Swamp Thing, Vol. 3: The Curse

Swamp Thing (1982) (Collected Editions) #3

by Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette (Artist ), John Totleben (Artist)

After meeting the Swamp Thing, the Hellblazer sends the man-monster on a voyage of discovery that takes him from the darkest corners of America to the rrots of his own long-hidden heritage.

Collects issues #35–#42.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy, Dc Comics, Fiction, Comic Book

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

About the author

Alan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.

As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This just gets better and better and better.
I'm not even going to go into details but if you don't like these snippets, then we just can't even be friends.
I'm kidding, of course. I'll be friends with you anyway. But I'm going to have to be on the lookout because you're probably a serial killer.
So.

Constantine shows Swamp Thing how to regenerate.



Mermaid vampires.



A werewolf on her period.



Racist plantation owner + voodoo zombies = Hollywood gone wrong.



What the fuck more do you want, people?!
Goddamn. This is an amazing comic. Read it.
READ IT!

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vertigo born here!


This Hardcover Edition collects "Swamp Thing" #35-42.


Creative Team:

Writer: Alan Moore

Illustrators: Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch & Stan Woch


ENTER: JOHN CONSTANTINE

In this third volume of the saga of Swamp Thing, you will be witness of the birth of the Vertigo line of comics (once an alternative label by DC Comics to publish material oriented to mature readers, usually involving horror and/or paranormal topics).

You have to keep in mind that at the moment of original publication, Swamp Thing was still a DC Comics title, and Vertigo didn't exist yet (nowawadays DC closed Vertigo and merged it with its main label (that in my opinion was a marketing mistake)).

But here, with the events of the 3rd volume, you can see clearly how the birth of Vertigo came to be, since here, you can watch the first appearance of...

...John Constantine, Hellblazer!!!

There are comic book titles that while you may not know much about them, if you realize the level of supporting characters that risen from them, you have to give them their due respect, like the case of Marvel's Fantastic Four (where characters like Silver Surfer, Black Panther and The Inhumans were introduced first as supporting characters).

And in Swamp Thing, you are introduced to your favorite magician demon hunter, John Constantine!

What else can you ask for this third volume?!

But guess what?...

...You have a lot more!


AMERICAN GOTHIC JOURNEY BEGINS

First you have a shocking warning to the dangers of enviromental polution as only Alan Moore can craft it.

And later, the mysterious John Constantine will put Swamp Thing in the first steps of his iconic "American Gothic" journey, meeting the darkest corners of a country that you thought that you know, but you'll be introduced a secret landscape of America with people, places and objects that will provoke you REAL goosebumps in your skin.

An unusual kind of vampires in a sui generis ambiance that you have never read before.

Not your regular werewolf curse prompting you to think.

And what is a volume with vampires and werewolves without our beloved zombies?! Don't worry since you will have more zombies that you can manage here!

Swamp Thing, now that he accepted his true nature, facing paranormal forces and voodoo magic, he will begin his learning path to new powers and skills, in such levels, that Swamp Thing will become one of the most powerful characters in DC/Vertigo Universe.

I'm not kiddin' !

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is it I have such a hard time getting into so many series??! But this was especially true for The Swamp Thing, which I only dragged myself into because 1) I am a fan of Alan Moore and because 2) GR friend Greg goaded me (gently) to read it. I read the first volume a couple years ago, saw the pulp horror vibe and the environmental theme, and thought: Yeah, this is good, Moore takes a sort of trashy monster comic and spins into greater significance . . . but I don’t have to love it. I saw the two laughable films, terrible midnight movies for stoners. Heather Lockear (the blond from Dallas) kissing a plant monster? Ugh. I read the second volume a year later and thought it was okay but stopped reading.

Then nudged by Paul (one of my several GR friends named Paul) I went back to Swamp Thing, including rereading Len Wein’s creation of him, and now I am fully in. In this third volume you see Moore really hitting his stride, taking on the decline of western culture--racism, sexism, as well as the environment. That a 1980s dark ecological horror comic should feel prescient to so much disaster we are seeing now—Fukushima and the nuclear poisoning of the planet, global warming/destruction, the junking of the oceans, and so on. . . whew. Really, really scary. The “chickens have come home to roost,” as someone once said. Moore isn’t the only one who called it, of course. Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold preceded him, but he is in there.

