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Tue Mar 24, 2009 — by Esther Friesner
Review: The Rabbi's Cat
Je peux avoir du burger au fromage?
In my misspent youth I took French lessons and am able to get through Paris without causing International Incidents. My reading skills in French are better than my ability to speak it, and that’s okay: I like to think you get into less trouble with an open book than an open mouth. Little Did I Know.
So I’ve got this friend, brilliant fellow-writer Nalo Hopkinson, and one day she asked me if I could read French. Why yes; yes, I can, I replied. And I was thereupon treated to that rare phenomenon, the ability to hear via e-mail someone rubbing their hands together in fiendish glee and chortling “Mwahaha!” Soon after that, the mail brought to my innocent hands a French graphic novel called Le Chat Du Rabin, aka The Rabbi's Cat
The Rabbi's Cat
There is also a parrot. It is a very loud and talkative parrot. It is an obnoxious parrot. It is a highly inconvenient parrot and so, cat’s being cats, soon it is an EX-parrot! (Oh, how I’ve wanted to say that!)
And under the enchanting rules of Sfar’s fiction, in a miraculous moment, because he has eaten a talking parrot, the rabbi’s cat can now talk!
Mon Mar 23, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Quantum of Solace' on DVD
Having grown up on James Bond movies, I have been conditioned to expect certain lines, images and sounds. As a result, I was curious to see what would survive when the franchise was rebooted with Casino Royale
The movie was pretty terrific although I noted at the time that the pacing was odd and the entire final third felt like a separate film. So, going into Quantum of Solace
The events from Casino provide Bond’s motivations and colors everything he does in this film. Here’s the first problem with the new film: it does a piss poor job of reminding you what happened in the previous installment. When Mathis is reintroduced, I had forgotten who he was and what his involvement with Bond and Vesper were. Similarly, when Bond says M was wrong about Vesper, I have no recollection what she said in the previous film.
While Bond films are known for their action sequences, this one felt by rote. We had fist fights, a car chase, a boat chase and a plane chase. Ho hum. They were uninvolving thanks to what I call “in your face” editing so things flash by so quickly, you have no real sense of what’s going on. You get impressions based on the glimpses you have in your field of vision. Storytelling is tossed out the window for style but leaves you either confused or frustrated.
The movie is praised for being a taut two hours but I would have dearly enjoyed ten more minutes if characters actually spoke to one another as characters not plot exposition and surface characterization. Also, the movie utterly ignores time. You have no idea how much time has passed from the first scene to the last. We have no idea how Bond changes his clothes so often, when he sleeps, eats and so on. After having no access to money or passports, we next see him in a boat heading to see Mathis. How?
It wasn’t all disappointing.
Sun Mar 22, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Tales of the Black Freighter'
One of the key differences between watching Watchmen and reading the complete book is the rich variety of extras in print. In addition to the story, there was the secondary story, Tales of the Black Freighter, in addition to newspaper clippings and excerpts from Hollis Mason’s Under the Hood. Initially, these extras were never considered but were instead added after DC’s management wisely decided the maxiseries should appear without advertising. Freed, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons filled the pages with rich context, inviting readers further into their imagined universe and making for a more fulfilling reading experience.
Watching Tales of the Black Freighter
The animated version of the pirate comic book looks nothing like Gibbons’ art (or for that matter, the one page Joe Orlando contributed) but more generic. Having said that, it uses Gerard Butler’s narration to great effect along with a muted color palette. The actual animation is fine as is the music but it’s the haunting story of one man’s survival from the wreck of the Black Freighter (a named plucked from Berthold Brecht) and how this experience has changed him. In many ways, it’s Moore’s contribution to an issue of House of Mystery, but it also shows the kind of escapist literature read by the denizens of a world where Dr. Manhattan exists. The animation runs about 26 minutes and does a nice job overall. You hear Nina Simone’s version of “Pirate Jenny”, also on the soundtrack disc, over the final credits, further tying the pirate to Brecht.
