As always, Alan Moore is a great writer along with Stephen Bissette and John Totleben. Book Three is as entertaining as the others with vampires, she-wolves, and zombies. ( )

If this site had half-stars then I would use them to say not-very-important things like: this volume is kind of a mess compared to the previous two, and yet it's still unusually good. Moore has devised an overall plot that's basically an excuse to travel around and encounter different kinds of monsters, often accompanied by some very unsubtle social commentary, while also setting up an extremely creepy parallel story that really tests the limits of how far you can string people along without telling them anything to explain who these people are or what this one gross image is about. We also lose the throughline of the Bissette/Totleben art team at this point, but that actually works out well since the guest artists are well chosen for the tones of the various issues. There's some pretty solid horror here, and then there's Moore's first full-on venture into non-horror fantasy as Abby and Swamp Thing participate in psychedelic love trips, setting up the transcendentalist side of the series in a big way (while also unfortunately reminding us that Abby has had very little character development).

For more thoughts, here's a blog post. ( )

Debating between 4 and 5 stars, gonna err on the side of generosity (Alan Moore's been through a lot) and throw down 5. I'm not sure this hangs together as tightly as the first two collections, but Moore and Bissette have really nailed down a tone and style all their own at this point. ( )

The Swamp Thing is getting better now. A few stories kinda had me yawning, but most of them were fantastic.

The most standout, at least for me, was The Curse. That one had me laughing out loud and fist pumping. This is the first one that I can say was truly brilliant. Woman Power!!! :)

The close second is the rest of the stores with Constantine playing guide and snarky teacher to Swamp Thing, which could have been hokey but instead just lets us enjoy a bit of a power up. :) It's nice not being so... limited, anymore. I mean, he's supposed to be one big plant connected to the Green, right? Not just some entity eating a bunch of fertilizer, right? Open your mind, greenie, open your mind.... :)

I didn't like nukeface so much, though. I found my mind wandering. *sigh* But at least that gave greenie the chance to explore some possibilities, so I'm not gonna complain so much.

Definitely starting to shape up in a very nice way. I can finally see the potential that everyone keeps talking about. I hope it only gets better, and I'm pretty sure it will. ( )

The introduction of John Constantine in this volume keeps things interesting and allows for more gothic opportunities of horror but in my opinion Constantine, although great, is the least interesting aspect of these books. Moore continues to hone a style that belongs exclusively to this medium with panel layout and narrative structure in constant dialogue. The stories here can get a little dated (the werewolf characters could probably use some updating) but Moore's storytelling instincts are always fresh and intelligent. I highly recommend this volume, particularly if you have been reading them from the beginning of Alan Moore's run. ( )