Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Two by Alan Moore and others

I know it’s bad form to not start at the beginning when discussing sequential narratives, but please bear with me; I’ve just finished book two of Saga of the Swamp Thing, and I don’t have access to my copy of book one at the moment to talk about it instead. In all honesty, even book one isn’t really the beginning, but only the beginning of Alan Moore’s 1980’s run as writer of the horror comic. No matter where you start, you will be thrown in with characters that have motives and intents that you do not fully understand. However, that is not a detriment to the reading experience all that often when reading this book, and as long as you know that something did come before, you can accept any new information and move on.

Now that I have prefaced this, let me speak quickly about one issue of volume one, and then we can begin discussing the book I have just finished. Moore’s second issue of Swamp Thing (issue #21) was a standalone issue, (the first tying up the loose ends of the previous writer’s story), that serves as a beautiful origin tale to bring new readers into the world of the Swamp Thing. I won’t give anything away, but needless to say, it is a breathtakingly haunting tale that completely changes the character by bringing to light information about who the Swamp Thing is, utterly reshaping the entire mythos of the character. Reading that tale for the first time made that single issue one of my favourite comics ever written, and I am envious of anyone who gets to read that for the first time. What Moore does in that one issue sets the bar high, and he has yet to disappoint or lower my expectations with the close of the second volume.

This second book, while impossible to start here for new readers as Moore builds on events from the previous volume, is even better than the first (as long as we separate issue 21 from everything else, because nothing can beat that). In it, we get a number of different tales that highlight how talented of a writer Moore is. The volume opens with a wonderful piece about burying the past, and really seems like his way of bringing closure to the world of Swamp Thing before he took the writing reigns (which Neil Gaiman pretty much says as much in his introduction, so I can’t take credit for that interpretation). He then gives us a three part story of utter horror, dubbed the Arcane Trilogy. In it we witness absolute depravity, with elements of gore, zombies, necrophilia, incest and demons. The first issue of the trilogy apparently required dropping the Comics Code Authority seal of approval, which was a big deal, since previously, comics had just been toned down to meet the regulatory body’s guidelines. Every issue of Swamp Thing after that left off the seal as well.

Next, we are treated to an issue all about what happens after death, and Moore uses a number of supernaturally inclined DC characters, including The Demon and Deadman, to introduce parts the afterlife. For non-superhero readers, this issue will feel a bit out of place, especially when I feel that Swamp Thing could easily be loved by non-comic fans for the most parts, as long as they have a love of horror. Personally, I enjoyed it, although I feel that one-time guardians would have served just as well and not pulled the reader out of the world Moore had been weaving (although The Demon was a great choice for a guide through hell).

Following this foray into the afterlife, we get the one issue I am not fussy about  (which is still good, mind you), featuring a number of space travelling forest creatures who fly aboard a turtle searching for a place free from violence. The issue is out there, and was meant as a tribute to an older comic strip. The tone is mostly light hearted, with just the right blend of light horror, and Moore’s prose makes the issue rise above what it could have been. In it, mimicking the strip he is paying tribute to, he creates a number of wonderful words that the space creatures use, mashing up terms to make delightful sounding words. My favourite had to be ‘survailed’, which one of the creatures says in relation to wishing that more of the original crew and survived/prevailed to see the new earth.

The second-to-last issue of the volume is a reprint of an old issue of Swamp Thing, meant to give the artists time to catch up with the publishing schedule, but even then Moore managed to write a few sequences to bookend the story. In his bookends he uses two old suspense comic narrators, (who would introduce the stories like Hitchcock often would in his television series), named Cain and Abel. They are very much like the biblical brothers, one always jealous of the other to the point of murder, and while I believe this is the first time they come together in DC’s mythology (each narrator had their own, separate book), Neil Gaiman used them later on in his Sandman series as well. It’s a fun little aside to read, and Moore’s bookends added a lot to the reading experience.

Finally, we reach the end of the book, and are given a story that is not horror at all, but rather a love story, entitled “Rites of Spring”. The art is perfect for this issue, and the prose captures everything perfectly. He captures those first furtive questionings new lovers ask of each other wonderfully, and his description of the couple’s experience is elegant and weaving. Ending this volume with that issue leaves the reader in quiet revere. 

The stories contained in this volume make it a great collection. They highlight very well the talent of Alan Moore, for only someone with real talent can write so many different kinds of stories so well. He understands what horrifies us and what moves us to love. He can write reflections of the past and direct our attention to the future. To say that all he wrote was a simple horror book during his stint with Swamp Thing would be to devalue his work, he created experiences and wrote emotions. A talented collection of artists helped him do it too, and I know I did not give them enough credit in my discussion, primarily however, what I took away from this book was a deeper appreciation for the talents of Alan Moore. His Saga of the Swamp Thing is an incredible joy to read.