Also on the disc is a mockumentary that delves into how prime time would have featured Under the Hood’s release in 1975 with a retrospective look fro 1985. Many of the Minutemen appear on camera in one way or another, from faux newsreel footage to on camera interviews, and this fleshes out the Watchmen’s world quite well. The interviews, the probing questions, and television advertising of the era (along with some for Veidt-produced products) make for a nifty 38 minutes.
Will your appreciation for Snyder’s film change by watching this? Probably not, but it does help immerse you further into this world and you can appreciate the effort, be entertained, and find more context for the world.
"Story within a Story" is a nice look at these supplemental features as former DC president Jenette Kahn, current DC President & Publisher Paul Levitz, Senior VP Richard Bruning, and initial Watchmen editor Len Wein all talk about the evolution of the backup material and how it became integral to the story. Some of the cast and crew also discuss the movie’s fidelity to the source material and how much fun it was to make.
The disc comes with trailers for the Watchmen, its video game, Terminator: Salvation, and the Green Lantern featurette also found on the Wonder Woman disc. You can either get this now or hope it is all included in some mega set down the road.
Wed Mar 11, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Australia'
Baz Luhrman is a visual director. Couple him with fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman; one would expect a strong story with terrific scenery and fine performances.
Instead, we got a faded postcard called Australia
About the only thing unique about the story is the plight of the half-Caucasian/half-Aborigines children taken away by missionaries during this era to have the “savage” beaten out of them. As a result, the most interesting characters in the film are the “creamy” Nullah and his silent grandfather King George (played by the veteran David Gulpilil).
Jackman may never win an Oscar for his work, but he’s a versatile, entertaining actor who handles action and romance with equal aplomb. His Droper smolders throughout the movie and his understanding of the aboriginal people is sympathetic in contrast to just about every other Caucasian in the movie.
Kidman’s Lady Sarah goes from spoiled Englishwoman to gun-toting, hard drinking native without any in-between steps and feels unnatural. Instead of a nuanced performance, which she’s capable of, she feels like she did this to work from home and not that she had any real affinity for the role or story.
Luhrman also seems more interested in the landscape of his native land than the performances which are more two-dimension than we’re used to. The pacing is languid, even for the action sequences, and overall the movie just lays there. It did not perform well at the box office and 20th Century-Fox apparently lost faith in the film which resulted in a DVD that comes with barely any extras. There are trailers (and not one for Wolverine) and two deleted scenes, neither of which substantively changes the movie.
Tue Mar 10, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology' on Blu-ray
The current era of the super-hero movie can trace its roots to 1989 and the release of Tim Burton’s Batman. For the first time since Richard Donner’s Superman, the comic book heroes were taken seriously and adapted for the screen with love and care. In between, there was failure after failure as no one in Hollywood seemed to understand the source material.
Even Michael Uslan, who did understand, spent 1980 through 1988 trying to mount the film with little success. The stars seemed to finally align as Frank Miller’s Dark Knight in 1986 showed people what could be done with the character and suddenly Warner Bros. was interested. They tapped Burton, coming off the success of Beetlejuice, a director with exactly the right sensibilities to take the Dark Knight and present him in a way that made you forget Adam West’s interpretation (at least for a little while).
You’re reminded of what a masterful job he did by rewatching Batman on a new crisp transfer as part of the Blu-ray box set Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997
Burton and Keaton came back for Batman Returns which unfortunately offered us no new insights into the hero but did give us refreshed looks at both Catwoman and Penguin. Selina Kyle’s story arc is the strongest in the film and Michelle Pfeiffer gives a strong but sympathetic performance. Danny DeDevito made for a creepy, grotesque Penguin but his arc was taken from a 1967 plot and felt it. The uneven storylines never meshed well and the movie felt divided.
