Issue 52- "Swamp Gumbo"

Words, Pics, Inks: H.P. Lail

Hullo guys. I prolly won't say much because I'm tired after spending the wee hours of the morning sparring words with Sam over my secret. She has to pony up on hers' some time, although I think I have guessed the big secret. Sam, IM if I'm still on when you read this...I wanna see if I'm right. Anyway, I dug out part of a ditch today and earned myself a few shillings, so I ran back up to River Records to see if I could find any of the three remaining Swamp Thing issues I need to complete Rick Veitch's run on the series(which, by the way, now that I've almost collected the whole run in individual issues, DC decided to release 65-70 in a trade paperback around September). I lucked up and found issue 66, leaving me with 83-84 as the only two issues left to complete Rick's run on the book. Hopefully I'll be able to find them at Comics and Collectibles some time in the future, though they are currently out of those books. I realized something about this series...I realized that the creators really LOVED these characters...you really got your buck-fifty worth out of each and every issue of this title if you bought it monthly back in the early to mid-eighties. It is easy to skim through three of four books a night these days( if not in a half hour), but if I am going to read Swamp Thing, it is a task that must be handled like food. One must not attempt to overindulge in the stories in this series, because the scale is just too damn big...you'll find yourself in big trouble if you try to read more than two or so issues in one night. There is so much going on in the book that if you try to simply thumb through it, you'll never understand the deep meaning to each and every issue of the storyline. I would recommend thie title to anybody who wishes to indulge in some deep thinking and be forwarned....you'll start questioning a lot of things you thought you understood. They will go from being clear as mud, to as sparlking as a diamond. Happy reading...oh by the way Sam, I purchased Walking Dead number eight the other night if you could swing by tomorrow night after work, or I can come by your place later in the week.

H