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Comic Book Review – The Saga of The Swamp Thing Volume Four

The Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume Four (2010)
Reprints The Saga of the Swamp Thing #43-45, Swamp Thing #46-50
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Stan Woch, Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala, Ron Randall, and Tom Mandrake

This collection from Moore’s Swamp Thing run sealed the deal for me. I haven’t ever read better moments of horror in a comic book than some of the sequences in these issues. Moore knows how to take surreal imagery and turn it into dread-inducing moments where reality bends & warps. In that distortion, we are treated to a story that blends horror with epic dark fantasy. It’s fascinating to see how Moore set a standard for the occult corner of the DC Universe that has held strong four decades later.

Comic Book Review – The Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume Three

The Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume 3 (2010)
Reprints The Saga of the Swamp Thing #35-38, Swamp Thing #39-42
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Stan Woch, Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala, and Ron Randall

This third volume of Swamp Thing stories starts with an issue published the same month Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 hit the stands. Now, there isn’t a direct link between the two things right away, but Moore eventually shows he was well aware of the storyline and finds a clever way to fold it into this ongoing series. There are times when Swamp Thing feels wholly disconnected from the greater DC Universe; this would increase more when it became a Vertigo title in the 1990s and became utterly self-contained. Before we get to some of Moore’s big moves, the book begins with a chilling two-parter about how Americans have left their home a toxic nightmare.

Comic Book Review – The Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume Two

The Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume Two (2009)
Reprints The Saga of the Swamp Thing #28-34, Annual #2
Written by Alan Moore and Len Wein
Art by Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Shawn McManus, Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala, Ron Randall, and Berni Wrightson

Now that Alan Moore has reset the table for Swamp Thing, he wanted to tell stories you weren’t finding in most of the books published by DC and Marvel. Having established that Swamp Thing was not a resurrected Alec Holland but a mass of plant matter imbued with life from the chemicals Holland was doused in allowed different narratives to be spun. To close out that chapter of Swamp Thing’s life, he gave us “The Burial,” the opening story of this collection. The creature is seemingly visited by the ghost of Alec Holland and relives the events that led up to the scientist’s murder. It concludes with Swamp Thing finding Holland’s remains at the bottom of the bog and giving them a proper burial. That part of his life is officially over; now it’s time for something new.

Comic Book Review – The Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume One

Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume One (2009)
Reprints The Saga of the Swamp Thing #20-27
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Steve Bissette, John Totleben, Dan Day, and Rick Veitch

By 1983, the “cool kids” knew about Alan Moore and Swamp Thing introduced him to the rest of comics fandom. Before being brought to DC Comics, Moore had been working away on U.K. titles and Miracleman, the revival of a British superhero intended to be their version of Shazam. His work on the weekly science fiction anthology 2000AD got the attention of DC editor Len Wein, who hired Moore to take over the title from Wein himself. Swamp Thing had initially debuted as a one-off in the horror anthology House of Secrets #92. Later, the character would be reworked, transplanted to the modern day, and become part of a relatively formulaic ongoing series. Moore’s arrival drastically changed the book’s status.

Comic Book Review – Justice Society of America: Black Adam and Isis

Black Adam: The Dark Age (2008)
Black Adam: The Dark Age #1-6
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Doug Mahnke

Justice Society of America: Black Adam and Isis (2009)
Reprints Justice Society of America #23-28
Written by Geoff Johns, Jerry Ordway, and Matthew Sturges
Art by Jerry Ordway, Dale Eagelsham, and Fernando Pasarin

Before Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson desperately tried to carve out a niche in the superhero franchise landscape, Black Adam was just one of the villains in Captain Marvel, aka Shazam’s rogues gallery. Like many villains, he served as the shadow to the hero, a dark version of that main character. When the Shazam franchise was revived in 1995 via Jerry Ordway’s one-shot graphic novel The Power of Shazam (followed by an ongoing series), Black Adam was brought back with more nuance than you would expect with modern comics. He would eventually become a member and then enemy of the Justice Society during Geoff Johns’ first round with the book, a character arc that has permanently redefined how readers view Black Adam. In Johns’s final (at the time) arc on JSA, he brings some closure to Adam and the corner of the world he occupies in the DC Universe.