Continue reading Review: 'Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology' on Blu-ray ›
Mon Mar 9, 2009 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: A Pair of Jokers
That new Azzarello/Bermejo OGN and a collection of villain stories
The Joker has always been Batman’s most iconic and popular villain. We can argue why this is so, but it’s been true since at least the ‘70s, and shows no sign of changing any time in the near future. And so, with a major movie coming out last year with a high-profile Joker (though no one knew just how high-profile it would eventually be, after Heath Ledger’s surprise death and a billion dollars at the box office), DC signed up some more Joker-centric projects. Who could blame them?
Joker
Written by Brian Azzarello; Pencils and Covers by Lee Bermejo
DC Comics, November 2008, $19.99
This one was billed as the closest thing to a direct tie-in with that Dark Knight movie, and this Joker could function as a sequel – the Joker gets out of Arkham as the story begins. It’s pretty blatant, actually, with the Joker looking as close to Heath Ledger as a jumpy lawyer would allow, scarred cheeks (not an element of any previous Joker incarnations I can recall), and a brief Riddler cameo seemingly planned as a Johnny Depp casting call. (On the other hand, Two-Face is still alive in this story and Batman hardly appears at all – just at the end, when Azzarello was nearing the end of his page limit and nothing else would bring the story to any kind of conclusion.)
Joker is not precisely Joker’s story, though: it’s yet another worms-eye view of a superhero universe, the story of small-time hood Jonny Frost (and why, after seventy years of pulp comics, are we still stuck with dumb names like that?), who wants to be bigger than he has any right to be. So he volunteers to pick up the Joker when he gets out of Arkham, and he becomes the Joker’s right-hand man, sort-of. Then there’s a lot of violence – mostly against Two-Face’s gang – to show us how twisted and sociopathic and sneaky the Joker is.
Sun Mar 8, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Pinocchio' 70th Anniversary DVD
Walt Disney learned much from the work performed in Snow White, his first animated feature. The story was fairly basic and almost too short and to the point. For his second outing, he intended for something to further demonstrate his mastery of the animated form. As a result, his work in translating Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio from book to cartoon kept changing through the production and as a result, the finished product was a giant leap forward.
The lush color palette and ease of motion employed by the characters is confident, evoking a storybook feeling while telling an entertaining tale. You’re reminded of all this when re-watching the film on the new 70th Anniversary DVD
Disney took the popular 1883 novel, which focused largely on social themes and reshaped it into an American kid-friendly story with heavy lessons to be imparted. Interestingly, the movie, released February 7, 1940, didn’t fare well at first thanks to the global concerns over war, but grew over time to be an enduring classic.
How the book was adapted complete with an alternate ending is just part of the anniversary extras included on the Blu-ray and two-disc standard DVD editions. The Blu-ray also includes the single disc DVD which has just the movie, some trailers, and some music videos. The rest of the goodies, of which there are many, were not available for review since just the Blu-ray was provided to journalists.
So, let’s talk about the movie. The story of the kindly toy maker, Geppetto, who constructed a boy puppet as a substitute son, is a lovely beginning. The turquoise fairy (renamed the simpler blue fairy in the movie) arrives and bestows life on the toy and promises to turn him into a real boy if he learns to behave and accept the responsibility that comes with life. Being entirely naïve about what that means, and presuming Geppetto too old to teach him, the fairy taps Jiminy Cricket to play the role of conscience. The boy begins a series of exploits that shows the audience the need to listen to the little voice in the back of your mind.
Pinocchio is easily lured away from the tried and true path, such as attending school, for the easier vices. He’s constantly taken advantage of by adults, both human and anthropomorphic. By film’s end, none of them are made to pay for their perfidy. In fact, they remain at large; tempting others to stray while Pinocchio, having learned his lesson, returns to Geppetto’s loving arms. As they manage to survive the whale Monstro’s hunger, Pinocchio earns his human flesh.
