Swamp Thing, Vol. 1: Bad Seed

Swamp Thing (2004)

by Andy Diggle, Enrique Breccia (Illustrator)

The first story arc of the acclaimed return of SWAMP THING is collected in BAD SEED, reprinting issues #1-6 of the new ongoing series written by Andy Diggle and illustrated by Enrique Breccia. BAD SEED finds the Swamp Thing joined to the Earth itself, surpassing even his old power as the champion of the Green, and no longer inhibited by the human conscience of his original template, Alec Holland. Without this constraint, the Swamp Thing threatens to re-balance the natural world at the cost of countless human casualties — including his own daughter Tefé and his love, Abby — unless the man who originally showed him his true nature, John Constantine, can find a way to stop him...

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Fantasy, Dc Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Andy Diggle is a British comic book writer and former editor of 2000 AD. He is best known for his work on The Losers,Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Adam Strange and Silent Dragon at DC Comics and for his run on Thunderbolts and Daredevil after his move to Marvel.

In 2013 Diggle left writing DC's Action Comics and began working with Dynamite Entertainment, writing a paranormal crime series Uncanny. He is also working on another crime series with his wife titled Control that is set to begin publishing in 2014.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andy Diggle pulls all the disparate threads of the various finished Swamp Thing related series together to make Swampy a usable character again and does it in a really enjoyable old-school horror story, with creepy artwork evocative of the old EC horror comics.

Oh, and Constantine’s here to provide snarky British humour, of course.

I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to continuing this run.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is part of the Shallow Comic Reader Club "Green Week" set of reviews.

Swamp Thing, Vol 1: Bad Seed collects the first six issues of Swamp Thing (Volume 3). Apparently, a lot has happened between the classic Alan Moore/Rick Veitch run, so I had to turn to wikipedia to get a handle on what was going on.

Somewhere along the way, Swamp Thing has shed his human "spirit," which once belonged to Dr Alec Holland, and has acquired almost all the elemental powers, making him one of the most powerful beings on earth. Separated from his wife, Abby, and estranged from their daughter, Tefe, Swamp Thing hangs out in the world of the Green, away from human contact.

Enter Sargon the Sorcerer. Famously burned to a crisp during a seance in Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #50, along with the father of Zatanna, Zatara, Sargon has meandered through the afterlife for a while, but has come into possession once again of his magic ruby. Sargon figures out what the magic ruby truly does, which comes to the attention of John Constantine. Feeling the need to correct this situation, Constantine meets up with Abby and the resurrected skeletal remains of Alec Holland to figure out how to stop Sargon and bring Swamp Thing and his former human spirit back together again.

Writer Andy Diggle doesn't quite have a mastery of the macabre as did his predecessors on Swamp Thing, but he writes a rather riveting tale for those who are interested in the story of the muck monster. He is pretty much on point for the voice of Constantine, Abby, and Swampy, but daughter Tefe comes across as nothing more than a hormonal teenager, and not the possessor of great power that she is. (N.B: My inner voice gave Tefe the voice of Meg Griffin. Blech.) Sargon is creepy and full of himself, and Diggle's script has enough humorous/horrific asides we've come to expect in DC's supernatural corner.

The art by Enrique Brecchia is sufficiently nasty and skin-crawling, as it should be. Not quite Bissette/Totleben, but very good. His covers are, in particular, very well done illustrations.

Overall, this is an "ok" book. The title "Bad Seed," I presume, is a play on the movie of the same name, and since Tefe really is the primary character in this book, it works. I think Diggle was off the book after this volume, followed by Joshua Dysart, so not sure what Diggle's long range plan was for the title. Not stellar, not bad, but probably ultimately forgettable.

[Jack Haringa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andy Diggle does a fine job of bringing closure to many of the drifting threads left by the end of the third Swamp Thing series in this fourth incarnation of the comic, which came out from Vertigo in 2004. Artist Enrique Breccia is perfect for the title, working in the tradition of Wrightson, Bissette, and Totleben, and vastly superior to Roger Peterson's work from the previous series. Diggle effectively captures John Constantine, who is a central figure across the 6 issues collected here, as well as the familial conflicts and concerns of Alec Holland and Swamp Thing, daughter Tefe, and lover Abby. This has gotten some shaky reviews here and at other venues, but I'm at a loss to say why. While it's not at the level of Alan Moore, it's a very solid story arc with a satisfying conclusion.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swamp Thing has the power of nearly all of the elements. Battle of the Red vs the Green with hidden plots and players in the background. Interesting story that I'm curious to read how it came to this point. Great art.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems like every major new arc for the Swamp Things has to start with a question about who the Swamp Thing and Alec Holland are. Moore did it, so Morrison & Millar did it, and now Diggle does it to kick off V4. Even Snyder would later follow in the same footsteps. This time, we get the question: what if the Swamp Thing weren't Alec Holland?, but it has a different twist than Moore gave it.

