Sunday, February 22, 2009

Swamp Thing #49 - June 1986

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"The Summoning" by Alan Moore, Stan Woch, and Alfredo Alcala.

The Phantom Stranger wasn't gone from Swamp Thing for long. After helping Swampy retrieve the soul of Abby from Hell, he--along with the usual suspects--also showed up in Alan Moore's vast storyline involving nothing less than Evil Itself taking over, well, everything.

The crisis is so big that nearly every member of DC's supernatural aristocracy get involved, including John Constantine, Baron Winter, Dr. Fate, Dr. Occult, Sargon the Sorcerer, Zatanna, even Cain and Abel!

Swamp Thing travels to the Region of the Just Dead, where he runs into Deadman, and right around the corner is:
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Like they did the second Swamp Thing Annual, Swamp Thing, the Stranger, and Deadman try and get The Spectre involved.

Our heroes are following a creature The Spectre calls "The Dark Bird", and in their search, they run into another inevitable member of this crew:
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The Dark Bird finishes its ominous mission, which means, according to Mento (the none-too-stable Steve Dayton, brought into help by Constantine), that, literally, All Hell is Breaking Loose.

And its here:
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To be continued!

To say Alan Moore was "on a roll" during this period is to devalue the phrase. After an amazing beginning, where he upended everything you thought you knew about Swamp Thing, he plunged the character into a huge, yet personal, fight with Anton Arcane.

He then ramped it up even further, having the Swamp Thing involved in this fight, which threatens the entire world. Come back to tomorrow for the amazing conclusion!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My pardon, but I have found an issue of Swamp Thing which you seemed to have missed, as far as Phantom Stranger appearances go. Check out issue # 46. There is one solid page with the Stranger conversing with Swamp Thing and John Constantine. I found it very amusing, particularly when the Stranger says, "The same Constantine, the same black humor." To which Constantine replies, "Is there any other kind?" Phantom Stranger is also on the cover. I just thought you should know. If you have covered this issue at a later date, I apologize. I am reading my assorted Stranger comics in line with your blog posts. I've been having a ball so far. :)

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