What is horror really about? Our worst fears as our worst realities. The millions of poor and starving and homeless in “the greatest country on the planet” here in 1985 are seen drinking liquid nuclear waste they find while searching for food in dumps. Zombie apocalypse as nuclear apocalypse. What are vampires and zombies and werewolves really about, in Moore’s universe? Vestiges of racism/slavery, mysogny. The werewolf as woman story here is especially dark and sad.

In this volume we are introduced to John Constantine, Hellblazer, who will show up in Sandman, and be a central DC horror comics anti-hero, taking Swampy on a tour of the country, the underbelly of American culture, really scarier than just things that go bump in the night, the American Gothic, pre-Trump Amerika.

Oh, but underneath all this is a love story, Swampy’s love of Abby, his essentially Back to the Earth goodness and commitment to help people. He’s Doc Alec, after all, who only wanted to be in love and help heal the earth. And now he’s organic, eternally regenerating swampy, who will be here long after we have self-destructed. Whew, sometimes you have to be kicked and prodded to really experience something. Thanks, Greg and Paul. Magic, mysticism, the occult, political and cultural critique, his love of mid century pulp commix, of comics history, all the great Moore themes are in here, and love above and through it all. Women and woman spirit and feminism and love as what could (but may well not) save Mother Earth, Moore urges to see. This is comics greatness.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The look on your face when you pay a guy to give your old car a tune up and he ends up rebuilding your engine and giving it a new paint job too, effectively giving you a new car.



That’s the same look DC execs must have had after a year of Alan Moore rebuilding and giving a new world building to Saga of the Swamp Thing back in the mid 80s.

“Wow, that worked out even better than we hoped”

DC and Moore were on to something big and then he hit the nitro button and the revamped title introduced John Constantine in issue 37. Swamp Thing would continue to impress fans, the title would grow in popularity, Moore would inspire another generation of comic book writers and the Constantine character would go on to have his own Hellblazer title and more and more fame.

This third installment in the Alan Moore Swamp Thing collection puts all this together and more, demonstrating Moore’s genius and making this as cool as a February morning in Houma.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Swamp Thing is getting better now. A few stories kinda had me yawning, but most of them were fantastic.

The most standout, at least for me, was The Curse. That one had me laughing out loud and fist pumping. This is the first one that I can say was truly brilliant. Woman Power!!! :)

The close second is the rest of the stores with Constantine playing guide and snarky teacher to Swamp Thing, which could have been hokey but instead just lets us enjoy a bit of a power up. :) It's nice not being so... limited, anymore. I mean, he's supposed to be one big plant connected to the Green, right? Not just some entity eating a bunch of fertilizer, right? Open your mind, greenie, open your mind.... :)

I didn't like nukeface so much, though. I found my mind wandering. *sigh* But at least that gave greenie the chance to explore some possibilities, so I'm not gonna complain so much.

Definitely starting to shape up in a very nice way. I can finally see the potential that everyone keeps talking about. I hope it only gets better, and I'm pretty sure it will.

[Dan Schwent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Three collects issues #35-42 of Saga of the Swamp Thing.

In this volume, Alan Moore and company set Swamp Thing against a toxic waste swilling wino, aquatic vampries, a were wolf, and zombies, all the while learning new things about himself and getting led around the nose by John Constantine.

I give Alan Moore a lot of flack for being a crabby old warlock but the man was great at writing comics. Constantine is Swamp Thing's disreputable tour guide as he goes up against some classic monsters reflected through Moore's imaginative lens. Old Swampy's abilities are explored and expanded, leaving me hungry for the coming cataclysm that's been hinted at.

Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, and Alfredo Alcala supply some great visuals, from rotting corpses to a werewolf to crazy aquatic vampires to British wizards who look like Sting of the Police. It feels like EC comics from grown-ups at times. My one gripe with this collection is that Abbie Cable doesn't do a whole lot, although she did have a hallucinatory sex romp with Swamp Thing in the last book so I'll cut her some slack.