The joy of Diggle's story is that it tries to be a good sequel to both of the previous volumes; we start off with an omnipotent Swamp Thing and an adult and powered Tefe (and if Swamp Thing didn't actually seem that omnipotent in Tefe's V3, I can deal with that, because I prefer to have both of the old topics resolved).

Unfortunately, I wasn't thrilled with the resolution of these plot threads. Clearly, the remit of this arc was to power down between Swamp Thing and Tefe, so that DC could go back to telling old stories of the sort that appeared before Millar's ever one-upping run. I can certainly agree that the Swamp Thing at the end of Millar's V2 was too high-powered for good story telling, but reverting him to a muck monster ... leaves me unthrilled. However, I think Tefe is dealt with even worse. Though I enjoyed seeing a conclusion to her story, her characterization wasn't great after the complexity of V3, and the ending was ... disappointing. (I in fact was very disappointed when I first read this years ago, since I'd loved the V3 Tefe run.)

There are nice elements here, like the use of Sargon, pretty much repeating his tricks from the early Millar run, and Constantine (horribly drawn) acting the manipulator. But it wasn't quite enough to make me love the story, primarily because of the big-red reset button that it represents.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't bad, but seemed a little bogged down in continuity. Even though this was a new series, if you weren't familiar with the earlier Swamp Thing series you'd be really lost. (Even if you were familiar with the earlier series you may get a little lost.)

So the Swamp Thing has now separated from Alec Holland, and is an elemental bent on destroying the world. Only his daughter Tefe can stop him, by harnessing "the red." Whereas "the green" is plant life, "the red" is animal life. So then Constantine shows up and tries to reunite Alec Holland the elemental to put things back into balance. Swamp Thing's wife Abbie shows up to help, and Sargon the Sorcerer also gets involved.

Overall it's not bad, and the art is nice as well. It's just not quite what I was expecting, and I think new Swamp Thing readers would be put off. This one is previous Swamp Thing fans only (although Constantine is pretty cool here.)

[Noeli Cobaya Debiblioteca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buena adaptación, me gustó muchísimo aunque es mi primer acercamiento a la historia.

[Jim Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pre-New 52 run is a convoluted clusterfuck with quality art.

[Viviana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Constantine art.. Not the most handsome.. The birds and green-y bits are nice, though. The art...is all..tangly and spooky and weird, and I think I do kind of like it.

[Jordan West · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5; the first post-Moore/pre-Snyder Swamp Thing volume I've read, and although a mixed bag, it is still entertaining, with Constantine showing up to be his wonderfully cynical self, and a plot that prefigures(and sets the stage for) the New 52's 'Rotworld' storyline.

[Low · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best of the usual swamp thing style. Read this like a comic and forget about the rest of the other swamps and you should be good.

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Go read the Swamp Thing series by Brian K Vaughan that stars Swamp Thing's daughter Tefe. It's amazing! This is sort of a follow up to that one.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why but I really like Swamp Thing. It seems thus far to hard for me to find a completely bad Swamp Thing story. That alone shows how much I have been invested in the character. Remembering growing up as a kid in the 80s watching the not so good Swamp Thing returns film and absolutely and weirdly loving it. When DC Comics introduced Swamp Thing back into the DC universe during the New 52 I was immediately going to jump on board. I have read all of Scott Snyder's run starting with Swamp Thing, Volume 1: Raise Them Bones and even often over looked run with Charles Soule that began with Swamp Thing, Volume 4: Seeder. I also really enjoyed Len Wein's return to the character for the short mini series: Swamp Thing: The Dead Don't Sleep. So now I decided to go back a few runs in the past and read some of the tales I miss before finally getting to the much touted Alan Moore run with the character. So I am beginning my Swamp Thing of the past journey with volume one of Andy Diggle's run. I have read a few graphic novels by Diggle which include: Superman: Action Comics, Volume 4: Hybrid, James Bond: Hammerhead, & Green Arrow: Year One. Green Arrow Year One and Losers are Andy's most popular works. Green Arrow Year One was the inspiration for the CW Arrow series. The Losers was made into a motion picture. So that give's reader's a little background to Diggle's work. I was very please with the writing on this story. Diggle does a great job with getting you to care about the characters. Constantine is especially well written here. Holland has the innocence and humanity that one should come to expect from a Swamp thing tale. This was my first time actually reading a Swamp Thing story that feature his daughter Tefe'. Tefe also has all the teen angst you would expect in a story that has some truly dark moments. Speaking of dark moments, at its core Swamp Thing has always been a horror book with a side of super heroics and have to say this book does a great job with its monsters. The artwork is strange but really works well with the mood of the story. The shading and the colors are pretty good as well. I am not familiar with the artists but the artwork look great. I am looking forward to the next volume.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Swamp Thing story, this is three stars. It's a Vast Improvement over Brian K Vaughan's Swamp Thing by Brian K. Vaughan, Vol. 1run (and it may be the only time where Diggle's work is called vastly superior to Vaughan's). But it's still a little creaky with its storyline attempting to sort of redeem the previous run, which focused on Swamp Thing and Abby's daughter.

