By d. emerson eddy — Last week, in mentioning landmark first issues of new creators coming on to an existing title, I mentioned Swamp Thing #140. It's undoubtedly lesser heralded than the others, so I wanted to talk a bit about it this week. Swamp Thing, as you should be able to tell from my bio blurb down there, is one of my favorite characters in comics. The mud-encrusted muck monster was one of the first characters I gravitated towards as a kid and is certainly the one that I've been following the longest. While Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, & Rick Veitch may have been the instigators of my love for this series, the run to close out this volume of the series that began in Swamp Thing #140 with Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Phil Hester, Kim DeMulder, Tatjana Wood, and Richard Starkings may well be my favorite.

Grant Morrison was only aboard for the first arc in “Bad Gumbo”, before Mark Millar took over writing duties completely. This was a different Millar than we know today, early on in his career in American comics, not given to the same kind of shock tactics we see in many of his works now. Which in itself I find kind of funny, since with this run it did return to a through and through horror title. It moved away from the focus on family and a happy life for Swamp Thing, Abby Arcane, and their daughter Tefe from Nancy Collins and Scot Eaton's run previously. And went straight back into a terror that proved insidious and complete. It was wonderful.

In Swamp Thing #140, it started in a way that upended what we thought we knew about Alec Holland again, paying homage to the “Anatomy Lesson” back in Saga of the Swamp Thing #21. The issue suggests that Alec Holland is still human, has always been human actually. That he just dreamed the years as Swamp Thing as the result of some mishap that knocked him unconscious while researching hallucinogenic drugs in South America. The mystery only deepening from there as we're shown conflicting information and a guest appearance from one of Dream's favorite ravens.

The art for the first arc, and much of the run overall with a few guest artists here and there (including Chris Weston, Phil Jimenez, and the legendary Curt Swan), was done by Phil Hester, Kim DeMulder, and Tatjana Wood. It's gorgeous. Hester uses a fair amount of sharp angles in his characters that gives them a somewhat ominous, eerie appearance. Along with some heavy, thick shadows and outlines, it's perfect for the horror being conveyed. When paired with DeMulder's inks, there's also a fair amount of hatching used for textures that's somewhat reminiscent of what we've seen previously in the series from John Totleben. An effect that DeMulder similarly used when inking over Scot Eaton in the previous run. It keeps a kind of visual consistency, even though Hester and DeMulder's style is completely different from Bissette and Totleben. 

And then the color from Tatjana Wood. She's a legend in her own right, working on Swamp Thing since the first issue of this volume. She's a master of tone and atmosphere, adjusting her palette for each group of line artists she worked with, and there's an incredible shift as we go from the light and bright reminiscence of Swamp Thing's halcyon days to the grim and uncertain future that Alec Holland now faces.

Taking over for longtime letterer John Costanza was Richard Starkings (of founding Comicraft fame). He maintained much of the look to the lettering that had previously been established by Costanza and the first volume's letterer Gaspar Saladino, but there's a certain element of “cleanness” to it that makes it feel different.

Overall, I'd recommend this run on the art alone, but there's also an intriguing synthesis of past Swamp Thing mythos that comes into the story as Millar progresses a plan of working through the different elementals and pushing towards the idea of a Swamp God. And here in the first issue from Morrison, Millar, Hester, DeMulder, Wood, and Starkings, we get to see the seed of horror planted.

Swamp Thing #140
Writers: Grant Morrison & Mark Millar
Artists: Phil Hester & Kim DeMulder
Colorist: Tatjana Wood
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Publisher: DC Comics / Vertigo
Release Date: January 25, 1994
Price: $1.99 on Comixology

Swamp Thing #140 is available on comiXology as a single issue or in a collection.

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.