Comic Book Review – Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come

Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come Part One (2008)
Reprints Justice Society of America #7-12
Written by Geoff Johns & Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin, and Alex Ross

Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come Part Two (2008)
Reprints Justice Society of America #13-18, Annual #1
Written by Geoff Johns & Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin, and Jerry Ordway

Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come Part Three (2009)
Reprints Justice Society of America #19-22, Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman, Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Magog, Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom
Written by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, and Peter Tomasi
Art by Dale Eaglesham, Nathan Massengill, Jerry Ordway, Bob Wiacek, Alex Ross, Fernando Pasarin, and Mick Gray

Geoff Johns has always reached deep into continuity for his work at DC Comics. It’s why he was such an excellent fit for the JSA, able to draw on decades of stories & characters and build upon them. When the Justice Society had a revival post-Infinite Crisis, I was among many people hyped to see the writer continue with these characters. However, the longer this new book went on, the more it felt like Johns was stretching out a small number of storylines for two years. The most egregious example of this is Thy Kingdom Come. It’s one of a few sequels written to the prestige 1996 mini-series Kingdom Come.

Comic Book Review – Justice Society of America: The Next Age & The Lightning Saga

Justice Society of America: The Next Age (2007)
Reprints Justice Society of America #1-4
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Dale Eaglesham

Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga (2008)
Reprints Justice League of America #0, 8-12 and Justice Society of America #5-6
Written by Brad Meltzer & Geoff Johns
Art by Shane Davis, Ed Benes, Fernando Pasarin, and Dale Eaglesham

In 2007, Geoff Johns was pretty much the top dog among writers at DC Comics. He’d just finished up one of the Flash runs of all time, authored the company’s most recent crossover event Infinite Crisis, co-authored the follow-up weekly mini-series 52, was in the middle of a Green Lantern run that reinvented the character and was also writing Teen Titans, Booster Gold, and Action Comics. This was all prelude to him getting the job as Chief Creative Officer for DC’s film ventures in the 2010s. I argue that was the moment Johns began to decline. While this Justice Society of America run is good, it is not as strong as the previous JSA series.

Comic Book Review – The Human Target

The Human Target (2023)
Reprints The Human Target #1-12
Written by Tom King
Art by Greg Smallwood

I hate to keep harping on how much I dislike Tom King’s work but here we are again. If I don’t like the guy so much why do I keep coming back, you might be asking. I think it’s because on the surface his concepts aren’t bad. He likes using lesser “played with” toys from the DC Universe and I have always been far more interested in those figures than seeing Batman all the time. In the instance of The Human Target he took this obscure character created to tell spy stories and combined it with the Giffen-DeMatteis-era Justice League. I will admit that’s a creative combination I hadn’t ever thought of. I love those characters and that era for how unique they were, how risky it was to go in that direction. King is currently writing Danger Street, another 12 issue maxi-series bringing in some of the most obscure characters from DC’s 1970s showcase First Issue Special. I will definitely be reading that one when it is done.

Comic Book Review – Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby

Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby (2017)
Reprints Mister Miracle #1-18
Written by Jack Kirby
Art by Jack Kirby, Mike Royer, and Vince Colletta

Of all Jack Kirby’s DC Comics creations, Mister Miracle (along with Darkseid) has resonated the most with fans and those who would write the comics in the future. It makes sense because Mister Miracle’s comic was the most straightforward superhero book of all the titles Kirby wrote & drew for the company. The character’s design is familiar to capes & tights fans with its use of primary and secondary colors (red, yellow, green) but also different, particularly with the face mask and high-collared cape and clasps. Mister Miracle’s premise is new but feels entirely authentic for the genre, a super escape artist. It’s one of those “of course, why didn’t I think of that” ideas. Kirby does one better, though, and links this character to his grand mythos so that Mister Miracle both stands independently and operates as part of the space opera.

Comic Book Review – The Forever People by Jack Kirby

The Forever People by Jack Kirby (2020)
Reprints The Forever People #1-11
Written by Jack Kirby
Art by Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, and Mike Royer

The Forever People is the most forgotten of Kirby’s Fourth World creations. The New Gods is an epic Biblical-style chronicle of the beings that make up the worlds of New Genesis & Apokalips. Mister Miracle (which we’ll be reviewing next week) is tied into these things but ultimately the most superhero-style book. The Forever People is strange, full of ideas that don’t entirely develop, as well as moments where Kirby is forced to shoehorn in a character he didn’t want to as the title dwindled down to cancellation. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It is a very slept-on part of the larger mythos that, while certainly not perfect, offers a different experience than the other two books, something that feels more like a Marvel Comics book sneaking into the DC Universe.