Comics Fondle

The real Swamp Thing–Swamp Thing of Earth-1–and Tefé waste an issue talking. Vaughan really thinks using curse words makes him a good writer. It’s so neat to see someone making that senior in high school, freshman in college mistake. It’s should be a metaphor for Tefé’s character, but it isn’t.

This issue, the Five Easy Pieces of Vaughan’s Swamp Thing is a piece of crap. It might be the worst issue in the entire series, which is kind of saying something. I always thought a good writer could handle any assignment–especially a comic book, screenplay or television episode–but given how good some of Vaughan’s later work is… maybe I’m wrong. I make the same comparison with lots of Greg Rucka’s superhero work.

Vaughan, this issue shows off, hates Swamp Thing. The issue doesn’t reveal why–maybe because it isn’t hip, I’m not sure–but it’s pretty clear in the argument between Tefé and Swampy, this series is all about being a rebellious youth. And it’s about as rebellious as… I don’t know… “Beverly Hills 90210.” No, wait… the episode with the kid shooting himself really kicks ass.

Camuncoli’s art is real bad here. His Swamp Thing looks like an anorexic and it’s pretty clear Camuncoli doesn’t have the interest in his line work to make him look interesting either.

I’ve always wondered why this series was never collected–especially given Y the Last Man’s popularity. This issue might actually be the reason.

I mean… I think there’s a Superman: The Movie reference in here.

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