Horror Week 2016: Exorcising the Shame and Guilt – How I Learned to Love Horror

Regular readers of the blog (if there is such a thing here at SUR) will know that I’m not a huge horror fan. It’s something I’ve actively avoided in my fiction for years. There are a few reasons for this. I’m generally not too keen on the esthetics of the genre. Slasher films as a whole and specific film series of the “torture porn” variety like Saw and Hostel where the examples of the genre that popped up in my head when I thought of horror. The biggest reason for my dismissal of the whole thing is that I came to it with preconceived notions of what any given book or movie would be when it’s labelled as horror. I watched those movies and attempted to read those books with the intent of finding those things I didn’t like as a way to prove that yes, indeed, horror as a genre is a piece of shit and it is best avoided.

I’ve reconciled with a lot of that thanks to Stephen King, particularly thanks to one of his most famous books Salem’s Lot. I mentioned some of that in my review of the book and there was certainly something cathartic bout the whole admission of guilt and wrongdoing towards the genre. It’s still occasionally difficult to admit that I was so dismissive. I dismissed it all, regardless of when or where a piece of horror fiction came from, it all ended up in the same space in my brain: the trash bin.

Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Five Review

The fifth book collecting Alan Moore’s legendary run writing Swamp Thing is the second collection of Swamp Thing that I haven’t read previously. So far, the first three volumes have been rereads for me. During my first attempt at reading Moore’s Swamp Thing, I had mixed feelings. I recognized the sheer revolutionary power of his first 18 months on the title but after reading several issues consisting of Moore commenting on the mythology of America, I gave up. It was too preachy and, at the same time, hollow for my tastes. Last time, in my review of volume four, I mentioned the greatness that is to be found in the second half of the American Gothic storyline and I was once again spurred to continue reading Swamp Thing.

Once again I encountered my main problem with Alan Moore written comics with the first two issues of Book Five: momentum. I realize that it’s unfair to Moore that I seem to dislike all the issues of Swamp Thing that are less than spectacular. It’s either an excellent issue or an ok issue when it comes to his writing on this book. The thing is that’s how these issues read. My read problem though, isn’t exactly momentum. Moore’s formalistic approach to writing comics sucks the life out of whatever it is his writing. There is little or no energy at all to his writing and when a comic he wrote does display some kinetic and energetic storytelling it’s more often than not due to his collaborators than to Moore’s writing. His comics are too rigid; they’re not allowed to breathe under Moore’s guidance. On some occasions this style works really well but other times the story just falls flat.

Swamp Thing vs. Batman? Yup, and this
is Moore's run changing into a lower gear.

After the last book’s issue #50, I was expecting issue #51 to be a quieter story and it is. The problem is that it a set up for Swamp Thing’s Space Odyssey that truly begins in issue #56, the last issue in this collection. But, as you can imagine, Alan Moore sets up the story very well and he adds some nice element to the Swamp Thing mythos and there are even several good character moments which should not be surprising after 20+ issues. Swamp Thing is one of Moore’s most contemplatively moody series I’ve read and that tone leads to quieter stories. I didn’t know it at the time but issue #50 marked the last bombastic Swamp Thing story that Moore would write (yes, I’m aware of how ridiculous that sounds). The rest of the series is composed of quieter stories that still tell horrifying and moving stories about Swamp Thing and Abby Cable.

This collection turns the focus to Abby. The story deals with her relationship with the law after photos of her intimate relationship with Swamp Thing are revealed to the public in a newspaper. Swamp Thing returns from his war against Evil to find that Abby has seemingly disappeared. With these issues Moore juggles interesting character drama with Abby while also setting up an introspective journey through space for Swamp Thing.

