At last we complete our look at Alan Moore‘s Swamp Thing run, looking at Swampy’s battle with Gotham City, his seeming death, and his travels through space. Along the way, Tim and Kumar have totally different takes on a certain issue, and Tim finds a fact about it that scandalizes Kumar. Join us as we traverse The Saga of the Swamp Thing issues 51-64!
What are those folks on Rann saying?
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FLASHBACK! We continue our look at Alan Moore’s 1980s run on Swamp Thing— a run in which the title character met werewolves and vampires (as Moore and co. found a new way to use these old tropes), as well as new character John Constantine. Moore was aided by artists Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, and Alfredo Acala, among others. Koom and newcomer Darrell Epp discuss issues 38-50. (Originally published January 30, 2019.)
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FLASHBACK! Due perhaps to the passage of time, poorly handled reprinting by DC, or some other reason, Alan Moore’s writing stint on Swamp Thing in the 1980s does not seem to get mentioned much today. Which is a shame, because it ranks with Moore’s best work. And the art by Stephen Bissette and John Totleben (and able fill-in artists) is worth the price of admission by itself, not to mention Tatjana Wood’s colors.
Tim and Kumar had a blast reading the early issues of the run (#21-37) and are here to share the experience with you. (Originally published July 16, 2012.)
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FLASHBACK! While Alan Moore and J.H. Williams’ Promethea, published from 1999 to 2005, is not one of Moore’s most remembered works, it’s not because the author wasn’t at the top of his game. Kumar and Emmet find it to be entrancing, even if you don’t buy into the various magical and spiritual elements that Moore built into it.
Also, inevitably, the incorporation of Promethea and other Moore creations into the DC Universe comes up; is it really just a business decision, or is the publisher singling out Moore’s work out of spite? (Originally published April 30, 2018.)
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To mark the recent passing of artist Ian Gibson, Kumar and Dana dive into a long-overdue discussion of his masterpiece with writer Alan Moore, The Ballad of Halo Jones. Halo Jones is an early work by Moore that was never completed, but it is rich, immersive, and fully developed at every turn, from the characters to the world-building, largely due to the influence of Gibson himself on the creative process. But is there something familiar about it all…?
Buy The Ballad of Halo Jones on Amazon.com
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In 1993, the Image revolution was underway, itself a result of the 1986 earthquake brought about by Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Moore was on a mission to counteract the wave of “grim and gritty” comics he had inadvertently helped to start. This led to Moore’s 1963 series, a combination parody of and homage to the Marvel comics of the Silver Age, with art by the likes of Stephen Bissette, Rick Vietch, Dave Gibbons, Don Simpson, and Jim Valentino. Tim and Kumar review the series, discussing why it was never completed and why it’s not currently in print.
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Colorist Jose Villarrubia had trouble getting work from Marvel because his style was “too artistic” — but then other creators started asking for him, and he’s colored many Marvel titles since then. He’s also done photo art for Alan Moore‘s Voice of the Fire and The Mirror of Love. This August, a new edition of Richard Corben‘s Den, with color corrections by Villarrubia, will be released by Dark Horse. What can Corben fans look forward to in this new edition? And, why do recolored comics sometimes look Gaudy? Villarrubia covers all this in a talk with Kumar.
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FLASHBACK! While this podcast has covered the odd League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book here and there, no one has dared think of trying to discuss all of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill‘s series in one episode… until now! Kumar and Dana take on the task, with special attention paid to Black Dossier (and the record that was recorded for it), the Century trilogy, and the injustice that Kumar feels was done to Volume 2 way back in 2006, episode 21!
(Originally published June 24, 2013. Re-presented in observance of the passing of League artist Kevin O’Neill.)
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A comics series that’s sadly hard to find these days is Smax by Alan Moore, Zander Cannon, and Andrew Currie. Emmet has been waxing nostalgic for this spinoff of Moore, Cannon, and Gene Ha’s Top Ten, so this week he calls up Cannon to chat about it – the meaning of the handprint on Smax’s chest, how the collaboration on this book (and Top Ten) worked, controversies in the fantasy genre, and more.
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It’s debatable whether Garth Ennis’ series Crossed, about a disease that causes people to act in the most reprehensible ways possible, had any redeeming qualities, but when Alan Moore steps in to write the next chapter, you know it’s going to be worth discussing. And so we have Crossed +100 by Moore and Gabriel Andrade. In Moore’s hands, what is it, exactly, that the disease does? Is his attempt at writing future dialects of English annoying or fascinating? Kumar and Jordan settle in for a fascinating, but depressing, sequel.
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