[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!

[blastmonkey]

Quite honestly, how can you not love samp-thing? Moore's run on the title defined his character, and outside of a few appearances in the main DCU, he always had his own corner of the world to deal with. Then came The Green and, oh boy, you elevate him to a whole other level of interesting.

I agree with you, his "revamp" for the New 52 is actually worthwhile, as is the sort-of sister book Animal Man.

Remember when his daughter was the avatar for The Red?

[Dr Kain]

Well after the amount of male character I have listed, I feel it is time to take a moment to look at my favorite female character of the DC universe. Many people consider their favorite to be Wonder Woman, and while I love Greek mythology, I find the following character to be far more interesting because of the mythos surrounding her:



I was actually introduced to Raven through a series of cards DC brought out back in 1991. In fact, for the most part, that was where my interest in the entire DC universe began. As I said above, I love the mythos about Raven. Being the child of a human mother and a demonic father is just down right awesome. It brings in some interesting characteristics to Raven’s character, especially when she is well written. Being that I was introduced to her in 1991, she donned the white costume, but I definitely feel the blue/black one goes best with her.

In fact, while I did not start out a fan of the series originally, Raven was the main reason I would watch the Teen Titans cartoon from the early 2000s as they did a great job with her. I loved that they adapted so much of her character from the New Teen Titans comics into that show, as the fourth season was truly incredible due to showing the torment Trigon’s arrival had on her. It also helped that because of this, the season was heavily focused on Raven.

Speaking of Trigon, WOW, what a villain!! While some of the characters I have already covered do not have the most impressive list of rogues, Trigon is in a whole league of his own. The dude killed everyone around him during his birth for cry out loud. That is just down right evil as far as being a villain goes. :-p So how bad do you think your family is? Probably not as bad as Raven’s!

Overall, there is not too much I really have to say about Raven. I love her origins, I love the stories that surround her origins as they make her stand out from a robot man, an acrobat that was adopted by a psycho, a boy with the ability to transform into animals, an alien, an Amazon, and a kid that can run really fast. I also love the powers she has with such as telekinesis, the ability to teleport, heal others, and making demon-like creatures out of shadows. She is like the ultimate RPG character in one.

Finally, unlike Swamp Thing, the New 52 has not been kind to her. Her costume looks down right dreadful, and from what I have read about her, she has very little of the personality that made her stand out during the New Teen Titans era of comics.

[Kamen Rider Meteor]

Can I just say that I hear everybody preach about how good Moore's run on Swamp Thing was , but I could never get into his writing. My first exposure to Swampy was the Return of Swamp Thing movie and the cartoon and 90's toy line. He will forever be that in my mind and until someone less pretentious writes a Swamp Thing book and makes him the outright superhero that I knew him as , as a kid. I won't bother.

Batman and just about any other DC hero can float in and out of serious stories , but for some reason Swamp Thing gets stuck in this super dark , serious side of DC. Join the Justice League , have a pet sidekick , punch the Joker! Do something fun for god sakes!

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Meteor

Can I just say that I hear everybody preach about how good Moore's run on Swamp Thing was , but I could never get into his writing. My first exposure to Swampy was the Return of Swamp Thing movie and the cartoon and 90's toy line. He will forever be that in my mind and until someone less pretentious writes a Swamp Thing book and makes him the outright superhero that I knew him as , as a kid. I won't bother.

Batman and just about any other DC hero can float in and out of serious stories , but for some reason Swamp Thing gets stuck in this super dark , serious side of DC. Join the Justice League , have a pet sidekick , punch the Joker! Do something fun for god sakes!

Swamp Thing is not supposed to be a super hero, he was first and foremost a horror comic. Like the Crypt Keeper, Dracula, etc. That is like saying V should be a super hero because he fights an evil government. I like Swamp Thing because he is a tragic character with a huge mythology surrounding him. I would not want him to just go about fighting Crime and such because that is not what he is meant to be. Even in the original comics from Len Wein he is not a super hero. The only reason he travels to Gotham is because the guy that killed him, his wife, and kidnapped Abby is there.

