Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

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Bingham 130 The remainder of the issue focuses upon Woodrue's imagination of how the events following Swamp Thing's awakening may have transpired. Juxtaposing a realistic and identifiable character, Sunderland, against the phantasmagorical Swamp Thing and pitting one against the other is in ways demonstrative of a Post-Modern ethic (Yaco 250). The polarizing distance between the two presents a dichotomy locating the forces of science, specifically corporate sponsored inquiry, and nature in opposition. At this point the dichotomy displayed could be argued to divide humanity and other forms of life, since Sunderland is the only living human character who has participated in the narrative's unfolding thus far. Throughout the entirety of this issue, Swamp Thing only speaks one utterance to Sunderland to let him know that he's read Woodrue's research file and possesses the knowledge that he is not and will never be human. This disclosure is paired with an image of Swamp Thing's human like teeth (Saga 30 panel 5). Reminiscent of the issue's opening page, the creature's facial portrait is composed in part across multiple panels, both the third and fifth. Conversely, Sunderland's face appears in full four times on the page. Three of the panels on the page also show Swamp Thing's eyes as intensely red like Woodrue's have been: the second merely shows a glimpse from a rightside profile while the third and seventh are close-ups of yellow irises surrounded by red scleras. These representational choices reflect that the power dynamic has changed in favor of the Swamp Thing, who appears both massive and intimidating. Through Woodrue's file Swamp Thing has learned of the violence he was subjected to: he's been shot, frozen, and experimented upon all for the advancement of Sunderland's own desires. Even if he is not a human, he has experienced the belief that he was indeed human before and thus such extreme violations of bodily ethic which he has endured cannot be
Bingham 131 justified. What follows is a moment of emotional retribution where the creature who once possessed the illusion of human consciousness through the identity of Alec Holland becomes transformed into a violent monster because of having been treated unethically and inhumanely. Swamp Thing is deliberately and scientifically proven not to be human, but there is still an authentic and genuine thread which asks readers to empathize with his existence and even the violent act he will commit in the pages following. That empathy is key for Moore's ecopolitical and ecological conscience. After Sunderland stumbles upon Swamp Thing in his office and shares the brief exchange detailed above, the narrative becomes one of murderous pursuit. While chasing the old man down, the Swamp Thing emits guttural yells which extend across the entire width of both pages 19 and 21 (Saga 31 & 33). These fierce shouts of “MMMMMMMUURRAAAAAGH” and “AAAAA,” made up of twenty-three letter A's increasing in size from left to right, convey a being totally consumed with rage. On the former page, this raucous, ear splitting cry spans across the top two panels from a close-up of the Swamp Thing's mouth dripping wet with saliva and into the next above him smashing Sunderland's furniture. The second panel reinforces the magnitude of Swamp Thing's anger by depicting the upper half of his body cloaked in shadow except for his glowing red eyes while he smashes the old man's desk. In this panel's lower left corner, a broken Newton's cradle which had sat on Sunderland's desk is shown flying upward. This object uses swinging spheres to demonstrate the conservation of energy. Drawn upon the face of each of these silver spheres is the reflection of the horrified face of Swamp Thing's target. By choosing to display this object being propelled through the air, the artists have prompted
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Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants:
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Bingham 3 I owe an extreme debt of
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Bingham 5 Introduction My project e
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Bingham 7 personal growth through t
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Bingham 9 beliefs. Seeing a possibl
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Bingham 11 zombie exceeds death as
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Bingham 13 the validity of singular
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Bingham 15 Chapter I: The History o
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Bingham 17 Swamp Thing. According t
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Bingham 19 instructional profession
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Bingham 21 Another artist who worke
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Bingham 23 action into panels (Cohn
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Bingham 25 sponsorship. He designed
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Bingham 27 Charles Moulton. Marston
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Bingham 29 Frederick Wertham prompt
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Bingham 31 “graphic novel” was
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Bingham 33 what is or isn't a graph
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Bingham 35 Works Cited Benton, Mike
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Bingham 37 Chapter II: Transfusion
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Bingham 39 conflict or war. This ex
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Bingham 41 and dismember other bodi
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Bingham 43 bodies to pieces. (Cavar
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Bingham 45 thus creating an affecti
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Bingham 47 margins. Unlike the four
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Bingham 49 implicates the role of o
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Bingham 51 demonstrates that he is
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Bingham 53 Amy (Figure 10 & 11). Th
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Bingham 55 being who has done nothi
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Bingham 57 transgressions, this ima
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Bingham 59 Returning to the full pa
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Bingham 61 order” (200). The prem
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Bingham 63 possession, selling, ste
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Bingham 65 with yourself? Not me. I
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Bingham 67 immediate proximity of t
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Bingham 69 experience, or the human
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Bingham 71 sentences Thomas to hang
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Bingham 73
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Bingham 74 Works Cited Berger, Arth
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Bingham 76 APPENDIX A Fig. 1. Openi
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