An interesting thing about this collection is the similarities with Moore’s other comic work at the time, notably Watchmen with Dave Gibbons.  The similarities between issue 56 and the Watchmen issue where Dr. Manhattan goes to Mars are fascinating. I would really like to reread both those issue and discuss them further. For now, I’ll settle by saying issues 56 is one of the most interesting issues of Moore’s entire time as writer on Swamp Thing because of the way it encapsulates so much of what has already happened in the series and turning it against his main character in strange and frightening ways.

Swamp Thing is blue and he's alone on
a deserted planet reminiscing on the past.
Sound familiar? It should.

There are also similarities between Swamp Thing’s funeral issue in Gotham and the Comedian’s funeral issue in Watchmen (rain, a statue, people having flashbacks and what if scenarios intercutting the funeral scenes, one vigilante talking about another not quite vigilante). These elements may seem like elements that don’t share much with one another but it certainly doesn’t read that way. Was Alan Moore trying out storytelling techniques in Swamp Thing before leaving the title? Was it a way for him to practice before writing a work that was newer to him and maybe more important to him (I would argue Swamp Thing was ultimately more important to the world of comics than Watchmen). He seems to have done what he wanted to do on the title already. As far as I can tell, based on what Steve Bissette wrote in the introduction to volume 5 and volume 6 Moore’s story was being led in directions that Rick Veitch was more interested in and Moore agreed to go in that direction having done all there was to be done with horror in comics (no kidding).

In short, volume five goes off in a new direction for both the creators and the readers. Swamp Thing continues to be a very good comic even though it’s going through some changes in tone, characters and a change in art teams.  

Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Four review

This volume collects issues 43 to 50 which conclude the American Gothic storyline that began in book three. I have to admit the last third of American Gothic is a triumphant finish to the longer Swamp Thing story arc by Moore. I was caught by surprise. The beginning of American Gothic is so difficult to read, not because it’s a challenging comic but simply because it’s not good, so when the momentum builds seemingly out of nowhere I was caught off-guard, not only by the story being told, but how well told it was. Everything culminates in issue #50 and I mean everything. The journey to that anniversary issue wasn’t such a treat though.

The momentum picks up almost from the first issue in this collection. Moore tells an interesting story staring one of the many tubers that grow and fall off of Swamp Thing. A man, Chester Williams, finds one of the tubers while in the swamp and brings it home. The tuber is cut up and sold off as a drug to different people. They all have hallucinogenic experiences but they all differ from one another. The type of person you are and the reason you’re eating the tubers will affect the time of hallucination you will get. It’s a clever, emotional one issue story and although if fits in the context of American Gothic, is works just as well on its own.

After that issue, Moore falls back into a few issues of exploring American horror and that other garbage. We also find out what Constantine has been training Swamp Thing for. We’re introduced to the Parliament of Threes, Swamp Thing continues to develop his powers and there is also the cataclysmic battle between Good and Evil in the concluding issue. Moore deftly interweaves a big philosophical question, magic and horror elements to his recently developed Swamp Thing mythology to tell what is easily one of his top three Swamp Thing issues. He also takes the time to joke around.

Moore ends issue 50 with two jokes. One of the jokes is admittedly dark humour. While Cain thinks over what he has learned from the confrontation of Good and Evil he comes to a realization that neither can nor will ever been defeated, they will continue to exist. However, Good and Evil can be refined and come to signify slightly different aspects of what they used to be. Once done his reminiscing, Cain turns to Abel and murders his brother for the nth time. Everything has changed but just slightly.

Moore also takes the time to take a jab at Steve Bissette. Bissette and John Totleben are considered to have been the primary artists on Moore’s run writing Swamp Thing. It’s not necessarily because they drew the most issues (I’m not even sure if that’s true or not). I think it’s more because they defined the look of Moore’s run more than any of the other artists who collaborated with him. Bissette had an ongoing struggle with deadlines and on the last page of issue #50 there is a tombstone with him name on it. The following is engraved beneath his name: “Here lies S. R. Bissette. He arrived late to his own funeral.” It’s great, I loved it.