This Alan Moore guy might have a future in the comics business. Four out of five stars.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Alan Moore’s “Saga of the Swamp Thing”, Book Three, one of the stories delightfully (and disgustingly) brought to memory a 1987 horror movie classic (one that I have not watched in its entirety, nor will I ever) entitled “Street Trash”, which is apparently a cult classic in a subgenre known as “melt movies”. (If that doesn’t give you any indication of what the movies are about, tough shit: I’m not going to say another word about them. Google them your damn self…)

Interestingly, “The Nukeface Papers, Parts 1 and 2” (Issues #35-36) pre-dated “Street Trash” by two years. I would not be surprised if the producers of that film were “Swamp Thing” fans. ‘Nuff said.

Book Three also included: mer-vampires, feminist werewolves, restless ghosts of antebellum slaves, and the introduction of John Constantine (who was clearly modeled after Sting).

This series just gets better and better…

[Britton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moore once joked that it was here where he accidentally created the Vertigo universe and imprint, and in many ways it's true. If it wasn't for Moore's contributions to Swamp Thing and bucking the Comics Code for good, then we probably wouldn't have gotten Vertigo and the revival of American comics as we know it. Moore also introduced Vertigo's flagship character John Constantine, who would go on to become Vertigo's major title alongside Gaiman's The Sandman, making the careers of other maverick creators like Jaime Delano, Garth Ennis, Andy Diggle, and Brian Azzerello, among others. It is him who ties all of the stories in this trade together, and in the trades to come as well. As much as he's a reluctant ally, he is the sly trickster that we'd come to know in Hellblazer, often pointing Swamp Thing to where he needs to go, and then allows Swamp Thing to do the work for him.

I often like to joke with friends that this trade is like if Alan Moore decided to take on writing The X-Files, though written about a muck and crusted monstrosity and not two scrappy FBI agents who are thrown into the world of the supernatural. Moore's versatility and variety of theme, character, and tone continues to shine throughout this trade, and is even more apparent in this trade. The stories vary in tone and atmosphere, but are linked together to create a whole. We begin with the American Gothic story arc, exploring the issues and wounds that continue to haunt America centuries after they occurred, using monsters and ghouls to explore the horrors that live deep inside of America, the ones that we choose to try and avoid, but often rear their ugly heads at the most inopportune time.

Moore once said that Americans prefer to forget about the past, and in many ways he's right. It's why such issues as the recent Black Lives Matter and tensions over race continue to boil over, decades after the fact. Our tendency to try and forget and ignore unpleasantries is what often bites us in the ass in the end, and Moore had a keen understanding of this before we came to this realization...though I suppose it makes sense, us Yankees have always seemed to be late to the party.

Yet Moore, as usual, never seeks to talk down to or insult his audience's intelligence, his focus is on telling a good story, with the political commentary and satire being subtext to keep things spicy for the people who want to look deeper. Some other great stories appear in this trade, such as The Nukeface Papers arc, The Curse, and Southern Change arc. With these stories, Moore uses classic monsters like vampires, ghosts, and my personal favorite werewolves to explore the tensions and issues surrounding America such as racism, sexism, nuclear waste, and so on. As much as Moore wants to entertain his audience, he never allows for them to escape the world, but to experience and confront it.

Bissette and Totleben's art continues to impress, but the real winner of this volume is Rick Veitch, who took on their style, morphed it into his own, and managed to create a similar style to Bissette and Totleben's. It is the sign of a true draughtsman, though Stan Woch, Ron Randell, and Alfredo Alcala aren't slouches either, and also manage to replicate Bissette and Totleben's style as well as they can in their ability, though Bissette and Totleben reign over all of them, with their scratchy, unpleasant style continuing to add to the horror and suspense of the series that made it as unique as it was.

Reading this makes me wish that more mainstream runs in comics were like it, as while many have taken inspiration from Moore and his approach to superhero comics, I've found that they've taken the wrong clues and hints from Moore's lessons. There's a few, like Claremont's X-Men or Ewing's recent take on the Immortal Hulk that dares come close to what Moore achieved, but no one has managed to surpass, and as thus the wait continues.

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing" ought to be considered a seminal work in comics. Far ahead of its time, Moore's graceful prose and serious themes captured the minds of readers. The third volume collects issues 35-42 of "Swamp Thing". It is brilliant.

The first story covers that of Nukeface. Inspired by the underground mine fire in Centralia, Pa. Nukeface makes a pointed statement about the nuclear waste.

