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chicafrom3I finally finished reading all of The Swamp Thing, up through the June 2012 release. Wow. It's over. Finally.
I have no idea if I'm going to keep up with it from here out or not.
Thoughts on the series as a whole beneath the cut.
♦ I dislike Alec/Swamp Thing somewhat less than I hate Dylan Hunt, but more than I can remember disliking any other protagonist character. You are a creepy, emo, self-centered jerk, Alec Holland, now sit down and shut up.
♦ In the end, I think Tefé was my favorite character. I love Matt, too, and cheered every time he showed up as a hallucination/dream/ghost/flashback after his death. I like Abby, particularly when she's not anywhere near Alec, and Constantine is awesome -- I'm going to try to tackle Hellblazer next.
♦ Abby/Swamp Thing still squicks me out. I will never, ever get over the halluicnogenic yams. Ever. Every time she left him I was cheering for her to stay gone. (But he's the protagonist and she's the love interest so we all know that wasn't going to happen.)
♦ I still ship Matt/Abby, though. That ... probably says something not very flattering about me.
♦ OH MY GOD THE PHONETIC ACCENTS. STOP. STOP IT NOW. THAT'S HORRIBLE. PARTICULARLY THE CAJUN ACCENTS. THAT IS NOT WHAT A CAJUN ACCENT SHOULD LOOK LIKE EVEN PHONETICALLY SPELLED OUT AND YOU SHOULDN'T BE SPELLING IT OUT PHONETICALLY ANYWAY stop it you should all be ashamed of yourselves
♦ Honestly I think the most interesting bit was how pretty much any time a new writer took over they would retcon different parts of the canon based on their own interests. See Moore completely rewriting Swamp Thing's origin story -- and then how half the writers after him revisted it to put their own slant on the relationship between Swamp Thing and Alec Holland.
♦ Millar really didn't like Abby, and it's painfully obvious throughout all of his issues. (He also clearly didn't like Tefé, but since she was just a baby then it's less painful in its obviousness.)
♦ I don't think any two writers had a similar take on Linda Holland, and that's kind of fascinating.
♦ I think my least favorite retcon is that Scott Snyder has apparently decided that Anton Arcane is Abby's father instead of her uncle. UGH, NO, GREGORI ARCANE WAS AWESOME. ... he's also apparently decided that baby!Abby accidentally killed her mother, which annoys me, too. I wasn't wedded to the original backstory of Abby's mom being burnt as a witch (because ... I mean, really?) but the new backstory doesn't sit with me. This is kind of sad because I largely like Snyder's take on the mythos so far but his retconning of Abby's history makes me really annoyed.
♦ I can't express to you how relieved I was when they stopped footnoting "this happened in a previous issue" constantly. So. Relieved.
♦ Woodrue is the most interesting recurring villain. Arcane was sometimes used effectively but mostly overused to the point of losing his menace. This newest appearance does not fill me with enthusiasm.
♦ In conclusion, Tefé/Zaina forever. I would actually be totally okay with Tefé not showing up in the newest line if it means I can pretend she's off with Zaina living happily ever after or something.
I have no idea if I'm going to keep up with it from here out or not.
Thoughts on the series as a whole beneath the cut.
♦ I dislike Alec/Swamp Thing somewhat less than I hate Dylan Hunt, but more than I can remember disliking any other protagonist character. You are a creepy, emo, self-centered jerk, Alec Holland, now sit down and shut up.
♦ In the end, I think Tefé was my favorite character. I love Matt, too, and cheered every time he showed up as a hallucination/dream/ghost/flashback after his death. I like Abby, particularly when she's not anywhere near Alec, and Constantine is awesome -- I'm going to try to tackle Hellblazer next.
♦ Abby/Swamp Thing still squicks me out. I will never, ever get over the halluicnogenic yams. Ever. Every time she left him I was cheering for her to stay gone. (But he's the protagonist and she's the love interest so we all know that wasn't going to happen.)
♦ I still ship Matt/Abby, though. That ... probably says something not very flattering about me.
♦ OH MY GOD THE PHONETIC ACCENTS. STOP. STOP IT NOW. THAT'S HORRIBLE. PARTICULARLY THE CAJUN ACCENTS. THAT IS NOT WHAT A CAJUN ACCENT SHOULD LOOK LIKE EVEN PHONETICALLY SPELLED OUT AND YOU SHOULDN'T BE SPELLING IT OUT PHONETICALLY ANYWAY stop it you should all be ashamed of yourselves
♦ Honestly I think the most interesting bit was how pretty much any time a new writer took over they would retcon different parts of the canon based on their own interests. See Moore completely rewriting Swamp Thing's origin story -- and then how half the writers after him revisted it to put their own slant on the relationship between Swamp Thing and Alec Holland.
♦ Millar really didn't like Abby, and it's painfully obvious throughout all of his issues. (He also clearly didn't like Tefé, but since she was just a baby then it's less painful in its obviousness.)
♦ I don't think any two writers had a similar take on Linda Holland, and that's kind of fascinating.
♦ I think my least favorite retcon is that Scott Snyder has apparently decided that Anton Arcane is Abby's father instead of her uncle. UGH, NO, GREGORI ARCANE WAS AWESOME. ... he's also apparently decided that baby!Abby accidentally killed her mother, which annoys me, too. I wasn't wedded to the original backstory of Abby's mom being burnt as a witch (because ... I mean, really?) but the new backstory doesn't sit with me. This is kind of sad because I largely like Snyder's take on the mythos so far but his retconning of Abby's history makes me really annoyed.
♦ I can't express to you how relieved I was when they stopped footnoting "this happened in a previous issue" constantly. So. Relieved.
♦ Woodrue is the most interesting recurring villain. Arcane was sometimes used effectively but mostly overused to the point of losing his menace. This newest appearance does not fill me with enthusiasm.
♦ In conclusion, Tefé/Zaina forever. I would actually be totally okay with Tefé not showing up in the newest line if it means I can pretend she's off with Zaina living happily ever after or something.