Swamp Thing Vol. 4: A Murder of Crows
Alan Moore
Vertigo (2001), Paperback, 192 pages
‘The man who started me upon this dark path promised me answers ... but the answers are black and unbearable.’ (from the back cover)
This time the Swamp Thing fights against an evil’s desire: destroying the Heaven.
The Swamp Thing wants answers, but the Parliament Tree where he searches these answers could just give him other questions.
‘Aphid eats leaf. Ladybug eats aphid. Soil absorbs dead ladybug. Plants feed upon soil ... Is aphid evil? Is ladybug evil? Is soil evil? Where is evil, in all the wood?’ (p. 113)
Or maybe just an answer: ‘Flesh ... speaks ... wood ... listens.’ (p. 108)
In this game of answers and questions, Evil also asks a question: ‘Tell me, little thing what is evil? ...’ (p. 185)
‘Evil is a quagmire of ignorance that would drag us back as we climb towards the immortal light.’ (p. 185) But this is not enough, so intervene in this game the Swamp Thing: who fight the evil perishes; who, as the Swamp, choice only to know the evil can leave freely from the evil.
The last answer: ‘Nothing happened. Every thing has happened.’ (p. 201)
Sharing the front cover: the Swamp Thing as the Mouth of Truth. According to popular belief it was said that anyone putting his hand in this mouth and swearing falsely, could not withdraw it. The Mouth of Truth is an image carved from marble located in Rome.
‘Don’t worry yourself about it.’ (p. 203)
P.S. Thanks Greg, actually Swamp Thing's mouth is closed and not open as Bocca della Verita'.
Swamp Thing is awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe cover painting is not actually the Boca di Verite. It is based on a common design in medieval British architecture called The Green Man.
Visit http://www.tinyurl.com/readswampthing
for the Swamp Thing Annotations which will uncover all kinds of hidden details from Alan Moore and Rick Veitch's runs on the book.