The animation is lush, the backgrounds colorful. A lot of time and attention is given to showing off, especially early on in the toy shop as the various creations perform. Later, there’s tremendous activity in the background, notably when Pinocchio and Lampwick find the other boys who are a busy bunch.
We all know the songs from the film and the signature moments such as the wooden boy’s nose grow long enough to house a bird’s nest when he lies. There is a gentle humor to Jiminy’s commentary and affection runs strongly through the good characters. It’s not a terribly scary movie, compared with the chilling Queen-turned-witch in the previous feature. There are thrills, such as the escape from the whale, and the 88 minutes pass with nary a lull.
The film transfer is crisp, the colors as rich as ever. The sound is sharp. If this is not in your family’s video library, it probably should be and you have three versions to pick from so it all depends upon how many extra bells and whistles you want.
Fri Mar 6, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Watchmen'
After years of eager anticipation, the fan community was given a film version of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic Watchmen story. DC President & Publisher has noted that after 20 years of attempts to mount this project, the sophistication of special effects and the growth of acceptance among the general audience for the super-heroic fare have come together. After several years of successful comic book adaptations, the mass audience is now ready for a movie that essentially deconstructs the genre. They have a better understanding of the unique vocabulary and storytelling needs of the super-hero story to appreciate what Watchmen attempts to do.
Zack Snyder, having proven adept at translating a graphic novel to the screen with 300, was perhaps the best possible choice to handle this project. He also recognized the film had to resemble the graphic novel as opposed to various changes suggested by Paramount Pictures and later Warner Bros.
Having said that, the adaptation largely works but is far from perfect. He has so faithfully replicated the dense look and feel of the movie that repeated viewers will be required and that’ll be something to look forward to. On the other hand, his fidelity is so complete that it robs the film of its flow every now and then. One such example is Silk Spectre landing on a burning rooftop and pausing, perfectly capturing Gibbon’s panel but stopping the story when she should be in motion.
Snyder has stripped the film down to its core story: who murdered the Comedian and why? In some ways, that makes it a lesser film for being a simple murder mystery and by evaluating how much screen time each Watchman receives also somewhat telegraphs the murderer’s identity. Gone all many of the touches that made the comic so rich a reading experience, from the Tales of the Black Freighter to the excerpts from Hollis Mason’s Under the Hood. These are necessary trims when considering you’re adapting 400 pages of story for a film. At 2:40 it certainly sounds long but was so riveting that it didn’t feel like it dragged but any longer, to add these touches, may prove problematic. We’ll see when the complete director’s cut is released in the future.
Other trims make sense such as downplaying the first generation of heroes and the man-on-the-street moments that added color to the comic book. Some threads such as the relationship between Rorschach and his prison psychiatrist are trimmed and are missed and the introduction of the New Frontiersmen late in the film robs the film of some of the moral issues at play.
The film is expertly cast from the celebrity impersonators to the main characters since none are that well-known you stop and recall their other parts. Instead, you see them as the Watchmen. Dramatically, Rorschach might be the toughest part since so much of it is done under the mask but Jackie Earle Haley is wonderful and imbues the figure with a sense of calm that belies his total dedication to protecting good from evil.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan clearly loved playing the Comedian. And in watching the film, I came to realize that as immoral as the Comedian is, how despicable his acts are, in every case, he was the only one speaking the unvarnished truth, painful as it is to hear. You can somewhat understand what sort of attraction there is between him and the first Silk Spectre.
On the other hand, Malin Akerman’s second Spectre required more emotional shading in the performance. As my daughter put it, “she’s a hot mess” and you don’t necessarily feel why she falls for Nite Owl. You certainly can see why Patrick Wilson’s Owl is attracted to her, though. While nebbishy in appearance, he’s not the overweight figure poignantly depicted in the book. Their scenes together work well enough and their fight in the prison to free Rorschach may be the best action sequence in the entire film and one of the top super-hero fight sequences of all. They calmly walk through the prison, exploding into action when threatened, but do so with purpose. Nothing is wasted.
