[Dr Kain]

And now it is time to take a look at another one of my favorite heroes of the DC universe:



I was introduced to Swamp Thing through the original Craven movie and its sequel back in 1990, watched the extremely short lived cartoon series, and had the toys from the toon. I never got to see the TV series, but to say I was not a Swamp Thing fan would be an understatement. My first comic was actually a rerelease of the first two issues from Len Wein’s original series and I loved it.

Sadly, until recently, I only read a couple issues of Alan Moore’s series, but with the current paperbacks coming out, I have been rectifying that. I am not sure what it was that I loved about the character, he just always screamed badass to me. I mean, we are talking about a half man, half plant monster that can use the environment to battle evil. He may not be exactly a super hero, but he is still close enough to be one in my book.

The ability to disintegrate himself and reform anywhere in the world is just down right incredible. I love the issue when he uses his body to turn himself into a mountain to move a river away from a drowned city that became a den of vampires. Then there is also the fact that he is not fully a man, but in reality is an Earth bound creature with the memories of Alec Holland. Alan Moore did a fantastic job of advancing Swamp Thing into something more than just a man mutated by corporate sabotage. Plus, his relationship is with Abigail is very intriguing despite how psychedelically creepy it can get at times (those who have read the most trippy of sex scenes ever will know what I am talking about).

Despite not being a super hero, he does have a nice little set of villains to call his own. My favorite has always been Anton Arcane and the Un-Men, but even the stories where he fought the Patchwork Man and the Fluoronic Man were great battles. The interesting about Swamp Thing is that you can find a way to have him fight anyone or anything be it vampires or racist zombies.

Of course, my absolute favorite moment of Swamp Thing is when he had to travel through Hell to retrieve Abby’s soul and meeting the Spectre, Phantom Stranger, Dead Man, and Etrigan along the way. It gave me a very nice “Dante’s Inferno” feel to it and the artwork was just so gorgeous at the same time. As I said before, Swamp Thing may not exactly be a super hero, but he knows how to kick all kinds of ass and do it in such interesting ways. Don’t piss him off as he will go straight to Hell to get back at you if need be before coming back to Earth.
Lastly, he was definitely one of the positives that came out of the New 52 reboot. If you have not read the newest series, go to Amazon right now and order both volumes!