This fourth volume of Saga of the Swamp Thing is a return to form for Moore and his team of artists. Not only do many plot elements all come together for a grand finish, but Moore also takes the time to set up the stories to come. It’s a bit unfortunate that not all of the issues are excellent but enough of them are to make this a worthwhile read. Things settle down a little bit in the next volume but only for about an issue or so. Review for book five coming up soon. 

Saga of the Swamp Thing Book One review

For many readers, Alan Moore is one of the greatest if not the greatest comics writer. Generally I would agree with this but I have some issues with him writing. I started to read his Swamp Thing run before and I stopped about halfway. It was about halfway through the longest story arc of his tenure called American Gothic. Essentially, it was a story building up to an excellent climax in issue #50 but I didn’t know that at the time because the stories leading up to the epic conclusion are some of the worst in his run. Alan Moore gets preachy and it’s difficult to read. I acquired the remaining three hardcovers a few months ago, deciding to give him a second chance in part due to Timothy Callahan’s Great Alan Moore Reread on Tor.com. So, for about a month, I read all of Moore’s Swamp Thing and except for a few dips in quality it’s an excellent read. I’d easily place it in his top five comics.

Let’s get on with it. This hardcover volume collects the first eight issues of Moore’s run on Saga of the Swamp Thing (#20-27). In case you live in a cave and didn’t already know, this is the comic that make Alan Moore famous in the American comics industry and revolutionized what the medium could do. It also played an very big role in the creation of the Vertigo Comics imprint. Even if you’re only read these eight issues you won’t find this surprising in the least. Moore kicks of his Swamp Thing story with a bang.

What’s so great about it? Well, issue #21 for starters. In one spectacular comic, Moore revamps who and what Swamp Thing is and does it all while telling a pretty frightening horror story. It turns out Swamp Thing is not formally a man, as he once thought. He is a vegetable monster in the shape ofa man who during the course of this volume learns to let go of who he thought he was and develop his humanity and identity. When it comes to character development, it’s a rather beautiful not to mention ground-breaking story for a horror comic. Moore’s Swamp Thing is about many things but in these earlier issues its about death and rebirth all made obvious to the reader with the use of Christine imagery.

There are two story arcs collected here.  The first story is about the death and resurrection of Swamp Thing while also tying up all the loose ends from the previous creative team’s run. All this is done while also setting up future story arcs. Moore and his collaborators Stephen Bissette, John Totleben and Stan Woch also find a way to revamp the Floronic Man into a frightening villain.

The second story arc isn’t as strong as the first, which is fine because the first few issues are of an unbelievably high quality. Interestingly enough, Moore’s Swamp Thing up to this point consists of monsters fighting other monsters but Moore and his collaborators are creating a new style of comics which is much more poetic, subtle in its technique and with plenty of literary allusions.

So much vegetation, so much texture!

The art is just as interesting as Moore’s writing. The first issue is drawn by Dan Day and his Swamp Thing looks like very large, muscles man with green skin and roots here and there on his body. He looks like something from a swamp alright but the Swamp Thing we get from Stephen Bissette and John Totleben is another thing entirely. Their monster looks much more like swamp vegetation taking a humanoid form. He does not have a smooth body with a few roots here and there, he has much more texture. He’s fuzzy from the moss, he’s growing tubers, the roots grow in and out of him as opposed to sitting on top of his skin. One of the characters mentions at one point that he has a bug crawling inside of his arm. There is very little that is physically human about this new Swamp Thing.

I’m unclear whether these art choices were done to compliment Swamp Thing’s death and rebirth or if it’s simply the artists’ take on the character. I suppose it doesn’t matter because it works and its look fantastic.

All in all, Swamp Thing Book One is an excellent read. You have monster, storytelling mixing the poetic and the horrific, art that is both graphic and beautiful. It’s a brand new (well, at the time) approach on the Swamp Thing and despite the density of the storytelling (at lot happens in 8 issues) you get a feeling this is just the beginning. Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two review coming soon.