Here is an excerpt from the afterword to Absolute Swamp Thing by Alan Moore Volume One, written by Stephen R. Bissette.
spring rites. Cartography of The Saga of the Swamp Thing
Consider them as music, if you like.
Yes, they are comics, and as such a vital narrative medium. But for some of us it has a musical aspect.
For me, who grew up with a deep love of jazz, collaborating with like-minded friends crafting stories for you to read was (and is) a way to get a kick out of it. We each flow in our respective discipline and instrument, and when we make music together, it’s different than when we make it alone. Together we may sometimes be lucky enough to do something better than anything we could have done alone; chemistry, alchemy is invigorating and very real.
That’s what it was like working with Alan Moore and John Totleben and Rick Veitch and John Costanza and Tatjana Wood and the editors Len Wein and Karen Berger… but especially Alan, John, Rick and myself. It was kind of freeform jazz, and when it all came together, it felt, looked, read, and sounded adorable. None of us could make music like that. except together…
“This was in the early 1980s”
In their hands they hold a narrative that began in 1982… a time when everyone involved in writing and drawing it lived in, shall we say, modest circumstances.
You guys have to forget about the multi-billion dollar bonanza of comic book based movie and TV franchises during the 21st century: this was the early 1980s. You have to forget about how major book publishers now have graphic novel imprints: the term “graphic novel” was not even a decade old in 1983, and as a category it was hardly considered a force to be reckoned with in the marketplace. Monthly comics—”staples” or “squishy,” as my students at the Center for Cartoon Studies now refer to them (when they do refer to them)—were still the backbone of the industry (and when your backbone is called “soft” you know that you can barely stand up)…
We were in the phase between Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) and Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), a limbo populated in part by Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing (1982)—which was, in film terms, a monster movie. low-budget… In fact, at the time we were working on SWAMP THING, DC Comics itself was investing very little in the title and the character. As DC’s then-publisher Paul Levitz patiently explained to me years later (in 1989), the company had signed a contract for the Swamp Thing character and all merchandising rights went to the producers behind Craven’s film adaptation; thus, the comic itself was the only thing that DC could make money from.
“There were no computers at home, no scanners, no cell phones”
Also know that the internet and e-mail as we know them now did not exist; there were no home computers, no scanners, no cell phones, no digital means of production (all production was done in the DC offices, and it was a mechanical process, by hand), and the fax machines were unwieldy and they were not yet accessible to freelancers.
Physical scripts, photocopies, and original art had to be shipped through the postal service or via UPS or Federal Express to or from the DC offices. In the case of THE SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING, the scripts had to be shipped from the writer’s home (first Marty Pasko in California, then Alan Moore in the UK) to New York City; Pages of edited scripts, photocopies, and pages of original art were then sent back and forth between the DC offices and the artists, signers, and colorists. This had to happen as quickly as possible in order to meet our dates.
Whatever your illusion of fame and fortune associated with comics in the 21st century may be, understand that in the 1980s freelancing comics in the US could be an austere and sometimes miserable circumstance… While we were filled with the joy of working in comics, and having a regular freelance job on a monthly title for one of the major comic book imprints, the page rates were modest even for the time, the work was demanding, and there was absolutely no benefit to anyone. of our employers, with the exception of the satisfaction of a job well done and any fleeting news one might get from the public.
“That was the tightrope you walked on”
The profits, when they came, came from the market. They were invitations to signings in stores or at conventions, with expenses and travel tickets covered by the store owners or the organizers of such events. These appearances were tolerated, although somewhat frowned upon by our editors. After all, if we weren’t in front of our typewriters or drawing boards, the comic would be delayed even further. And that wasn’t good for anyone, right?
For some of us, though, it was about the extra income we could make at those kinds of events by selling skits and/or original art. That which allowed our work to continue to be affordable. That was the tightrope walking freelance work in comics at the time… A precarious balancing act that John Totleben and I began in 1982, when we began our time together as inker and pencil artist, respectively, at THE SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING.
Don’t stop reading: Why did Moore turn down to write Justice League for Swamp Thing?
It is now available in our online store:
DC Black Label Deluxe – Absolute Swamp Thing by Alan Moore Volume One
In 1983, a groundbreaking English writer teamed up with a trio of groundbreaking American illustrators, revitalizing a long-standing comics icon. Four years later, his saga over, Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch was internationally recognized as one of the few titles that defined a new era of complex depth in modern graphic storytelling. And his run on the series remains one of the medium’s most enduring masterpieces.
Now, DC Comics proudly presents an entirely new take on this historic achievement. Across three deluxe volumes, Absolute Swamp Thing by Alan Moore features new coloring for every page, created exclusively for this edition by legendary artist Steve Oliff (Akira, Miracleman). This first volume includes issues 20-34 of The Saga of the Swamp Thing and Swamp Thing Annual 2, as well as a monumental new afterword by Stephen R. Bissette, accompanied by a wealth of historical material from the creative process of the original art team.
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