The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37-40

The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37-40

Originally released in 1985

Written by Alan Moore

Art by Rick Veitch (#37), Stan Woch (#38), Steve Bissette (#39-40)

Where I last left off with Swamp Thing, he was dead.  He gets better.  Swamp Thing is slowly developing an understanding of his powers, regrowing his body and trying to think less like a human, since thinking like a person limits what he is capable of.

Helping him to understand his powers, sort of, is John Constantine, a mysterious man who has ties to the occult.  Looking up this issue to double check when it came out, I was surprised to learn that this was his first appearance.  The art, particularly by Rick Veitch, has him look haunted, like he's seen far too much in too short of a timespan.

Constantine clearly knows a lot about Swamp Thing's situation, but he's not exactly telling him much. (Constantine is kind of a jerk)  He does tell him one useful thing about his condition, though - if Swamp Thing can reform his body out of any plant material, he can travel anywhere on Earth where plants exist.

This issue seems to take place around the time of Crisis On Infinite Earths, if the mention of red skies is any indication, though the connection between Swamp Thing and Crisis is limited exclusively to that so far. It seems like everyone involved, both in and out of the comic, couldn't care less about this world-shattering saga, and business continues as usual for Swamp Thing, Abby, and Constantine.

Anton Arcane brought Hell to Earth, but this issue deals with more classical horror elements.  Swamp Thing apparently fought vampires in an earlier issue, and flooded the town that they were in to stop them, but this backfired to say the least.  Deep beneath the surface of the newly formed lake, the sunlight does not reach them, allowing them to thrive and form a community.

As a result, there's even vampire children, though they look decidedly unhumanoid.   The description of the children tearing into each other until only one remains is vivid and unsettling - a picture may be worth a thousand words, but words tell a story that the creators likely couldn't get away with using pictures.

Swamp Thing also encounters a werewolf with ties to Native American practices.  Constantine is sending Swamp Thing after these supernatural threats because he believes that there's a greater conspiracy at play, though it's unclear if this is actually the case.

There seems to be some limitations in terms of content - when Constantine cuts his hand on glass, his blood is black rather than red - then again, I'm not overly familiar with the character, so maybe that's supposed to be the case, but it doesn't seem like they could get away with showing red blood.  However, since Swamp Thing is a mass of plants, they can get away with a lot more with him.

These stories are unsettling for the most part, though there's a sweet moment when Abby and Swamp Thing reunite.  Horror comics were a big deal before the creation of the Comics Code Authority, and it feels like the creators are channeling that when making this series.  Also, weirdly enough, I can see shades of the characterization of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen in Swamp Thing, and I'm starting to feel concerned that he's going to wind up drifting further and further away from humanity, and Abby in particular.