The biggest quibble people will have is with the changed ending. How the world is to be denied Armageddon is altered, not the why. My bigger issue has to do with the more dramatic change to Silk Spectre and Nite Owl. There resolution is a departure from the book and not necessarily a better one.
As an adaptation, it’s entertaining and exceptionally well done. As a movie, it should satisfy the mass audience since it has a beginning, middle and an end. There’s action, violence, sex, romance, moral ambivalence and some kickass music. There’s no question you should see this whether you know the source material or not.
Fri Mar 6, 2009 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'Graphic Classics: Oscar Wilde'
The only thing worse than having comics made from your stories is not having comics made from your stories.
Graphic Classics, Vol. 16: Oscar Wilde
Edited by Tom Pomplun
Eureka Productions, February 2009, $11.95
Graphic Classics has been adapting the work of famous dead authors – from H.P. Lovecraft to Rafael Sabatini – for at least five years, mostly focusing on the more popular (rather than literarily classy) writers. And that’s a good thing, since no one wants to see Graphic Classics: Henry James. (“The Face in the Carpet” is not nearly as exciting as the Lovecraft-style title might indicate.)
So this is the sixteenth volume in the series, which are all in the same vein: about 144 pages of comics adaptations of said dead writer’s work, usually with a few long adaptations and some shorter ones sprinkled in for spice. The creators involved are a mix of semi-familiar names and newer folks on their way up – this kind of project, obviously, doesn’t tend to attract top talent. (And is almost certainly better without the kind of compromises “top talent” requires.) Editor Tom Pomplun usually adapts at least one of the stories himself – and why shouldn’t he? It’s his series – and the adaptations sometimes tend to the talky, perhaps in an attempt to be slightly more educational.
(The series as a whole tries to walk the line between “good for you” and “good fun,” and individual stories fall on one side or the other of that divide, but I’ve found that the books as a whole generally are fun, if wordy. I’ve previously reviewed Bram Stoker, Mark Twain, and Fantasy Classics.)
Tue Mar 3, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Watchmen Complete Motion Comic'
How do you exploit a finite series and wring every last licensing dollar out of it? DC Comics has come up with a plethora of nifty brand extensions from the long awaited action figures to the nice art book from Titan Books. But, the most interesting and innovative has to be the Watchmen Complete Motion Comic
Those of us with long enough memories have equated it with the cheaply animated Marvel Super Heroes, from Grantray-Lawrence Animation in 1966. Unlike that hodge podge, all the art you see is from Dave Gibbons’ illustrations. He was actively involved with the production and his attention to detail comes through.
One of the biggest advantages to this method is that each panel can now be studied on the big screen. You can check out all the background details, all the little things that Alan Moore had Dave add to scenes to get the message subtly across. This, in some ways, surpasses the Absolute Watchmen
Characters walk, wave their arms, move their eyes, and so on. The motion is more fluid than one would expect and the background characters and objects move nicely. The captions and word balloons are retained to give it that “comic book comes to life” feel but director Jake S. Hughes also employs film techniques to change scenes and tosses in some CGI animation for special effects but is judicious with their use.
What you lose, though, is the tightly constructed format which was also done intentionally. The 9-panel grid that Dave employed was as much an element in the maxiseries as was the story. In fact, the Watchmen may well have been one of the first comic books to have been designed from the ground up prior to work beginning on the scripts.
It’s all a tradeoff. Much as I miss the grid, I miss more the excised dialogue which was trimmed, we’re told, in the in interest of time. As a result, this is an adaptation and not a complete retelling of the comic in animated form. Similarly, all the backup material which rounded out each issue is gone. You’ll have to a buy Tales of the Black Freighter
One of the additions, which I found myself enjoying, was the music, scored in a James Horner style. It was moody, low key and totally appropriate to the subject matter. And in a goofy way, I loved that the word balloon tails followed the characters as they moved, always how I imagined things working after reading Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
The vocal work is entirely handled by one voice actor, rather than a complete cast. Tom Stechschulte, a television actor, does a superior job giving life to each character. His female voices were off-putting but he nailed all of the male parts which was quite a challenge.
