Thread by @Exalted_Speed

I realize I hadn't made a long thread today so since where all talking about this let's look at Swamp Thing Twin Branches because I just read a bunch of reviews of this and man I have words. SO JOIN ME...this will also lead into my Swamp Thing thread for later in the month!

Swamp thing is one of the most important comics characters and I will tell you something I've heard people who HATE Moore say they LOVE his run on him, besides being one of the first strikes at the CCA it led to many great comics on it's own.

It leaves a huge shadow so understand I DECIDED TO GIVE THIS AS MUCH OF A CHANCE TO CONVINCE ME AS POSSIBLE! The Anatomy Lesson is often considered one of the most IMPORTANT comics of all time. I try to give the writer as much leeway to tell their story.

So when I read reviews and it's everyone talking about how they are not familiar with graphic novels, I felt the need to talk about even by that standard this COMIC DOES NOTHING NEW AT ALL that really makes it special.

For one the comics does have a unique twist to it, Alec has a brother in this, and Walker, which is where the whole TWIN Branches name comes from. This is very underutliezed by the narrative and the dynamic recalls other brothers. TIME TO BRING UP FUCKING DRAONLANCE!

The brother dynamic is simple but has been done, one is nerdy and is resentful of the other brother for his strength, while the other is strong and popular, now depending on the take one, or both love each other deep down but the dynamic makes them go against each other.

Let's talk about the art, the art is not the worst but Swamp Thing if you know his history has some of the most TALENTED people ever work on it. So the artistic legacy is huge enough that often DC even makes comics to give artists a chance to draw him.

Morgan Beem is the artist of Twin Branches NOW EARLIER I made a joke about her being an Adventure Time artist....I was more right than I realized.

The art brings to mind several Adventure time style monsters, which I've never been a huge fan of. Yeah it's creepy but only because sometime it contrast the standard cartoony art of Adventure time. It's not a style I would use for Swamp Thing.

The Author is Maggie Stiefvater, author of the Raven Cycle and I'm going to try and not confuse it for the DC character. I never read it but she's a YA author and this is her first major comic and YA authors who switch to comics....have problems.

For one they often have a hard time with VISUALS and pages numbers which is important for the art of comics. to give you an idea of the LENGTH of it before interesting stuff happens it's on PAGE 173 that he turns into Swamp Thing.

This page in particular shows a unique issue with the art. Some of it is just wasted pages. LIKE LOOK AT THIS THIS IS ONE PANEL ON A FULL PAGE. It's ugly to look at.

and honestly here's the problem the plot is some simple I can sum it up in one tweet.
*Alec and Walker are growing apart, this causes drama
*Alec is working on plant expirement
*They end up in danger
*Alec turns into a monster to save his brother.

LOOK up most YA authors in comics and you can see this being a weird consistent problem for them...or somehow they end up as Gabby Rivera and just shit the bed. This comic would not maybe be so bad but it's not very fun in anyway.

There is other stuff in the book. Like how Alec potion gets out and turns animals into monster but they don't factor in much. The book is never really scary for me because the monster never really attack anyway or kill someone so HORROR is just non existent.

Swamp Thing always had horror as a major part of it's history it's very much of the southern gothic genre in it's own way. One issue has Abby go nuts and she starts to use steel wool to wash herself....she get's better but my point is horror is built in.

So is there anything good? I do like Alec is diabetic. For what it's worth I have family member who are and other friends, it's cool to see a character with that struggle. It's still used as a weird plot point though to test Alec's plant juice.

The big issue I have for this is Walker as a character, he's very kind of not used well. Honestly I think the comic should have made a twist where HE BECAME Swamp Thing in this version to save Alec because otherwise the comic is mostly ALEC ANGST.

Walker is a unique feature of the book and I feel like HE JUST IS ONLY USED to make Alec feel worse, which okay I get, I have family too, but since this is called twin branches I feel like the book should have shown HIS PERSPECTIVE.

Abby Swamp Thing's usual love interest does show up in this and yes she is race swapped. It's not a bad one, for one they never make it plot relevant and she is allowed to be. It's not treated to make her better this is just the version we have in this. So well done there.

The comic does have antagonists. But you would be forgiven to not even thing they are there, for one this is the only page they are given spotlight before the fight and it's basically just THEY EXIST then Alec angst.

The comic reaches it climax when his cousins mess with his work, we find out more about walker on this page when it really should have been earlier. Alec and Walker love each other and I like that. But this is also 160 pages in or so.

Alec decides to turn himself into Swampy himself and probably lead to one of LEAST favorite designs. I'm the guy who likes Aquaman with a hook and I hate this. THIS DESIGNS BLOWS CHUNKS. It's so goofy.

Alec defeats them and THEN RUNS AWAY. The comic ends at page 186, to put it into perspective Alec is not Swamp Thing till page 173. So the comic is just kind of a waste.

So let's talk about story lengths comic is one of those mediums that can often be good for short quick stories or nice long single chapter take....I can't believe I'm doing this Naruto.

The story could be a one off about a kid learning that his foster father loves him and bother learning to well appreciate each other.
The story could be a one off about a kid learning that his foster father loves him and bother learning to well appreciate each other. 55 pages

But can we got smaller? Well one of the best comics of all time is the kid who collects Spider-man. It's only Pages. I could post the damn thing IN TWO POSTS.

From my comments on this let's talk about new SWAMPY. Swamp thing has had a variety of looks but the new one is goofy, and yeah I HATE THAT FUCKING TENDRIL MOUTH IT'S AS BAD AS THE SUPER MULLET! But even softer incarnations look better take Justice League action take on him.

He just does not look cool. Compare it to WHEN HE WAS ATTACKING GOTHAM and tell me who is the cooler monster. I harp on Tumblr art looking awkward instead of epic and this is just a very good example of it.

and that's there is to say this comic lives in the Shadow of the greats, and that is a hard thing to say but Swamp Thing is so important for comics. Next time we meet him again, it will be in a better light and you will see the Legacy it left behind. All the good and all the bad.