Then the story gets really interesting, where we are introduced to John Constantine making his first appearance in Swamp Thing. The mysterious Constantine manipulates Swamp Thing into going to a town named Rosewood. The town had been buried in the flood but something stayed alive and is very hungry. I loved this creepy vampire story.

The next story revolves around an ancient Indian curse and a werewolf. Also a great story.

The final part covers the trifecta of horrors with zombies on a cursed Southern Plantation.

Nukeface, Constantine, vampires, werewolves, and zombies. All in one volume. The stories are superb and original. I was glad to see Constantine appear. Great volume for any Alan Moore fan.

[Antonomasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading these comics - initially just issue 37 (this volume contains 35-42) - for John Constantine's first appearance before the character got his own series, two and a half years later, in Hellblazer. But once I decided to read the rest, after the first Hellblazer collection, I found them, 40-42 especially, to be seriously excellent stories in their own right (in which Constantine doesn't really figure). They made me understand why Alan Moore's mid-1980s revival of Swamp Thing, his first big break in comics, is so highly thought of.

The Constantine in these has a somewhat meaner edge than in the incarnations I'd previously encountered the character. (In Sandman where he retrieves a magical artefact from an ex-girlfriend who is now a dying addict in pain, and asks Dream to grant her a peaceful death. And in the TV series, where, whilst he might use a phrase from the comics like "I'm a nasty piece of work", he's not as bad as anybody with much life experience would assume, on the basis of 'when someone tells you who they are, listen'. The phrase ends up sounding more like guilt framed in bravado, combined with intimidation of potential enemies; and the character is closer to the film noir protagonist whose outfits his resemble.)

Most significantly, and different from the TV version, here in these comics Constantine keeps his cards close to his chest and won't tell others how much he knows - obviously a useful device for a writer to create suspense. This is a character who provokes a reaction less of fancying (unlike the TV incarnation) and more of steepled fingers and a detached "very interesting": waiting to see, and perhaps guessing, what might happen next - and because he has an unusual and curious degree of ambiguity, even if one is quite used to anti-heroes, flawed heroes &c.

There are seeds which would later be developed into his backstory - it's very interesting seeing what room for manoeuvre an early scene does or does not leave a writer. (Or in the case of comics, subsequent authors.)
His American girlfriend says "You know what my dad says about Englishmen?" This is most likely to mean he says they are all gay (using some common slur of the era). Constantine retorts that if he ever meets her dad he'll chin him; if one knows it was later overtly established that Constantine is bisexual, it puts an extra spin on it. (And makes you wonder if he was out about that to this girlfriend.) But the reaction could have also just been old-fashioned working class male pride. Whereas when, in a bar, a loutish friend of a friend casually says "who's this fruitloop?" and Constantine has so much barely-suppressed anger that he breaks the glass he was holding, that has to mean something.

SFF universes inspire one another, yet the connections one makes still surprise me. The first drawings of Constantine here, where he is still more dapper than scruffy, look uncannily like my idea of DCI Nightingale in the more recent occult detective series Rivers of London (formed before that series became a comic too). And panels picturing a seedling reminded me of one in the American Gods TV series.

The nuclear waste story in Swamp Thing 35-36 apparently impressed readers at the time, and artistically it has good use of cut up newspaper clippings. Underwater vampires (in 38-39) were a new idea to me so points for that on its own, never mind combining that with a story about a dam. (I've not read or watched anywhere near as much SFF as some friends, but 10 or 11% of my read books on GR are SFF, so I think that counts for something.) However one character in that story might lose favour from some contemporary readers for fattism.

I read that the werewolf story of #40 was "controversial", but I've not bothered to look into this further. On the one hand, it now looks insensitive to have used the idea of an indigenous tradition of menstrual huts as backdrop for it. (And especially as the characters with supernatural powers, investigating a surge in uncanny events and monsters, could travel almost anywhere, it would have been a safer cultural choice to set it in Europe and invent a localised tradition instead.) But on the other, if anyone is saying the werewolf/ severe PMS metaphor is sexist, I don't think they know anyone who's ever suffered really badly with it. Moore must have talked to at least one woman who had; the emotional details were very accurate, especially becoming aware of the uselessness of the excess rage and the awfulness of being stuck with it. Even whilst the cultural aspect of this storyline is unfortunate, the cross-sex writing here is a great example of why talented authors should write outside their own direct personal experience. It made me very grateful that I don't experience it that badly all the time (mostly when I was younger, or at times it's exacerbated by another medical issue), and I felt terrible for the poor sods who do, like my old hairdresser where I used to live, who said hers led to her divorce.

