Dear Andrew,

Hi! Boy, this article brings back memories. I was a regular comic collector in 1984, and I had all of the Pasko "Swamp Thing"s up to the point of Moore's appearance on the book. Those first two Moore issues - especially, of course, "The Anatomy Lesson" - simply blew me away. They were unlike anything I had encountered before in comics (and in some ways, they heralded the rebirth of the DC comics universe)and the stories just kept getting better. Alec (the Swamp Thing) went on to face the Floronic Man and come to terms with the truth that he was not a human and never would be; he encountered the Monkey King and the Demon, and then the return of his archenemy, Arcane, in the body of Alec's friend (and Abby's husband), Matthew Cable.

One scene, for me, helps to encapsulate the horror and pathos and twisted brilliance of Moore's writing: Matthew Cable, critically injured in a car accident, caused by his own drunk driving. He is alone, he is dying and no one is coming. Then he hears a terrible buzzing sound and finds himself in conversation with a giant yellow talking fly, a fly which promises to save his life in exchange for his body (and, though Matthew is unaware of them, the enormous psychic powers he possesses). Matthew accepts the deal; the fly walks down his throat. The next time we see Matthew, he is driving his (fully repaired) car, pulling over to the side of the road, picking up his wife (who had left to get Alec's help against the Monkey King), and promising her that things will get better between them. Abby drives off with her husband, completely unaware of the monster he has become.

The rest of the story, of course, is brilliant and culminates in Swamp Thing's heroic journey into Hell, to rescue Abby's soul.

I am quite sure that there is nothing in mainstream comics today that can compare to the remarkable achievements of Moore's early "Swamp Thing". Indeed, I would go so far as to say that "Swamp Thing" may be Moore's best and, oddly, his most human and accessible work.

Anyway, thanks again for the pleasant memories of the revelatory experience of my own first encounters with the Alan Moore's work.

Sincerely,

Shaun Narine

I must be younger than Andrew; when Alan Moore was on Swamp Thing we weren't listening to punk, we were metalheads, and we were all for the Reagan revolution. But Moore and Bissette and Totleben, and Veitch, too, really spun our heads around with this comic. It was like nothing we'd ever seen before. I remember well how expensive back issues of this series became; we tried so hard to go back as far as we could (since we'd gotten on board late) until our wallets emptied. In recent years I've found back issues for a dollar apiece, and what a shame everyone's forgotten how great they were.

Tatjana Wood deserves a lot of credit for the moody quality of the original comics; how she managed what she did with the technology of the time I don't know. Later collections were in black and white; did DC spring for recoloring this time?

Very few comics have ever given me nightmares, but Swamp Thing did. So damned brilliant. Without Swamp Thing there'd be no Watchmen, that's for sure.

Moore's run on Swamp Thing was classic. I remember the rhyming demon, John Constantine's first appearance, American Gothic, a woman living in sin with a plant, a world of blue, and two cosmic hands reaching out to each other...

One cool thing was that Swamp Thing would gain new 'powers' by just realizing that he could do something that he had never thought of before, literally expanding his consciousness to increase his abilities in a very organic way. Plus he was the only superhero that you could actually eat (healthy too).

He proved that you could still do great stories with the pre-Crisis Superman. "For the Man Who Has Everything" is probably the best Superman story ever written and "The Jungle Line" isn't far behind. "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tommorrow", the imaginary "last" Superman story, was also excellent and put a dark twist on some very childish and very Silver Age concepts. Alan Moore will always be remembered for his greatest work, however, "WATCHMEN". Which is a Road-to-Demascus moment for any comic reader. I eagerly look forward to the movie and if possible, could you do a review of the book for those who are not familar with it? This needs to be read by everyone who plans on seeing the movie to truly understand Moores genius.

I was in college and my brother owned a comic book store when these were first printed, and I remember digging through the delivery boxes searching for the new "Swamp Things." I was nowhere near the hipster that O'Herir was - I just knew that this was a series of stories unlike anything I had read.

Before Moore's "Swamp Thing," I didn't know that comic books could have such emotions as 'melancholy.' In my mind, Moore's work signalled a mini-golden age, between simply juvenile stories and the soft-core sex and violence porn that the genre has become.

I went through the same love affair with "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen." I'm always hoping someone will do a good film based upon Moore's take on Swamp Thing, and perhaps if "Watchmen" succeeds, they will (not that Moore won't disavow it, even if it succeeds in properly honoring the source material).

Well, Moore found at least one female reader - me. I "borrowed" the originals from my then-boyfriend, read them, and "forgot" to return them. He really wanted them back, so he married me.

Yeah, they were that good.

Which is to say I loved his run on this title.

I collected the original SWAMP THING as a kid. Grew out of comics and put them all away in a box. Then years later, when I was in college, I was at a supermarket and saw the first Alan Moore SWAMP THING in a comic rack. For whatever reason I bought it. What a revelation! Comics weren't just for kids any more! I collected everything Moore wrote for years after that, along with Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. I stopped buying when I felt like the freedom to deal with adult content had led to a lot of sensationalized crap without any real story and craft. Who knows, maybe I'm missing something equally wonderful?

Thanks for giving Alan Moore's SWAMP THING its due.