As with the previous book, it's hard to choose a rating that gets across how uneven this is. I mean, every part of it is well done; it's just so many different kinds of things, and some of them (like cosmic horror, ancient warlocks, and psychedelic spirit quests) are more interesting to me than others (like the obligatory crossover with Crisis on Infinite Earths, and gathering up all of Moore's favorite magic-related DC characters for Neil Gaiman to play with later—I originally read this stuff as someone who knew almost nothing about DC, and it was still cool, but confusing for sure). Bissette and Totleben go out on a high note with some more great art; John Constantine has by this point been established as a memorable and interesting character even though we still know almost nothing about him; and Moore's vision of Swamp Thing is now much clearer in terms of how the mythology, and his transcendentalist/Romantic philosophy, sets Swampy apart from all the other heroes. On the other hand, having built up to this kind of cosmic-level conflict runs the risk of making whatever comes next seem like an anticlimax, which... well, read the next book and decide for yourself.

For more thoughts, here's a blog post (this covers half of the next book too). ( )

Fascinating battle and a crossover event that didn't suck.

Or did it? I mean the final meeting with the Parliament of Trees was cool for happening, but it wasn't really satisfying. The gathering storm of Crisis, pulling together all the magical types and all of heaven and hell and space and time, culminated in... what? What did I just read here? There were tragic deaths and a conflict that even laid the Spectre low. And it was freaking resolved with a Handshake???? Please.

And yet with that freaking ending, I'm still of two minds. The resolution is satisfying on a deep level, but for my more visceral feels, I feel damn cheated. Good Job saving the day, Greenie. Way to use your indecision WISELY. lol

I sound as if I'm unhappy about this comic, but I'm not. Not really. I was fully invested even when I was horrified by what happened to Abs. What the hell, people. We need to lock away Lois for her thing with that freaking alien, too. Consorting with *unnatural* types and all. Eeek. What freaking horrible laws. If a girl wants to get it on with a vegetable, why can't she? Sheesh.
( )

Grand scope, bold execution. Ace. ( )

Swamp Thing walks into the center of pure evil and confuses it with philosophical musings, before its dark hand reaches out to the light and is dissolved into the Yin and Yang. In "The End," it's balance that wins. John Constantine gathers a team of mystics and warriors in this, the fourth, collection of Alan Moore's seminal Swamp Thing run. The battle between good and evil isn't as cut and dried as it may seem. ( )

Not nearly as strong as the other volumes I've read so far, but it was really good. The main focus of all the issues in this volume were of good versus evil. I liked where Moore's head was, but this never quite got as suspenseful as it could have. It was definitely a great book though. ( )