The final storyline in this volume, although written 35 years ago, still feels all too relevant, because of campaigns of the last couple of years about tourism at former plantations in the American South, and how it has often hidden the history of slavery and related atrocities. Here, a TV historical drama is being filmed at an old plantation house, and actors find themselves speaking names and lines they hadn't expected - names of people who lived there 140 years earlier.

I also found myself warming to the characters of Swamp Thing and especially his partner Abby, as I read further, and am now happy to read more about them. This made Constantine's amorality stand out more: when I first read #37 I didn't know anything about Abby and Swamp Thing or their alignments, and so Constantine's blackmail-like threat that her employers could hear about her unconventional living arrangements didn't have the impact it did when re-read later. This all made more sense of her reaction to him in Hellblazer #10, which had previously looked to me like one of those generic old fashioned scenes in which a woman is shown to get unfairly stroppy with a man about things that were forseeable and accidental.

The writing throughout is clearly very good, but it was only in a handful of scenes (almost all about Swamp Thing's inner consciousness) that I found the description as potently evocative as Jamie Delano's in the first Hellblazer collection. Though reading that has perhaps shown me a new way to experience comics, and I found here that I would sometimes spontaneously imagine, without effort, sounds to go with the words and pictures in certain panels. The occasional reader or non-reader of comics may think of them as mostly about the art, but these have shown me how very important the writing is. When you have fewer words to work with, they need to be really good.

[Brett C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great continuation of the Saga of the Swamp Man. I'm beginning to appreciate the style, formatting, storyline, and artwork more and more now. The plot and the introduction of the various arcs progress like a comic series would. This is different from V for Vendetta or From Hell, which are long, narrative-type graphic novels. I'm keepin' on and starting the next volume now. Highly recommended for comic, graphic novel, and Alan Moore fans! Thanks!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another really good book in this series! This had the first appearance of Constantine, which is a major reason I picked up this series which I enjoyed as well as the more horror sided stories this book had made for a fun read.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the Nukeface story based on the real town of Centralia, PA where the fires are still supposed to be burning underground, we get the introduction of John Constantine. Hells yes! Constantine is one of my all time favorite characters in the DC canon. Here, he keeps randomly popping up, stringing Swamp Thing along and growing his powers as the coming apocalypse gets closer. Swamp Thing is running around the country dealing with the issues of the day with a horror spin on them. It's all just great stuff. So is the art.

[Priskah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,0 ✨✨✨

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swamp Thing gives a bunch of new stories that all range in quality, and with that, it is probably the weakest volume for me so far.

I still enjoyed the majority of this. I think the best story is actually the one focused on basically pollution and creating a monster from us using up the earth's resources, tus becoming the ultimate villain for Swamp Thing. On top of that we finally see good old Hellblazer and he is for sure a piece of shit here as always. But he leads Swampy around the world where he must face things like Werewolves and Racism. Yep.

The werewolf storyline is a weird one. Somewhat good in parts, and love the fact we get a strong feminist character but the end...what the hell? And the Racism plot, again parts are great, but the overall storyline feels weak. Though I do love all the moments with Swamp Thing and Abby.

Overall, a mix pot for me on this one. Nothing bad, but a bit messy. Overall, a 3.5 out of 5.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

New review: I bump my 3.5 to a 4 since I really loved the werewolf storyline this time. But the spirits haunting the movie set one still kind of eh on. Rest good to great.

Old review: Swamp Thing gives a bunch of new stories that all range in quality, and with that, it is probably the weakest volume for me so far.

I still enjoyed the majority of this. I think the best story is actually the one focused on basically pollution and creating a monster from us using up the earth's resources, tus becoming the ultimate villain for Swamp Thing. On top of that we finally see good old Hellblazer and he is for sure a piece of shit here as always. But he leads Swampy around the world where he must face things like Werewolves and Racism. Yep.

