The Saga of the Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age, Vol. 3

Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age #3

by Martin Pasko, Tom Yeates (Artist), Dan Mishkin

The shadows of the bayous in Louisiana hold a terrifying secret. Inside them hides a creature seen only in fleeting glimpses... a twisted, vegetative mockery of man... a Swamp Thing.

Created by legendary writer Len Wien and artist Bernie Wrightson, this shambling, muck-encrusted figure swiftly became one of DC's most iconic characters during the Bronze Age of comics, and his shocking stories have become classics in the gothic horror genre. In this brilliant collection by writer Martin Pasko and artist Tom Yeates, Swamp Thing is joined by Phantom Stranger as he goes up against an electronics genius - before having to face off against Anton Arcane!

Collects The Saga of the Swamp Thing #1-19, Saga of the Swamp Thing Annual #1.

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

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2020

About the author

Martin Joseph "Marty" Pasko (born Jean-Claude Rochefort) was a Canadian comic book writer and television screenwriter.
Pasko worked for many comics publishers, but is best known for his superhero stories for DC Comics over three decades. He wrote Superman in various media, including television animation, webisodes, and a syndicated newspaper strip for Tribune Media Services, as well as comic books. He also co-created the 1975 revamp of Doctor Fate.

Reviews

[Rhys Causon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to rate anything Swamp Thing so low because he’s my favourite DC character but my god, just like a swamp, this was a slog to get through. The main difference is a swamp has stuff to keep your attention.

The main problem I have with this is the story it focused on for the most part was just boring. Which is the worst thing any piece of media can be because that means I don’t want to engage with it at all. If really feels bad to say but it felt like Swamp Thing was forced into a huge bulk of this.

Once it gets passed the long boring story though there is some relief, as we get the return of some classic Swamp Thing characters which helps to pull the reader back in and the events of those issues lead into the excellent run by Alan Moore.

So I would only recommend this to people who are serious fans of the character and looking to fill in some holes in his history. Didn’t think I’d miss the days of him being part of The Challengers of the Unknown.

[[Name Redacted] · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand, this volume is a "return to last known good," effectively skipping everything from the second volume and returning to the story of a tortured man-monster wandering through the world battling monsters both human and supernatural... We also get a welcome shift to the art-style that will characterize the Moore run (and the subsequent "Hellblazer" series), and it even sets up what Moore drew on for his underwater vampire town...

But it's almost TOO familiar. And while back in the day, years after the original run, that might not have been a problem, it's feeling a little repetitive in TPB form. And most disappointingly, it ends without providing the connective tissue between this and the Moore run...

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was impressed that this book started with a strong identity and a firm grasp on what it wanted to do as monster pulp. The art is competent but somewhat dull (a house style) with a few interesting visual ideas (perhaps provided by Pasko) until Bissette joins the book, and it becomes draw droppingly good. You can stare at those pages for hours. And they are visually truly terrifying. It goes from campy monster melodrama to terrifying horror book simply on the strength of the art alone. The story gets away from Pasko, but his work is not bad.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buena etapa esta de Pasko y Yeates anterior a la de Moore. Argumentos oscuros y gores para un cómic donde hay algunos momentos buenos de terror. La cosa se unirá a una niña con poderes telequineticos y destructivos. Más tarde se hará amigo de una periodista, un doctor y un ex médico judio superviviente del holocausto mientras huyen de una compañia que quiere experimentar con él. En los números finales del tomo vuelve Arcane convertido en un medio zombie que se derrite como el queso.
A destacar los números donde la cosa se enfrenta a una especie de momstruo cthuliano que hipnotiza a humanos para convertirles en sirvientes y que desata el pánico en un crucero de lujo. Ese número lo tenia en un retapado de zinco y siempre quise saber como terminaba la historia.

[Keith Wyrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Should be about 1 and a half stars. Martin Pasko is every bit as verbose as Alan Moore and not 1/100th as interesting. Hardest run of Swamp Thing to get through.

[A.G. Hilton · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, I love Swamp Thing and I did not expect to rate this as low as I have. But the primary issue here is twofold: 1) the majority of the story told in this collection just isn’t interesting in itself and 2) this story will always be in the shadow of the amazing Moore run that directly follows it.
If you are reading Saga of the Swamp Thing sequentially from the get go, thee stories might be easier to swallow. Since I started with Moore’s run and went backwards for context, I just can’t help comparing them, much to the detriment of the material in this collection. Where Moore turned the character on his head and delved deep into each legacy character to make meaningful arcs, Pasko’s run is unfortunately shallow and ultimately goofy in comparison. It also for the most part lacks the awesome Bissette and Totleben artwork that would grace the Moore run, nor does it’s art really stack up against the earlier Wrightson material.
The one saving grace is that Bissette and Totleben are featured in the final issues collected here and there is a marked improvement in the visual representations. These final issues also feature the return of some great characters which boost things further.

Ultimately, I can’t recommend this except for those who want details on events leading up to the stellar Moore run. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to slog through a lot of dull happenings to get to the good bits

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This era of Swamp Thing is ambitious, but it quickly gets tangled in a web of plot threads that slow the progress to a crawl. Some great moment-to-moment scenes, but as a whole, it unfortunately doesn't quite add up.

And then, in the last few issues, Steve Bissette and John Totleben show up to take over the art duties, and suddenly it’s amazing. (And, of course, You-Know-Who starts writing the book as soon as these issues are over.)

Seeing where the book was at before Bissette, Totleben, Moore, and Veitch took over makes me respect their contributions even more. If that’s the era of SWAMP THING that you enjoy most, I don’t know if you’ll get much out of this one until the very end. But it is interesting from a historical perspective.

