Swamp Thing Before Alan Moore: Thoughts on Martin Pasko?

[Timothy Hunter]

People tend to dismiss Martin Pasko's run on Swamp Thing. Whenever Pasko's 17 issue stint on the character is discussed, which is hardly ever, it is used to compare the classic Alan Moore run to how unremarkable the first 19 issues of Saga of the Swamp Thing were. However I don't think this is fair. The twisting of classic horror tropes as a means of addressing socially conscious themes that made made Moore's tenure on Swamp Thing famous were already present from very beginning with Pasko and I would argue that Tom Yeates is just as skilled a penciller as Bissette. Pasko should also be given praise for giving Seamp Thing a rich and colorful supporting cast from scratch, the most noteworthy being Harry Kay, whose moral ambiguity could give John Constantine a run for his money.

Pasko's run was littered with great concepts that were almost always drowned out by poor execution. For such a series that strived to be thoughtful, there was no room for subtlety, ambiguity or atmosphere as each page was filled to the brim with narration and thought bubbles, not allowing Yates's beautiful pencils any room to breathe.