Where this book excels is as a Hellblazer book, as John Constantine is in about half the pages, as a major player in this plot. And Diggle's Hellblazer is a delight. Indeed, the B storyline where Constantine and the skeletal remains of Alec Holland road trip on their way to try and defeat Swamp Thing is a fantastic dark comedy, and lifts this up to four stars. I also love the Breccias (Enrique Breccia on inks, Martin Breccia on colors) art for this. it goes for vivid and stylish, as opposed to spooky. I think that if this book intended to look dark, the humor and the drama would have both landed differently.

If you're a harcore Swamp Thing fan because of Alan Moore, this may not appeal to you, but if you love John Constantine you should seek this out.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swampy isn’t himself, literally. The spirit of Alec Holland has been separated from Swamp Thing’s body. Thankfully, John Constantine has found a way to put Holland’s spirit back in his old body. Unfortunately (for Holland), his body has been decaying for years in the Louisiana swamps. He’s basically a walking, talking skeleton, dripping with gore. Very hard to go to car rentals or stay in hotels in that condition.

Meanwhile, Swampy’s daughter, Tefe, has been resurrected and offered a chance to be the new avatar of the Red by Sargon the Sorcerer. Tefe, who has daddy issues, agrees to the plan if it means fighting her father to the death. Sargon, however, has a secret agenda…

Andy Diggle’s six-issue 2004 run of Swamp Thing, compiled in TPB form under the title “Bad Seed”, is pretty decent. It’s a quick read, without a whole lot of unnecessary side-stories. It’s also pretty Constantine-heavy, which is always a good thing. It’s drawn by Enrique Breccia, who has a weird predilection for drawing men to look either like heavy-weight boxers or Joel Gray. All women, inexplicably, look like Twiggy.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a continuation of Millar's run that BKV's was. It sets up an interesting angle of the Green vs. the Red, after Swamp Thing had mastered the elements. It's a little sad to see Swamp Thing and Tefe so incorrigible after Alec Holland is separated from him.

Millar's run was really over-the-top and highpowered at the end, and didn't quite have the emotional resonance I'd have hoped for. This one does a nice job trying to reconciling it, but by kind of making everyone turn to their taker natures, which of course people want to exploit.

[Rodrigo Tello · Rating 3 out of 5]

No estuvo mal, aunque la trama no es nada del otro mundo y se siente más como un arco argumental de Hellblazer, ya que aquí escribe Andy Diggle, uno de los guionistas históricos del bastardo inglés. De todas maneras, el buen hacer gráfico de Breccia y Richard Corben es lo que más me empujó a leer esta etapa. Y los dos capítulos dibujados por Corben me gustaron más, aunque Breccia también se luce con un par de ilustraciones impresionantes.

[Helen (they or he) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started reading this, I only knew one thing about Swamp Thing: it is from DC. So this probably wasn't a great place to start. I wasn't lost or anything but like the whole thing is a mess. I think I kind of liked this volume only because of Constantine's involvement.

I don't think I'll be picking up another volume of Swamp Thing anytime soon.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very gritty fight between the Green and the Red. I liked the lost soul tag-along.

[James Powell · Rating 2 out of 5]

2½⭐

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le pongo un 3 por el extraordinario arte de Breccia y Corben (aunque el color es mediocre y excesivamente digital, un mal de nuestros tiempos). La trama es un refrito de historias anteriores, poco original y apenas cumple el papel de sostener los dibujos. Se me hizo larguísimo.

