Got the fifth of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing TPBs the other day; Earth to Earth. Interesting read, though I didn’t like it as much as I have the others. There are spoilers ahead for this book, incidentally.
I think losing its serial form really hurt the whole War on Gotham storyline. If I was impatiently awaiting each new episode, I can picture getting tense and worried over each new twist, but now it’s all in one book, and I know the series went on long past that, it’s old news. I can be interested in the path it’s taking, but the Swamp Thing and Gotham’s status quo have to be restored sooner or later. The Batman crossover also seemed kinda uninspired, and if anything a little forced: “Oh, Batman was around too, but he didn’t win, or do anything really. Commisioner Gordon was there too. Oh look, Lex Luthor!”
Also, while it’s very clever in parts, Alan Moore’s constant use of the ‘last sentence of a conversation/monologue comments on the next image to appear’ trick gets a little old. You can see why he’s doing it; it’s one of the things you can only do in the medium of comics, but it still seems a little arch at times.
The storyline did have some great bits too, and it was good to see a couple of minor characters from earlier issues reappear. Although I wasn’t quite sure about the hippy from ‘Windfall’ showing up again; the simple, understated ending of that story, with him staring at the tuber trying to decide whether or not to take it, was perfect, and to my mind, a final glimpse.
John Constantine’s brief appearances were nice. It’s funny how much he’s changed, over the years, as various different writers have put their own spin on him and his powers. Alan Moore’s original version actually works most because so much about him is unknown; we’re never really told whether he’s a great magus or a conman with a handful of spells and a lot of bluff. The elements of tragedy and darkness in his character are much more lowkey, and somewhat better that way to my mind. Constantine isn’t meant to be clutching at his forehead complaining about the pain of it all.
The story about the couple from Abby and the Swamp Thing’s past reappearing wasn’t Moore’s best either. I probably missed out on a fair bit from never having read the Swamp Thing titles before Alan Moore’s run, so I can’t tell how much Moore’s version twists the original couple. If I could, maybe it would be more horrifying, but as it is, it’s just… eh. Also, I’m not at all sure how Abby survives when the man (can’t remember his name) fires his machine-gun at her when she first opens the front door to him. She dives out of the way? Out of the way of a stream of bullets? Wtf?
The stories that really did blow me away, however, were Earth to Earth, the title story, and My Blue Heaven. Earth to Earth was just poignant and sincere; no cosmos-spanning battles or evil conspiracies, just a single person’s grief.
My Blue Heaven, probably my favorite in the collection, was in turn melancholy, lyrical, disturbing, surreal and, ultimately, horrifying. The Swamp Thing completely alone, just trying to pass the time, it all seems so natural and unsurprising that you only realise how far he’s sliding down into insanity at the same time his subconscious, voiced by Constantine, does. The images of decay, at once profoundly sad and profoundly disturbing, after he’s let his ghost town die, are very, very haunting.