Constantly reinventing its heroes, the world of comics is sometimes elusive for novice readers. To make their series more accessible, publishers therefore regularly publish complete stories, in the form of integrals, making it possible to (re) discover characters and sagas, both the most cult and the forgotten. Latest, Swamp Thing , alias the Creature of the Marsh, a monster created in the 1970s then revisited by Alan Moore, legendary comic book author, in the 1980s. It is this jewel of unsuspected literary wealth, without hesitation one of the greatest comics ever written, re-released by Urban Comics.
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A comic book monster saved by the cinema
Created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson in 1971, Swamp Thing is first and foremost a story of monsters like there were so many at that time when the horrifying genre was all the rage. The positive reception of the public pushes the publisher DC Comics to launch a series featuring the character. Or the story of Alec Holland, a biologist who conducts research in a swamp in Louisiana. One day, competitors detonated his lab. Burned alive, the scientist collapses in the mud where the product of his research is also mixed. A sort of fusion takes place then: Alec Holland dies but his spirit, incorporated into the environment, gives birth to a monster, the Creature of the Marsh, a heap of mud and plants with a human face.
After experiencing some success, Swamp Thing runs out of steam and in 1976, the series, which has become a poorly arranged mixture of science fiction, horror and fantasy, is stopped. But Wes Craven, a young horror film director ( The hill has eyes and, later , The Claws of the Night ), believes that the Creature has potential. He therefore embarked on an adaptation of the comic book which came out in 1982. A low-budget monster film, Swamp Thing did not go down in memory. But DC Comics wants to capitalize on the film and decides to relaunch the saga. This is where Alan Moore comes in.
From the story of a monster to a political manifesto
Batman and Superman's parent company spotted this British comic book writer for his work on minor works and entrusted him with Swamp Thing . It is a double revelation: Alan Moore will rebuild from top to bottom the history of the Creature of the Marsh to make a major work of the genre and thus reach the rank of cult author (he works in parallel on a past graphic novel posterity, V for Vendetta ). He makes this monster, originally very primitive, a paradoxically very human hero.
The first chapters of its saga, during which the Creature becomes aware of what it is, are overwhelmingly human. Accepting that she is no longer Alec Holland, the Creature opens up to a higher form of consciousness and becomes an elemental, herald of nature. Alan Moore thus delivers a pioneering manifesto for the defense of the environment.
Fewer monsters and fewer fights: in this new version of Swamp Thing , evil is everywhere and especially in the minds of men. Through the somewhat "nanar" pitch of the saga, the British author, who is teeming with crazy ideas, also addresses issues of burning societies like the burying of nuclear waste, gun control, slave ghosts from the southern United States and even menstruation, a taboo subject.
Some chapters are so subversive that they are frowned upon by the comics control authority in force at the time. All served by an impressive pen, well above the rudimentary standards of comics.
Psychedelic drawings
In addition to this surprisingly political background, the revival of Swamp Thing also owes a great deal to another man, the designer Stephen Bissette, who is practically co-author of Alan Moore in fact. With Rick Veitch (drawing), John Totleben (inking) and Tatjana Wood (color), he forms a team that experiments in all directions and explodes the codes of comics with psychedelic drawings. It is a firework of colors, with boxes that overlap or overlap. As such, the chapter "Death and Love", in which the Creature and its human friend Abby make love through a hallucinogenic experience, is truly extraordinary, the reading going from horizontal to vertical from page to page. 'other.
Stephen Bissette brings to life the fantastic universe imagined by Alan Moore, a world populated by demons disguised as men, punked vampires, satanic sects, all in the unusual setting of a lush swamp. Each chapter offers a unique visual richness, a few pages that can legitimately be called works of art. It is this alliance of form and content that makes Swamp Thing an extraordinary comic book and even, let's say, a masterpiece of literature. Bissette left Swamp Thing in 1985 and Moore imitated him in 1987. Tired, the Briton went to create another comic book that would become cult, Watchmen , before delivering an immense story of Batman ( The Killing Joke ). Without them, the Creature will find neither its appeal nor its success.
The integral in three volumes published by Urban Comics covers only the saga of Alan Moore, which therefore runs over four years and sixty chapters. Copious with its 400 pages per volume, it does justice to his work and that of the designers with numerous bonus pages and prestigious prefaces. There are already two volumes available, the third will be released in bookstores on August 28.