[Matt Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read today. Sweet rolling Jesus, I'd forgotten how freakin' satisfying this book is, on nearly every level. Colorful, surreal, viscerally creepy artwork, feels like Enrique and Martin Breccia's style was made for SWAMP THING, a worthy follower to the standard set by Steve Bissette in Alan Moore's classic run. Andy Diggle's writing is fast, grotesque, tragic, moving, surprising, cosmic, thoroughly bugfuck insane, laugh-out-loud funny, with some of the best rapid-fire dialogue in comics this side of Garth Ennis ([to food offer] "Nah, I'm cool. This chick whose body I'm wearing was pumped on enough smack to floor a rhino, so I'm not exactly jonesing for solids right now"). If there's a drawback, it's that Alec/Swampy himself spends most of the story rather lost in the shuffle of his own book. Half of him's basically a glorified plot catalyst (though he makes up for it in spades in the finale), the other half a glum comic foil to Constantine. Fortunately it's the ensemble that really makes this work and keeps it moving. Sargon the (good? evil? something in between?) Sorcerer leads the way into much surreal, thought-provoking cosmic territory and thrilling twists. Somewhat like I envisioned Moloch the Mystic from WATCHMEN being like in his prime, only way more badass and ambiguous. Tef's in top form (several, actually), and of course there's lots of snarky Constantine (he even makes the obligatory "Here's a recap, in case anyone here hasn't read the classic ST series" entertaining - so it doesn't really even *feel* like a recap, more like character development smoothly integrated into the narrative). Highly recommended if you're in the mood for some top-shelf horror-adventure reading.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tengo este tomo desde hace unos tres años, pero nunca lo leí porque quería ir cronológicamente con la Cosa del Pantano, y nunca pasé más de dos capítulos posmoore (aunque también tengo en espera los tomos de Millar y Morrison). Hace unos días salió en Argentina un numerito que traduce los dos primeros capítulos y no pude evitar ponérmelo a leer. No me voló la cabeza pero sí me gustó lo suficiente como para querer leer el resto de la historia enseguida(*), así que finalmente me agarré el TP que tanto había pospuesto.
Sólo voy a marcar tres puntos.
1) Tendría que haberlo leído todo prolijamente como era mi idea original, porque no entendí un soto la relación de Tefé con sus padres ni porqué Alec y la Cosa del Pantano están separados ni otras sutilezas más.
2)Me pareció b astante bueno lo poco que leí del Swamp Thing de Snyder, pero me sigue gustando más el personaje en "la esquina Vertigo" que como mainstream, aunque que esta serie haya fracasado es un triste marcador de que comercialmente hicieron bien en volver a meterlo en el UDC.
3) Ojalá consiga en algún momento los tomos siguientes.



(*) Por cierto, sigo sin entender esta manía de ECC Sudamérica por sacar ediciones argentinas de comics viejos en revistitas en vez de jugarse por armar un lindo y rendidor tomo con sagas completas. Según me han dicho, "ECC España" no le permite a la filial sudaca sacar cosas en tomo que no estén publicados en España, pero la idea me parece tan estúpida que quiero creer que no tiene mucho de cierto.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Swamp Thing is broken - and Andy Diggle is charged with helping put the pieces back together. No longer slave to the consciousness of Alec Holland, the monstrous Avatar of the Green has become a vicious elemental. Absorbing the powers of earth, air, fire, and water into its being, Swamp Thing is out to eradicate the pestilence of humanity from the planet. Refusing to idly let this happen, master mage John Constantine has placed Holland's mind back into his rotting corpse, and steering the pair into a showdown with both Swamp Thing and his daughter, Tefe Holland. Demonstrating to readers that its better for the DC Universe to have Holland's mind in control of Swamp Thing, Diggle resolves the familial conflict and sets the board up for its next stage. While the elemental angle is engaging, the book tends to get locked into Sargon's training of Tefe as opposed to the dark humor between Constantine and Holland's rotting body. Bad Seed is a nifty read, but one that needs to grow on me.

[Boots LookingLand · Rating 3 out of 5]

i mostly liked this because of constantine (what's not to like, right?), but the plot is kind of a mess and tries to reconcile volume 3 (which, let's face it, was even more of a mess). so while i appreciate the attempt at getting things "back on track" this was mostly forgettable and struggles to not only balance things out, but to actually create tension and character interest. swamp thing shumbles around being pretty lost and messed up, abby wins the award (again) for world's worst mother, and tefe is relegated to emo teen (and this time without catastrophic powers).

so yeah ~ not real crazy about it, though the reanimated corpse of alec holland was great for a handful of (fortunately intentional) laughs.

[Johnny Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first jump into swamp thing officially (i remember seeing one of the movies when i was a kid), ok this GN not the best to really dive into swamp thing if you don't really know of his origins, (somehow i've got the simplified story lodged in the vault of my mind, somehow), however i was looking for relatively cheap ones just in case i wasn't too fussed. I did not know Hellblaizer's John Constantine pays a huge part in this tale, and well let's face it being a Brit myself he is awesome, but it slightly takes away from the whole essence of what is swamp thing, the reading is good, the art real good but not a place to start if you want a story about swamp thing.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this book because it was on sale, and it definitely should have been there. Constantine plays a large role in the story and is the most enjoyable character. I may have enjoyed it if I understood the background of the Swamp Thing but since I don't, I feel the story was not very entertaining and only served to setup future stories.

[Martinxo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once more Diggle proves he is damage control for what seems beyond repair. Did the people that gave it bad reviews like the atrocious run that came before this one?

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición estadounidense que recopila la primera saga de Swamp Thing Vol. IV.

En Argentina se editó un número en revista que contenía los números 1 y 2 de esta etapa. Jamás se completó.