[Luke Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of hilariously paced hot free associative nonsense, which occasionally spikes into being sublimely weird and wonderful, and really gets a lot of milage out how much I inherently love getting to see Swamp Thing do anything. The actual plot and character arcs, across the series, feel like an exquisite corpse exercise where there's a moment to moment sense of continuity and intent between a sequence of constant left turns that don't ever really add up to anything. It's a lot of fun!

[Jack Reickel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm trying to do Swamp Thing right, so I read Wein and Wrightson's original run, and then with Moore's iconic run starting with Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, I'd read 1-19 in this convenient volume.

I wish I had not.

I do not recommend. Even to completionists. The original run is a much better ramp into the character, and even it doesn't hold up to modern standards. Gutting through this volume was unpleasant, and I considered throwing in the towel a few different times.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So delightfully strange. I gather from the reviews that this is actually a weaker run for the character, so given how much I enjoyed it, I am encouraged by what's to come as I continue to read more.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

After rushing Swamp Thing to a closure in the first volume with the bizarre reversal of the titular Swamp Thing back into his human form of Alec Holland, the series gets a soft reboot to ride the tide of the 1982 Wes Craven directed feature film. Now titled "Saga of the Swamp Thing", the story ignores the events of the final few issues of the first volume and instead picks up threads from Swamp Thing's appearance in Challengers of the Unknown #81-87. Back in the bayous of Louisiana, Swamp Thing is feared as a local urban legend to be feared by the locals. But instead of the gothic horror leanings of the original Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson run with touches of introspection and melancholy, Martin Pasko's stretch on Saga of the Swamp Thing has the character serve as a globe-trotting adventure primarily attempting to stop a young anti-Christ type figure known as Karen Clancy from destroying mankind. It's a bizarre twist on the character that feels out of sorts, though it does have moments of enjoyment to be found. A young David Michelinie also writes some of these issues, but ultimately this stretch of Swamp Thing's publication history is largely forgettable nonsense. The artwork by Tom Yeates is pretty nice, but the more worthwhile issues are from when Steve Bissette takes over the art duties. Bissette remains on as Swamp Thing penciller for a significant stretch of Alan Moore's legendary tenure on the book, but the pre-Moore issues that feature Bissette artwork is still worth checking out even if the stories are rather flat.

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third issue of the collection of the Bronze Age Swamp Thing. Remarkable especially for the last stories, for an appearance of the enigmatic Phantom Stranger, for a special issue drawn by the Hampton brothers, and for the first issues drawn and inked by Stephen Bissette and John Totleben, which will be the team which will side with Alan Moore for one of the most famous runs in the history of comics.

[Gustavo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bem pior que o original...
Perde totalmente a vibe de horror pra mim pra dar lugar a uma piração com mutantes mágicos e o número da besta e só lá no final tentar voltar a fazer algo relacionado ao passado, mas que mesmo assim é pior que todo o resto que já foi feito.
Escrita limitada, história sem pé nem cabeça, totalmente confusa e enrolada em si mesma, mas acho que acima de tudo bem perdida no que está tentando fazer.
Não via a hora de finalmente acabar isso 😵‍💫

[Danny Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost felt bad giving this a low rating because it's a significant improvement over Volume 2, even if it does repeat many of the same mistakes and was a bit of a slog to get through. However, there's also an issue in here where Swamp Thing visits the Dachau concentration camp and it's not exactly in the best taste, so I'm not sure Pasko deserves the benefit of the doubt.

[Max Kilgore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts and finishes masterfully. However, The stories in between loose their stride and are often oddly paced. Swamp thing is at its best when it focuses on real world relationships and the independent powerful women of the DCU like Abby Arcane and Liz Tremayne.

[Kuba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best of the three. Why? It doesn't feel like another novel of the road. The first story relating to the Second World War was more interesting than anything written before.
The ending chapters introduced a lot of clutter, even tho I would like to see the true ending - not Moore's.

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to see what Swamp Thing was like before Alan picked up the character run and gotta say it’s a lot more comic booky than Moores run on the character. Not as good as Moores story but some nice adventures in here with the character.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last 100 or so pages was so much easier to read

[Aaron Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate how the stories veer darker in this volume and the art becomes more dynamic, especially in the later issues. On to the Alan Moore stories.

[Robert Kimberlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not as good as the original with Wein and Wrightson but pretty good. Some interesting characters and for the most part, good writing and artwork.

[Michalina Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the internal struggle of the Swamp thing. He's seen as a monster but wants to help the people in need. Now I can continue with the Alan Moore run to get to Constantine.

[Hugo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing the tradition of writers who haven't much of a clue what to do with the character, Pasko offers an ongoing (unending, would be closer to the mark) multi-issue epic, throwing new age mysticism, cod science mumbo jumbo, flavours-of-the-month (culled from Stephen King's Firestarter, Seltzer's The Omen), Nazi war criminals, the Anti-Christ and the Golem into an extravaganza of contrivance, happenstance and wilful nonsense, hand-waving away errors of plotting, relying heavily on coincidence just to keep the story moving, and jamming up almost every issue with pages of info-dump recaps just to keep even regular readers up to date with what can only be described as lamentable tosh.

Like a trooper, Thomas Yeates draws all of this as best he can, given the schedule, only occasionally reaching the heights of his finest work. Guest issues by Bo and Scott Hampton, similarly afflicted, with only moody, shadowy panels showing what they can do. The final four issues by Bissette and Totleben are the clear highlight, instantly galvanising the preposterous events with something approaching style and consistency, boding well for the future.

Frankly, I can't believe this train wreck lasted the 19 issues it took to get Alan Moore on board.

(Read as single issues #1-19.)

[Luke Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are moments in the beginning of the second iteration of the Swamp Thing that hint at its coming greatness, but generally speaking, the first iteration is kinda lame, so this collection didn't really wow me