Swamp Thing 1989 #1

[cyberghostface]

 

Comments

[superfangirl1]

I did not expect this to be a story about Jesus meeting Swamp Thing. I really enjoy the artwork Swamp Thing is floating through time and space, then he pops up near Jesus.

We even see different realities of certain characters.

[metadronos]

It's wonderful to see this issue finally published in its entirety. (Previously, only selected, leaked scans of Zulli's pencils were available online.) It's in no way disrespectful to Jesus of Nazareth, as DC claimed when it rejected the story back in 1989. (It seems they were worried that the uproar from conservative Christians, over the then recently released The Last Temptation of Christ, could spell trouble for the publisher. But that reaction to the film in fact died down fairly quickly.)

DC's panicky move would have long-lasting negative consequences for Swamp Thing. Not only did writer Rick Veitch made good on his threat to quit the title several issues before the conclusion of the time-travel storyline (and his run on the comic), but both Neil Gaiman and Jamie Delano, who'd been slotted to alternate writing for the title after Veitch, quit in solidarity with their colleague. Instead, readers got the generally poorly-received runs of Doug Wheeler and Nancy Collins. It wouldn't be until the Mark Millar (with initial contribution by Grant Morrsion) run that Swamp Thing once again began to realize its potential.

[cainofdreaming]

Yeah, not disrespectful. This feels more like it's wrapped in cotton wool. I mean not being able to conceive Jesus of being capable of violence? The money lenders might disagree there.

[metadronos]

Like hey, man, you're silencing Jesus! He wasn't out to lay a violence trip on the money changers (note: not money lenders); he was telling it like it was about capitalism and exploitation of the poor, especially in a holy place, man! ✌️

----

Or to put it in a more serious way: from a non-devotional, historical perspective, we don't know much of anything about Jesus of Nazareth other than his existence, his real name (Yeshua, a common variant of Yehoshua [Joshua] at the time) and his crucifixion by order of Pontius Pilate. So there's little point in debating whether the historical Yeshua was (as has been variously theorized): an itinerant Stoic-like sage, a proto-socialist, a radical anti-Roman insurrectionist, a proto-Reform Jew, a faith healer, a mystic, or whatever. All of these theories have "support" in the Gospels if read very selectively. Truth is: who can say whether he was "really" into violence or into peace and love?

[super_fly]

He said "no *innocent* blood" and while the passages mention tossing furniture and driving them out with a whip, they don't specify him using it *on* them.

[tripodeca113]

It's nice this finally got published and oh good their doing the other issues as well.

[michael_ellis_day]

I hope people will have the chance to read these issues in the context of the storyline that lead up to them, as published in issues 82 through 87. The synopsis or description that appears at the start of this book is way off the mark and doesn't do the original story justice at ALL. Two years prior Alan Moore sent Swamp Thing into space where he encountered Adam Strange, Thanagarians, a Green Lantern, and (in a an issue guest-written by Veitch) Metron and Darkseid. In Veitch's time travel storyline, Swamp Thing meets Sgt. Rock, the Unknown Soldier, Enemy Ace, a solid ton of DC Western heroes, Tomahawk, Merlin, the Shining Knight, and Etrigan. All of them get a little bit of extra depth and texture but are completely faithful to their original appearances. It's absolutely a love letter to cool old DC characters, published at a time when they were still widely viewed as archaic and embarrassing. That whole aspect understandably gets overshadowed by the controversy around the cancellation. But (and I know I may be alone in this) it's the most interesting part to me.

Anyway, I hope people read the whole storyline, not just the notorious conclusion. It's a banger.

[blueprintstyles]

I think the run up to this release is free to read online on their app

[super_fly]

I reckon they'd have had a lot in common, Swampy did do the "Smoke of this weed, for it is my flesh" thing after all.