Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 6

Writers: Alan Moore, Rick Veitch
Artists: Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala, Tom Yeates
Collects: Swamp Thing 57-64
Published under Vertigo

Welcome to the last in a series of reviews of Alan Moore's take on the Swamp Thing - now I can say that Swamp Thing actually goes out with a bang.

Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 5

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Rick Veitch, John Totleben, Alfredo Alcala
Collects Swamp Thing issues 51-56
Published under VERTIGO


Welcome after the long interval to yet another helping of sumptuous green delight. This time, Alan Moore ACTUALLY takes out Swampy where he's actually never been before.

Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 4

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Stan Woch, Ron Randall, Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala
Collects: Swamp Thing issues 43 to 50
Collected under Vertigo


And welcome to yet another installment of everybody's favourite swamp monster. In this collection, Alan Moore spins his epic titled "The American Gothic Saga" which has its roots in book 3, with the introduction of John Constantine. We finally learn what Constantine has been preparing Swampy for all this time in Moore's sprawling and ambitious storyline (though, arguably far from the finest; it's his creepy one and done stories that entice me more) which guest stars almost everybody from DC's horror stable, (Etrigan the Demon, Phantom Stranger, The Spectre, Abel & Cain from the House of Mystery, Zatarra and Zatanna, Doctor Occult, Sargon the Sorcerer, Baron Winter, Steve Dayton) which in itself is a feat, as nobody gets the short shrift here.

Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 3

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben
Collects: Swamp Thing issues 35-42
Collected under the Vertigo Imprint

Saga of The Swamp Thing Book 2 Hardcover / trade paperback

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben & Shawn McManus
Collects: Saga of The Swamp Thing 28-30, Swamp Thing 31-34, Swamp Thing Annual 1


After reading Vol 1 (review here) , I trust all of you are here now, are you? Good, then I'll begin in earnest.


Previously, we saw how that the Swamp Thing, contrary to what he thought, was never Alec Holland....his body was a tangle of vegetation with only the consciousness of Alec Holland to guide it. The question is...what happened to the real body of Alec Holland? That question is answered in this issue, when Swamp Thing finally lays the body of Alec Holland to rest. This issue has Shawn McManus as guest artist.

REVIEW: Saga of The Swamp Thing, Book One (Hardcover)

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben
Issues Included: Saga of The Swamp Thing #20-27


What do you do when a comic title just doesn't sell anymore? I'm asking "you" not as a reader, but as a publisher, who does this to feed his family, and thousands of other families including the talent, the assistants, the distributors, the stockists and what not!

You cancel the book. Painful to the demographic who has been heartily supporting your book, but it gets done. Look at X-Men. Sixty-six issues into it's initial run (by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, and later Roy Thomas, Arnold Drake, Neal Adams and more) and the company stopped new issues.


Or you give it to an A-list writer, who'll probably turn him into an A-list character. It's worked with Green Lantern (Geoff Johns), The Incredible Hulk (Peter David), The Flash (Mark Waid), JLA (Grant Morrison) and Neil Gaiman (Black Orchid, Sandman) among others. Hell, did we ever imagine a day when the top selling characters at DC & Marvel would be Green Lantern & Iron Man, respectively?
I for one didn't.