Swamp Thing Vol. 4: A Murder of Crows

‘The man who started me upon this dark path promised me answers ... but the answers are black and unbearable.’ (from the back cover)

This time the Swamp Thing fights against an evil’s desire: destroying the Heaven.

The Swamp Thing wants answers, but the Parliament Tree where he searches these answers could just give him other questions.
‘Aphid eats leaf. Ladybug eats aphid. Soil absorbs dead ladybug. Plants feed upon soil ... Is aphid evil? Is ladybug evil? Is soil evil? Where is evil, in all the wood?’ (p. 113)
Or maybe just an answer: ‘Flesh ... speaks ... wood ... listens.’ (p. 108)

In this game of answers and questions, Evil also asks a question: ‘Tell me, little thing what is evil? ...’ (p. 185)
‘Evil is a quagmire show more of ignorance that would drag us back as we climb towards the immortal light.’ (p. 185) But this is not enough, so intervene in this game the Swamp Thing: who fight the evil perishes; who, as the Swamp, choice only to know the evil can leave freely from the evil.
The last answer: ‘Nothing happened. Every thing has happened.’ (p. 201)

Sharing the front cover: the Swamp Thing as the Mouth of Truth. According to popular belief it was said that anyone putting his hand in this mouth and swearing falsely, could not withdraw it. The Mouth of Truth is an image carved from marble located in Rome.

‘Don’t worry yourself about it.’ (p. 203) show less

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 show more 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. show less

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.

Alan Moore's tenure on the Swamp Thing title is considered to be truly groundbreaking. There's massive opportunity for over-the-top farce in Swamp Thing, but Moore takes the character seriously and spins complex tales of love, humanity, evil, and ambiguity. The series is also the birthplace of Hellblazer's John Constantine, and the contrast between Constantine's smart-mouthed, "victory by any means necessary" attitude and Swamp Thing's slow-talking, moral, and fiercely loyal personality is fantastic. This series isn't for the squeamish; we're talking radioactive zombies, dismemberment, creepy-crawlies, etc., but if you like your horror to be smart, well-written, and funny, you need to check this out.

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 show more 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). show less

It’s been a year since I last read the third volume, but I felt right at home with this one. There are some really great ones here, the standouts being “Ghost Dance,” “The Parliament of Trees,” and the second half of “The End.” The themes Moore explores are still very cool and—while not being as strong as some of the previous volumes—I enjoyed it immensely.

I think it suffers a little from the attempt to shoehorn the plot into the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, but fortunately, Moore has given Swamp Thing a more personal battle to fight that merely mirrors the crossover event.

Still, Swamp Thing's big revelation -- that good and evil exist in a symbiotic, rather than antagonistic relationship -- seems a little obvious, like something Constantine should already have known.

I did like the Parliament of Trees (and can't help but wonder how much it was informed by Tolkien's Ents), and I find the notion that they don't fully accept their current incarnation provoking. I suspect that it has something to do with his relationship with Abby, and I'm curious to see how Moore will handle that, show more now that they've been exposed. show less