Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two
Love him or hate him, and over the years I’ve done a bit of both, you can’t deny Alan Moore always does his own thing. And he was doing it again as he took over Saga of the Swamp Thing and made the title his own. In this one volume there’s a journey to hell that mixes Dante with Dr. Strange, a tribute to Walt Kelly’s Pogo stuffed with wordplay that’s sounds more like James Joyce than swamp-speak, and a full issue that’s nothing but psychedelic sex between Swampy and Abigail Arcane. Or, as Neil Gaiman puts it in his Foreword, “an hallucinogenic consummation between a seven-foot-high mound of vegetation and an expatriate Balkan.” For some fans this issue has always been a favourite but I just give them credit for pulling it off. I can’t say I really enjoy it.
As always, Moore is guilty of sins of excess. He gets out over his skis and takes a tumble. I liked the return of Arcane in the form of Matt Cable, but all the stuff about a great uprising of evil centered on the bayou that’s even visible from space was too much. Rebranding the comic (however temporarily) as “Sophisticated Suspense” was spot on, but the sophistication only works as long as it doesn’t get pretentious. If there was another hint of foreboding here I’d flag the character of Swamp Thing himself, who is just passive and glum most of the time. His rage at Arcane, which even pushes him into red speech bubbles, is the sole exception. The rest of the time he seems mostly content to sink back into the swamp and vegetate, making the drama dependent on supporting players, and of course Moore’s poetic flights of fancy.
Alex Good 
Sounds like the ravings of a mad man.
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It is a bit of that.
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I vote for “hate him”. Power to the people!!! the people obviously being just me….
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Vox populi, vox Bookstooge!
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Et tu, Alexu?
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I remain a majority of one in all such matters.
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Does that make you the Darkwing Duck of the blogging world then?
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I only vaguely kind of remember Darkwing Duck. He had a stylish hat I think.
I was thinking of Thoreau: ‘Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already.’
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Darkwing Duck was the spoof of Darkman.
Thoreau that man into the garbage heap!
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I barely remember Darkman. I think I only saw the first movie. There were two sequels. I picked up the set on DVD for a dollar a few years ago so I should get around to watching all of them some day.
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Are you allowed to quote Gaiman these days?
Since “passive and glum” so often equates to “sophisticated,” I’m thinking pretentious is probably correct.
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Moore is always walking a fine line when it comes to being pretentious. Sometimes he goes way over. The simpler he keeps things the better he is usually.
Gaiman has certainly ruined his brand. Luckily I was never a big fan. Will get around to Sandman some day though. The comic, not the TV show.
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