Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 5

Comic Info

Swamp Thing (2) #50

Reprints Swamp Thing (2) #51-56 (August 1986-January 1987).  The Swamp Thing has survived the ultimate battle between good and evil to find a great injustice has been done…Abby has been arrested for sexual deviance due to her relationship with Swamp Thing and facing trial.  As Swamp Thing lays siege to Gotham City, a bigger danger is coming for him as his past returns to haunt him.

Written by Alan Moore, Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 5 is the penultimate collection of Alan Moore’s award winning run on the series.  The collection contains the giant-size much awarded Swamp Thing (2) #53 (October 1986) “The Garden of Earthly Delights” and Swamp Thing (2) #56 (January 1987) “My Blue Heaven”.  The collection was previously released as Swamp Thing 5:  Earth to Earth.

While the previous entry feels like Alan Moore’s story is winding down in the big picture, these issues have almost a meatier small picture stories.  These stories are more personal and more tied to  Swamp Thing and his relationship with Abby…which I always felt was the crux of the series.

Moore decided to put the “end of the world” storyline in the middle of his run in Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 4, and I’m glad it is over.  Though I like Constantine and how Moore used him, I like this volume better.  I also like when Swamp Thing is more integrated with the DC Universe and after the title officially became a Vertigo series, this happened less and less.  Here, we get a nice crossover with Batman and a great showdown.

Swamp Thing (2) #55

Both stand out issues of this volume really look into interesting aspects of the character and humanity’s relationship with nature.  The basic story of Abby fighting for her relationship feels a lot like the gay marriage battle today.  The ability for humanity to return to nature however is an interesting, and Swamp Thing’s personal battle tie together with first issue of the space series which sees him trying to return to humanity by living a normal life.  It is smart writing and some of the series’ best.

Veitch’s art is quite strong in this volume.  His art is almost the definitive Swamp Thing and he really captures the essence of the character.  He really incorporates the whole page in his panels and you can see how this evolved into something like Todd McFarlane’s style (though McFarland over did it).

Saga of the Swamp Thing—Book 5 is one of the best in Alan Moore’s run.  I like that it really isn’t about being a superhero or saving the world.  Swamp Thing works best by taking a small scale character and putting him on a large scale platform and seeing what happens.  This collection does just that.

[easyazon-block align=”center” asin=”1401230962″ locale=”us”]

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 6