crisis to their advantage.  You definitely don’t need to read Crisis on Infinite Earths to read this book, but it also wouldn’t hurt.

Swamp Thing (2) #49

This volume of Moore’s saga should almost be called Constantine.  The series is very heavy John Constantine and for the last few issues of the series, Swamp Thing almost feels secondary.  It is obvious from this series that Constantine was a rich enough character to spin-off into his own series and that ended up being a great windfall for DC who kept the popular Hellblazer comic running for years after Swamp Thing ended.

The collection almost becomes a bit too garbled in mystical stuff.  I do find the invunche rather terrifying and the death of Zatanna’s father does have big ramifications for her character.  I rather like the regular Swamp Thing and Abby stuff which leads to a big set-up for Moore’s finale involving Abby’s arrest for her relationship with Swamp Thing (which is quite nasty since he even tells her in this volume that he’s smelling because his body is digesting a dead muskrat).

Another big introduction in this volume is the Parliament of Trees in Swamp Thing (2) #47 (April 1986).  The Parliament continues to be an important aspect of Swamp Thing’s tie to the Green and recent issues of the current New 52 Swamp Thing have tied to Parliament, and its connection to Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing was a great series during Moore’s run and never has quite lived up to it.  Moore revolutionized the character and really changed the direction of the series.  With the big finale battle in Swamp Thing (2) #50 (July 1986), you can feel the series wrapping up…but you have to stick around to the end.

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 5

Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 6