The werewolf storyline is a weird one. Somewhat good in parts, and love the fact we get a strong feminist character but the end...what the hell? And the Racism plot, again parts are great, but the overall storyline feels weak. Though I do love all the moments with Swamp Thing and Abby.

Overall, a mix pot for me on this one. Nothing bad, but a bit messy. Overall, a 3.5 out of 5.

[Kandice · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Constantine! Did that come across as a squeal, because it was meant to. I love Constantine and he shows up in this volume. Make a girl happy! :D

I could gush about this (really anything Moore touches) for quite a while, but don't need to. The stories inside were amazing. Alec learns just what he is capable of and then does it. Well.

Constantine leads him on a merry chase in search of knowledge about himself and he does get a little, but he also helps people in the chase. People he would not other wise have helped or even been aware of.

The final story features a film crew making a movie on the site of an old slave plantation. Do these places have anything other than horrid histories? I don't think so, but this plantation has an unusually evil story and the souls of those that endured it begin to animate in the film crew and actors. Brilliant!

I wish Moore were still writing Swamp Thing. There are so many stories Moore could tell and ST belongs on the pages of a book because film just would not do him justice.

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still pretty good. This was a tougher read than previous volumes for some reason. In volume three, Moore continues to touch on a variety of topics that are as relevant today as they were when he initially wrote the book, such as racism, misogyny, feminism and, of course, pollution and ecology. The writing is still great, the art is still breathtaking, but I still feel like this series is just starting to gain some momentum, even though I am halfway through already. I don't have this feeling that I immediately have to read the next book after finishing the previous one. Not necessarily a bad thing, just the way it is structured and written.

[Eddie B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wished that was true (concerning supernatural horror). But in this volume stories started to get more.. political.








Not that I mind a clever commentary on the real "troubles" that might be still plaguing our world to this day. I liked that the stories were clearly trying to paint a bigger picture, through visiting some classical themes of horror. In my opinion the best crafted story here was "Swamp Thing #41: Southern Change".

Finally, here are a couple of my favourite moments:

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Book Three of Saga of the Swamp Thing doesn't include my favourite Swamp Thing moment (that has to be Abby and the Swamp Thing's consummation in Book Two) nor my favourite Swamp Thing arc (that is still the Floronic Man Green vs. Red arc from Book One), it is, perhaps, the most consistently excellent of the Moore years so far -- and it does contain my favourite single issue: "The Curse."

It begins with the creepy "The Nukeface Papers," wherein Swamp Thing begins to understand the breadth of his powers. It is a tale where the horror of 80s environmental concerns take the shape of a nuclear waste drinking bum, who inadvertently "kills" Swamp Thing. The eco-criticism at the heart of this arc -- which includes newspaper clippings from an imagined coal mining disaster juxtaposed with real world 3-Mile island articles -- is particularly chilling considering how little those dangers have changed since 1985.

It continues into a creepy Vampire arc, where a clan of Vampires and their horrifying Vampire Queen -- a morbidly obese, bloated carrier of countless fishlike Vampire eggs -- live beneath the still waters of a manmade lake, a lake that sprang up over an old town because of a dam project. Again, ecological concerns are firmly in place, but the macabre kookiness is in the frightening progeny of the Vampires and the bizarre way Swamp Thing deals with their presence.

Next up is "The Curse" -- a werewolf story with an extended menstruation metaphor that is a shockingly prescient scream of patriarchal ubiquity.

Then the book wraps up with a zombie tale, wherein the roots of racism have sunk themselves into the earth surrounding a Louisiana plantation, and then those roots reveal the ease with which others can find themselves engaging in racism despite their belief that they have moved beyond such things.

Add to all of this brilliance the dirty, nicotine stained fingers of John Constantine (looking as he did for so many of his early years as Dune-era Sting), and Book Three of Saga of the Swamp Thing is a high point for the Moore-Bissette-Totleben collaboration.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Constantine has his first appearance in this volume, little more than a shadow of what he'd eventually develop into. Here, he's a mysterious figure who shows up unannounced to smirk cryptically at the main characters. Constantine aside, this looks to be the start of a larger overarching story, with the immediate result of giving Swamp Thing a decent power up and continuing the development of his relationship with Abby. I do appreciate that it's being developed episodically, especially since that gives Moore the ability to work on a lot of different concepts in one collection. The werewolf story is particularly arresting in its bleakness.

