DC’s ‘Swamp Thing’ Is a Deliciously Horrifying New Show
Swamp Thing is one of the graphics novels that exposed me to the horror comics. The Alan Moore graphic novel version just touch my horror nerd soul. It’s about a scientist Alec Holland, who stumbles upon some wrongdoing at his lab. He later loses his life in an explosion. No one ever recovers his body. They all assume that it was consumed by the fire. But, Holland is not consumed by the fire. He was taken in by “The Green,” the consciousness of the trees, grass, flowers, roots, and all things “natural”. The Green created a body for Holland: this grotesque slimy, veiny, misshapen, green thing of a man who could regenerate. Holland’s new body is also hot-wired into The Green. The comic is violent, brooding, and monstrous.
I love it. (Probably going to read it again tonight.)
So, when I heard that DC was adapting the Swamp Thing comics for TV, I had to see it. I didn’t expect the adaptation to be exact. However, the story had to have the violence, darkness, and brooding that the comic carried. I was encouraged by the Gotham and Doom Patrol TV shows, which are rich in story, too. Gotham was on network television and yet had succeeded in capturing the noir darkness of Bruce Wayne’s hometown. The weekly injections of Doom Patrol are refreshing in their unmitigated oddness, frankness, and violence that the group is known for in the…