The extras here are trailers for related product and an extended look at the just-released Wonder Woman animated feature. There are other, cooler, extras on the Blu-ray disc which was not reviewed. Now, is this affordable and worth having? Overall, this was a satisfying experience and helped me refresh myself on the story in time for the movie. You could download each chapter for $1.99 ($24 total) or buy the DVD which retails for $29.98 but obviously will be discounted just about everywhere you look. The kicker, though, is that it comes with a $7.50 coupon to use with purchasing your movie ticket so there is a cost savings to be had.
Tue Mar 3, 2009 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: Three Petits Livres
Three short translated books from Drawn & Quarterly
Comics come in all sizes. Some are big books, massive “ultimate” or “essential” or “indispensable” or “your friends will say you have a small penis if you don’t buy this” editions, with fancy foil and trim to make the stories of people punching each other seem that much more serious.
But there are also little books: ones that tell their own stories in a small compass, that don’t rely on bombast or hype. Ones that might actually be good.
Like these three books, the most recent entries in the fine Montreal publisher Drawn & Quarterly’s “Petits Livres” series – fine comics by fine creators in a small, affordable format.
Nicolas
By Pascal Girard
Drawn & Quarterly, February 2009, $9.95
In a series of short vignettes, Girard circles around the death of his brother, Nicolas, of lactic acidosis at the age of five – when Girard himself was only a few years older. Girard grows through childhood into a young man as this short book goes on, but he never forgets his brother – he never “moves on,” and it never stops being painful.
Sun Mar 1, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Wonder Woman' DVD
The DC Universe series of animated features got off to a rocky start with the Superman vs. Doomsday offering but has gotten steadily better. New Frontier was pretty amazing and now they offer up Wonder Woman, which may be the closest we get to a feature about the Amazon Princess for quite some time.
And I’m pretty okay with that, given how good this direct-to-DVD offering is. It’s not perfect, but it’s entertaining and a great introduction to the character. If you’ve been following the interviews we’ve been posting here at ComicMix, you know that it comes from the usual suspects behind the animated DCU along with a very strong voice cast.
The movie posits that Wonder Woman exists in a world of her own and there are no references to the greater DCU, allowing you to dwell on the mythological background that spawned the character. Created by William Moulton Marston, his grasp of the Greek mythology he predicated the character on was shaky at best and frankly, it wasn’t until the George Perez-driven version of 1987 before anyone explored the Greek gods and their role in the Amazons’ world.
Thu Feb 26, 2009 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'In the Flesh' by Koren Shadmi
Ten comics stories of twisted love
In the Flesh
By Koren Shadmi
Villard, February 2009, $14.95
You probably haven’t heard of Shadmi before this book – he’s an Israeli, now resident in New York, and this is his first collection. Some of these stories did appear before…in French, in various anthologies, which I doubt any of us are familiar with.
But he’s clearly a mature artist; these nine stories are of a piece, both in their drawing and their writing, and they paint a consistent picture of the world. It’s not a pleasant picture, though: Shadmi’s world is ruled by tormented desire and inchoate longings, populated by characters who live in quiet despair only when they’ve settled down a bit from the loud kind. In fact, In the Flesh reads very much like a comics adaptation of the short stories of some young writer with a strong voice – it’s not so much “art comics” as it is a direct translation into comics of a particular kind of art short fiction.
Thu Feb 26, 2009 — by Alan Kistler
Advance Review: Brave and the Bold Season Finale
Can you say "multiverse"?
If you are insistent that Batman always be portrayed as a dark, obsessive vigilante surrounded by nothing but psychopaths, then maybe the new cartoon series Batman: The Brave and the Bold isn't your cup of tea. But I challenge you to watch an episode and tell me it doesn't make you grin from ear to ear.
