You're all going to read Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Every single one of you. This is officially a Swamp Thing book club. I don't care who you are or what you like, or even if you like comic books; it's simply one of the best things I've ever read.
_refugee_ will back me up on this. I want to write whole essays on why it's so good and so important, but I just can't find the words for it. I need to have a conversation about it with all of you to be able to. thenewgreen, I feel like this would be right up your alley too for some reason. I want to tag everyone I know in this, but I won't be that guy.
Please, just go pick up the first TPB and read it.
I have been reading all sortsa things this summer (said in May I was going to read 30 books, entering August I'm going on 40!) so I'm totally down without even knowing what it is or what you're talking about but that said I feel like you'll have more success if you tell me what I'm about to read. I mean it's a comic book. Alan Moore. But what the fuck is a swamp thing and how could it possibly inspire deep thoughts etc in anyone? Walk me through this.
Swamp Thing is just that: a creature made of and a part of the swamp. Backstory that will be covered but isn't really important: Alec Holland is a scientist on the bayou, villains don't like the work he's doing and blow him up, where his remains fly into the swamp. The swamp somehow creates a creature that takes on his consciousness. The entirety of the story is a question in what constitutes a human, what humanity is, and what the relationship of life is with the Earth and spirituality to a lesser degree. And even that sounds cheesy and wrong, I just can't find a way to verbalize it all yet because I'm still processing everything, and I'm only two TPBs into it now. On top of all that, the artwork is just... phenomenal. Literally other-worldly, for so much of the story takes place inside the minds of characters or literally in other worlds or proxies of other worlds, it's just truly "stop to take in every brush-stroke" work.
I read this recently. It's definitely worth a read. Swamp Thing is not your normal comic-book hero by any measure, and Alan Moore has a lot to say about what it means to be human in there. That said, there was also a lot in there that I didn't really get, partly because I didn't read any pre-Moore "Swamp Thing", and partly because I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the DC comic pantheon.
Gotta say though - the episode "Pog" is just a beautiful piece of literary art; especially if you are old like me, and are familiar with the "Pogo" comic strip. Genius.
If you can't afford it, do like I did and get it from your local library.
I just read Pog two days ago. I really loved the way their speech was altered as if from millennia of speaking only to each other. It's interesting that you didn't understand a lot of it. I had never read anything before and felt I got everything all right, although I am more versed in the DC pantheon, so I was able to pick up more (like the Cain and Abel story.)
YESSSSSS. I finally picked up the first few volumes at SDCC this weekend. I also got Max Brook's Extinction Parade (SIGNED!) and Transmetropolitan. I think there's a video of Max Brook's panel somewhere but the man is incredibly quick witted and clever. I was laughing the entire time. key moments I'm excited to read more Alan Moore.
Yeah I've been seeing all your photos on facebook and have been burning with jealousy the whole time. I'm going to be in CA next month instead of my original plan of being there last week and this week, and knowing I could have gone when you had spare tickets... Although, the best picture I've seen from SDCC is of Buzz Aldrin wearing the Infinity Gauntlet
That photo is amazing. The worst thing about actually being at SDCC is never catching the insane moments live. I still read the blogs / twitter for all the best moments and photos. There are such an insane amount of people and none of us felt like sitting / sleeping in line for 8 hours for the big Hall H stuff. The only way I can describe SDCC is like a theme park but much bigger, more crowded, and filled with a lot more sweaty people in costumes. It didn't help that the heat & humidity was OVER 9000 - something really unusual for California. We woke up to a freaky thunderstorm Sunday, which ended up doing major damage up the coast.
Yeah I heard someone died in that too. Crazy week. Here in DC we have my favorite comic event, SPX, which itself gets pretty crowded, but nothing like SDCC, obviously. But it's a nice thing to do. Last year I was able to talk to some of my absolute favorite artists for twenty minutes about their work, and I could tell they were legitimately extremely happy that people really read and loved their work. So many personally signed things now from it.
Absolutely! I'd do the same too if I wasn't so fantastically into it right now. I want to own every piece of it in my hands. The only downside to pirating will be that you won't get the full effect of some of the artwork, especially later on, but nothing that will damage you understanding of the book.
OftenBen is this what you've been snapchatting for a week now? :D
Oh maybe it wasnt you but somebody i was getting snapchats of comic books I never got to see what it was. my b