There is a reason that cartoon from the 90s only lasted 5 episodes and the Return of Swamp Thing sucked. I don't care for the first movie, but at least it kept it horror based.

[Crown Athlete]

I had a Swamp Thing action figure as a kid...and I don't know why. I never read the comic or saw the movie.

[Kamen Rider Meteor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

Swamp Thing is not supposed to be a super hero, he was first and foremost a horror comic. Like the Crypt Keeper, Dracula, etc. That is like saying V should be a super hero because he fights an evil government. I like Swamp Thing because he is a tragic character with a huge mythology surrounding him. I would not want him to just go about fighting Crime and such because that is not what he is meant to be. Even in the original comics from Len Wein he is not a super hero. The only reason he travels to Gotham is because the guy that killed him, his wife, and kidnapped Abby is there.

There is a reason that cartoon from the 90s only lasted 5 episodes and the Return of Swamp Thing sucked. I don't care for the first movie, but at least it kept it horror based.

Boo, thumbs down ... Return of Swamp Thing was amazing. And dammit he was a superhero in that. I guess I am the only one who likes that movie.

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Meteor

Boo, thumbs down ... Return of Swamp Thing was amazing. And dammit he was a superhero in that. I guess I am the only one who likes that movie.

That is why the movie is garbage, they made him a super hero.

Swamp Thing's job is to take out vampires in sunken cities, zombies, evil plants, evil zombie demons, and **** Abby.

[Sentai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Meteor

Boo, thumbs down ... Return of Swamp Thing was amazing. And dammit he was a superhero in that. I guess I am the only one who likes that movie.

I loved both movies, and the animated series. Even though the animated series made no sense at all.

[Sentai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

Well after the amount of male character I have listed, I feel it is time to take a moment to look at my favorite female character of the DC universe. Many people consider their favorite to be Wonder Woman, and while I love Greek mythology, I find the following character to be far more interesting because of the mythos surrounding her:



I was actually introduced to Raven through a series of cards DC brought out back in 1991. In fact, for the most part, that was where my interest in the entire DC universe began. As I said above, I love the mythos about Raven. Being the child of a human mother and a demonic father is just down right awesome. It brings in some interesting characteristics to Raven’s character, especially when she is well written. Being that I was introduced to her in 1991, she donned the white costume, but I definitely feel the blue/black one goes best with her.

In fact, while I did not start out a fan of the series originally, Raven was the main reason I would watch the Teen Titans cartoon from the early 2000s as they did a great job with her. I loved that they adapted so much of her character from the New Teen Titans comics into that show, as the fourth season was truly incredible due to showing the torment Trigon’s arrival had on her. It also helped that because of this, the season was heavily focused on Raven.

Speaking of Trigon, WOW, what a villain!! While some of the characters I have already covered do not have the most impressive list of rogues, Trigon is in a whole league of his own. The dude killed everyone around him during his birth for cry out loud. That is just down right evil as far as being a villain goes. :-p So how bad do you think your family is? Probably not as bad as Raven’s!

Overall, there is not too much I really have to say about Raven. I love her origins, I love the stories that surround her origins as they make her stand out from a robot man, an acrobat that was adopted by a psycho, a boy with the ability to transform into animals, an alien, an Amazon, and a kid that can run really fast. I also love the powers she has with such as telekinesis, the ability to teleport, heal others, and making demon-like creatures out of shadows. She is like the ultimate RPG character in one.

Finally, unlike Swamp Thing, the New 52 has not been kind to her. Her costume looks down right dreadful, and from what I have read about her, she has very little of the personality that made her stand out during the New Teen Titans era of comics.

Finally Kain, Finally we agree on something. I adore Raven. (I adore WW to, but). I loved her in Teen Titans (The first animated series not Go!, Go! can Go! the hell away. Thanks). I adored her in Injustice, and in every peice of fiction she's in.

The Sin of Pride has never been better.