The new cartoon series has been loads of fun with over-the-top adventures that completely embrace their own absurdity. For those of us tired of never-ending angst, this series has been a great cure-all. And in the tradition of the comic book series of the same name, the show is based around team-ups. Each episode, the Dark Knight works alongside folks such as the Green Arrow, Aquaman, Elongated Man, Plastic Man, the Atom (Dr.Choi), Red Tornado and the Blue Beetle (both Ted Kord AND Jamie Reyes).
This friday, 8:00 PM on Cartoon Newtork, fans will see part 1 of the two-part season finale. We here at ComicMix were given an advanced peek at this hour-long tale. Wanna see?
Continue reading Advance Review: Brave and the Bold Season Finale ›
Tue Feb 24, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Saga of the Swamp Thing' Book One
When a comic book gained a new writer, before 1983, they would either keep the status quo, as the writers succeeding Stan Lee did throughout the 1970s, or change the locale and supporting cast (see Supergirl and Wonder Woman’s various careers). Until 1983, no one really rethought the character or series premise.
That is one of the main reasons the arrival of Alan Moore at DC Comics was so pivotal. He was a long-time fan of DC’s output and had brought his own point of view to the series. When Swamp Thing co-creator and then-editor Len Wein asked him about taking on the series, Alan had no problem with suggesting his radical rethinking of the premise based on what had been established to date. Nothing out of left field, but a fresh look at a long-standing character in the DC firmament.
Not only was the thinking fresh, but the writing was also lyrical, something not seen in American mainstream comics. During the 1970s, “purple prose”, lots of words trying to convey mood and feeling but really just a ton of verbiage, was in vogue and as the 1980s dawned,the state of Americna super-hero writing was fairly mundane. Once more, Moore stopped everyone in their tracks as he used short phrases and captions to suddenly convey mood, feeling, and foreshadowing. The repetition helped tie a story together as did his clever use of words to transition from one speaker and scene to another.
The result was revolutionary and propelled Saga of the Swamp Thing to the top of everyone’s To Read stack. The book was the first true shot in the British Revolution that helped change mainstream comics for the next two decades.
In rereading Moore’s first eight issues in the newly released hardcover Saga of the Swamp Thing, it’s clear to see what Moore brought to the character, the title, and the company. The clarity in thinking, fresh approach to character and captions, and the ability to redirect a title are obvious and stand up after all these years.
Not only did Moore rethink Swamp Thing, he also rethought his supporting characters, building upon what his predecessor, Martin Pasko, did without trashing the work. He began to explore the greater DC Universe by using Jason Woodrue as the first antagonist, and then brought in Jason Blood/Etrigan showing us he was more than one-trick pony. In the former, Woodrue had been a neglected Atom villain who was an ideal foe for Swamp Thing and the perfect vehicle for “The Anatomy Lesson”, the aptly titled story that reset the status quo.
For the first time, Moore’s debut issue is reprinted. While it tidied up some of Pasko’s dandling plot lines, it also really began to set the stage and it a welcome addition to the hardcover. You get a taste of what is to come and works well with the other stories.
Also carrying over from Pasko’s run is the art team of Stephen Bissette and John Totleben. Fairly fresh to comics at the time, they were an ideal team for the character and quickly improved their work, clearly inspired by Moore’s work and openness to their input. Some pages are overly cluttered while others are beautifully designed and you can watch them grow during these eight issues. They have as much to do with the title’s resurgence as Moore and should never be overlooked.
The collection comes complete with a nice intro by Wein who explains the character’s birth in real world terms and then we get an essay from Ramsey Campbell that heaps additional praise on the creative team. Moore deserves his accolades and the hardcover treatment is a welcome addition. If you have never read these stories or no longer have them in your collection, this is a well-priced volume worth having.