[Wing Kee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

World: Great art that matches the story and great world building that expands the world and slowly grows the world more and more for Swamp Thing. The pieces we have here with John Constantine's introduction to the world and what that leads is amazing. The pieces of the supernatural world of the DCU this series touches is fun. It's amazing.

Story: The story went somewhere I did not expect. I was thinking we would be stuck in the swamp but that's not the case. The world building that allows Swamp Thing to go anywhere is amazing and ties into the lore and mythos of the green and it's wonderful. The pieces of the larger DCU world we are getting in the story and the introduction of John Constantine are great. It's wonderful, I don't want to ruin it for readers, but if you've reached this far in Moore's run you are in for a treat.

Characters: What can I say, Moore introduces us to one of the DC's biggest supernatural characters John Constantine and it's great. It's not in your face and it's done as a tossaway that supports Alec's story. Alec goes through a lot of growth (pun intended) this arc and it's great, giving him new powers that tie into the Green and building towards something bigger is great, he's deep and layered. Abby is also wonderful being a strong character in her own right and has her own story to tell. It's sooo good!

This book is just sooo good.

Onward to the next book!

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Swamp Thing has fully shed its past and the complicated threads of Alec Holland's old life. What has been born now is something different from before - the story of a girl in love with a monster, or rather, a plant. Here is the richness of the swamp in all of its glory, and the Swamp Thing beginning to realize the truth of what he is and what he is capable of. He is the environment turned sentient, the vast superorganism of all the plants in the world. Like the plants he is made up of, he is capable of regeneration, of growth, and of harnessing far more power than one might think possible. After all, the earth itself creates the mountains, why shouldn't it be capable of moving them? Roots run deep, after all...

This volume sees John Constantine introduced and along with him the threat of something... something without a name coming. Is it Satan, Cthulu, or something far more? All that we know is that strange things are beginning to rear their ugly heads. Vampires living underwater, a female werewolf who's change is tied up in her own menstrual cycle, and zombies unable to sleep for how horrific the past was for them. This was a surprisingly relevant comic that treated complex issues in a way reminiscent of the best of the old Twilight Zone episodes.

Needless to say, this comic was fantastic. I can understand fully how this run garnered so much praise and fond memory. It deserves every bit of it and to be well-remembered indeed.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um novo hobby: ler tudo fora de ordem

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third Volume of the Swamp Thing Saga runs back into the horror vein, but still is very high quality work and very much a book about humanity and the fears and things that scare us and motivate us. This is also one that examines social issues, with stories about Toxic Waste, Women's Rights, Racism, alongside more Horrific fare such as Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first and second volumes, but it is still VERY good stuff. It's a great book that shows you the creature who embodies the best of humanity isn't even a human at all, but rather, an Earth Elemental.

Swamp Thing also learns he's far more powerful than he ever thought, after some help from a new source, a character who would come into his own soon after: John Constantine. Constantine comes across as a nebulous character, neither good nor evil, but more of a survivor and even a witness to the strangeness of the world around him. It's a great intro for a character, who we know would go on to have a great 'life' of his own.

Worth reading for sure, but Vol 1 & 2 are the indispensable ones.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous two in the series (or set of bind ups). I liked the introduction of Constantine, but wow, I always forget he is a bit of a jerk!

The last couple issues in this one have a storyline that includes disturbing storylines involving racism which I wasn't expecting, and wanted to note in case that's helpful to know going in for anyone. I will keep reading, but I hope that that storyline is completed and doesn't resurface. We shall see.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moore's story arc just grows better and deeper with each volume - This series is up there with The Sandman in regard to ongoing episodic story-telling and I'm so glad that I decided to take this journey through the swamp.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. My favorite so far. Loved seeing Constantine.

Viva Swamp Thing!

[Ondra Král · Rating 5 out of 5]

DCKK mě navnadilo na opáčko celého Bažináče a furt je to strašně skvělý.

[David Cordero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here some of the best stories in Alan’s historic run so far. Bissette and Totleben’s art is unmatched here also.