At The Library – Swamp Thing Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing
Sep 27, 2011 by     Comments Off on At The Library – Swamp Thing Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing    Posted In: At The Library

Few places get me as excited as a trip to my local library. Okay that may be overselling it a bit, but where else can you get free comic book trades to take home and borrow over and over again? Now not all libraries stock healthy collections of “graphic novels,” but mine does and my weekly trips to the library are always a time consuming affair as I try to select some books to read from a rather poorly organized section.

I have to admit I passed over the Vertigo Swamp Thing collections many times before picking up Volume 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing. I was fully aware of how beloved the book was and what a great writer Alan Moore is, but something about the art just didn’t work for me. It felt sort of dated at first glance, but I picked it up anyways and I’m really glad this book made it home with me. In hindsight the art is perfect for the story being told. This book is complex, horrifying, emotional, psychedelic, and all those themes go nicely with the sort of exaggerated art style that was used. The characters are less than perfect in terms of proportions and lines are drawn very deliberately. The colors are loud and bold and really accentuate some of the more disturbing moments in the book. The storytelling is so rich if there weren’t any pictures you’d swear you were just reading a great horror or mystery novel. Moore has a great talent for creating a mood with his words and his use of alliteration is unique and really drives the story.

Chances are if you’re a comic book fan, I’m already preaching to the choir when it comes to recommendations of picking up Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing run. I’m glad this was at my local library because I’m not sure I would have made the effort to read it if I had to purchase it myself. We have all passed up many books that we would have otherwise read for our budget’s sake. So head over to your local library and let us know what you find.

__

StashMyComics.com is a free comics cataloging software solution for organizing your comic book collection.Sign up here for a free account to start tracking your comics collection in less than a minute, completely free.

Share

Comments are closed.