July 31, 2002
By Tom Grozan
Swamp Boogie, Part 1
To say that writer Mark Millar has a high profile at the moment is something of an understatement. Not only does he have two series in the top 20 (THE ULTIMATES and ULTIMATE X-MEN), he just launched a new website, Millarworld and a weekly column at Comic Book Resources. Plus, his work on everyone's favorite aborted comic THE AUTHORITY and the yet-to-be-released new YOUNGBLOOD mini-series with Rob Liefeld has made him a controversy magnet and a go-to source for outrageous sound bites. But before all that, back in 1994, a young unknown Scottish writer took over Vertigo's flagship title SWAMP THING and raised it back up to heights not seen since Alan Moore wrote the rule book for modern-day comic horror suspense on the series nearly a decade before.
SWAMP THING has a long and varied history. Alan Moore created the blueprint for what would become Vertigo with his ground-breaking work on the comic in the mid-eighties creating characters and concepts (The Parliament Of Trees, John Constantine) that defined the series and are still in play today. Writer/artist Rick Veitch seamlessly took over for Moore and had an inspired run on the book before he abruptly left in protest when DC refused to print his story where Swamp Thing meets Jesus Christ. After that, SWAMP THING meandered creatively for a number of years; first, with the ill-conceived and best forgotten run of Doug Wheeler and then with the bland domesticity that became the status quo of Nancy Collins' tenure. By the mid-nineties, the series was in danger of being cancelled and needed a shot in the arm. It got it in the creative team of Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Phil Hester. Grant Morrison, coming off a legendarily innovative run on ANIMAL MAN was brought on for name recognition for the first story arc, but the show clearly belonged to the two newcomers. They quickly injected a well-needed dose of unsettling horror back into the book all while building the mythos and interweaving entertaining bits of obscure DC arcana into the mix. The result is a brilliant run that stands right next to Moore/Veitch heyday.
 |
Issues 140-143 "Bad Gumbo"
Written by Grant Morrison & Mark Millar
Art by Phil Hester and Kim DeMulder
Shades of Bobby Ewing abound as Doctor Alec Holland awakes in Peru from a four-month long coma brought on by an overindulgence in the native plant hallucinogens he is researching. After regaining consciousness, he tells the anthropologists on site with him that he dreamed an elaborately detailed and realistic world in which he was a swamp god. However, all is not as it seems and news of a Swamp Monster on a murderous rampage in Louisiana draws Dr. Holland back to the States under the manipulative guidance of the odd trio of shaman Don Roberto, El Senor Blake, and The Traveler, all of whom have their own mystical agenda.
They explain to Alec that he was the Swamp Thing. The Parliament of Trees, frustrated with the rebellious nature of his humanity, cast out his human core, leaving the swamp monster as a force of raw nature. The human part of him erected a new body based on the scraps of his former memories. He is warned that if he doesn't reunite with the Swamp Monster and reclaim his powers, the creature will hunt down and kill his wife, Abby Arcane. He tracks Abby and the creature to the New Mexico desert were he reclaims his body and powers only to have Abby reject him in the end, tired of the madness goes with being connected to the SWAMP THING.
The purpose of this arc is mainly to dismantle the status quo and set up future storylines. As such, it was a perfect jumping on point for new readers. Anyone with a working knowledge of the Moore stories could easily get acclimated to the new direction. Morrison and Millar quickly amp up the stakes and give a sense of urgency long absent from the book. All vestiges of Nancy Collins' kinder, gentler Swamp Thing are stripped away with the mindless Swamp Monster's gruesome massacre of the Cajun Village. Phil Hester's art is perfectly suited for horror and gore. In these early issues, Kim DeMuldar's inks are heavy, giving Hester's pencils a more detailed line-intensive look. One of the fun things about reading this run is seeing Hester's current angular style develop.
 |
Issues 144-150 "The Sorcerer"
The Swamp Thing is now on the run from both the Parliament of Trees and the government, who are both seeking to destroy him. The Parliament, so that they can replace him with a less sentimental entity and the government for the Cajun massacre. Told by the mysterious trio that he should make his stand in the magical Black Forest where the Parliament has less power, the Swamp Thing is making his way to Europe disguised as his dead friend Matt Cable.
This storyline mixes in smaller tales on its way to building to the big climax. The first of these is when Swamp Thing goes to the church where he and his first wife Linda were married, to pray for relief from his current despair. There he encounters Father Kelly, a good priest who was tricked into Hell by a Retriever, a demon whose job is to remove forces of good from deprived communities. Father Kelly tells Swamp Thing that a ripe human is considered a delicacy in the pit, and a good priest the ultimate prize. The Father has been given an hour respite to counsel Swamp Thing and warns him not to venture into the Black Forest because The Sorcerer has returned. When the demon returns to take him back to Hell, Swamp Thing begs him not to go but Father Kelly says that he has been chosen as the Lord's missionary in Hell and goes back in. Afterward, the demon tells Swamp Thing that God does not heed the damned and they temporarily released him from Hell to increase his torment. The Demon then gives him the card of a prostitute in Amsterdam who caters to those with "special needs". Swamp Thing is shocked when he sees the name on the card is that of his dead wife Linda Holland.
When he reaches the Black Forest he finds that the Sorcerer is Sargon, the Sorcerer who had died back during Moore's run on the book. Sargon has returned to life by having his soul enter the body of a coma patient. In reaction to the bleakness of his afterlife he steals the forbidden fruit of Adam & Eve from the Vatican and, from it, he has regrown the Tree of Knowledge, through which he and all the lost and damned souls will ascend to heaven and create a new order. When Swamp Thing confronts Sargon, he's attacked by the Parliament of Stones' champion. On the ropes and with the accession of the tree in progress, Swamp Thing desperately re-enters the green and uses his powers to defeat Strong and transmute the tree, closing off the gate to heaven. It is then that he finds out that this was the first of four tests involving the earth, water, fire, and air which he must pass to gain command over all the Earth's elements.
From his first solo issue, Millar immediately sets the tone that we are playing by a different set of rules. Father Kelly's unfortunate fate brings the horror element to the forefront, not in its supernatural elements, but in the fact that bad things are going to happen to characters that we get attached to and sympathize with. Millar also plays with the horror of real-life depravity in the Amsterdam stories. The grotesque fetishes depicted are so disturbing that they could keep you up at night. This is definitely not for the squeamish. It's made all the more scary by the realization that things like this really exist.
It's with the "Sorcerer" storyline that the bigger picture starts to emerge from the cryptic hints and the motivations of the mysterious three become clearer. The existence of the Parliaments of Stone, Water, Fire and Air are an ingeniously logical progression for Swamp Things elemental concept. Millar paces this over-reaching arc with smaller character vignettes that build toward the greater whole. This technique is exemplified in the next story arc, "River Run," which is some of Millar's best work. Millar also playfully incorporates his love of past continuity without making the story incomprehensible. Nelson Strong is from the old Charlton comic MONSTER HUNTERS and Sargon is a nod to Alan Moore's work on the book. All of this is expertly illustrated by Hester and DeMulder, whose realistic and expressive character work make the horror all the more shocking. They also give the climax its epic bigness and lend weight to Millar's treatment of Swamp Thing not as a elemental god but as the ultimate superhero.
Be back next week for part II of our examination of Mark Millar and Phil Hester's SWAMP THING run. Also let me know what you think in the Shoot-Back section. Do you want me feature in-depth looks at longer comic runs every once in awhile or stick to multiple recommendations of shorter stories and trade paperbacks?
SHOOT-BACK HERE! |
ARCHIVES
