The Swamp Thing #4 p.12 - Ode to the Past!

Such a well orchestrated page from all on board! 

It's overall a stunning page, but there's something about that second panel where he's rising up, and the dirt is falling away, that strikes a chord for me. Maybe because it just feels so Wrightson? I am continually amazing how much work he puts into every page. How does he get anything done? The Green approves. Gorgeous 

Wow, beautiful and stunning just doesn't cover it on this page.  Great homages to Wrightson (Panel 2) and Bissette and Totleben (Panels 3 and 4).  I still believe that Mike is one of the most underrated artists in comics.  This shows how his style has become more akin to illustration than comic art.  Another great addition to your collection, Ruben!

Awww, you can feel the warmth (and slime) in their touch!  

Incredible - destruction and harmony. 

At quick glance, there is so much magic and emotion on these panels. I can't image how great they must be within the context of the story. 

What a wonderful piece of art!  I am especially pleased for you because you have sacrificed for others in bringing Mike's superb artwork to the wider collecting public.

We’re all Ram fans, he crafted all his words
I thought V was a bitter fan
He spoke of Wodewos ways
They'll trap you when they use you
A war Mike Perkins shows
For love is blind in Moore’s far off mind
Mike Spicer's colors show

I wish that I knew what I know now
When it was offered
I wish that I knew what I know now
I would have been buyer

The man can brush a pretty show
Will steal your heart away
The big stage mud on earth again
The ink wash tones are grey
They come on Swamp and it ain't too long
For they make you feel the man
But art is fine and you soon will find
You're just a boy again

Amazing storytelling!

That is such an excellent piece. Breat balance throughout the piece bringing the eye back to center. Mike Perkins had such a talent for the title. Love it.

THIS.  Totally this to me.  The composition on this one really drives me bonkers, with not only a rock solid panel layout (ceiling, tier 2, basement), but the colors (dark, middle, light) working in tandem to make the whole thing feel SO grounded.  Everything works to pull your eye right back to panel 3 / center, where Swampy is there to meet your gaze and gaze right back into you (like the proverbial Abyss).  Floating panel 5 over the dark behind it, and having the image of the joined hands be the foundational image on the page ("holding up" the Wrightson, Bissette, Totleben, and Breccia - great call, F M! - "versions" above it) contextualizes (and literally underscores) a recurring theme throughout this run and all of Swampy's life (and by extension, all of ours): to move forwards, to be "Becoming" or escape fear or trouble, the way out lies forward and together.

Or maybe I'm getting carried away YET again and I'm reading too much into it.  That's a distinct possibility.  But great art allows one to see what one wants to see, and Mike is at a point in his career where he's able to show us all SO much...  Beautiful, beautiful page, Rubén.  Awesome.

We'll just tell your mother that... we ate it all.

Amazing page!  Perfect symmetry and it looks great B&W

Perkins is phenomenal.  I don't have a better way to express it.  So, so good.

That third panel is amazing.

Interestingly, the ST in the 4rth looks like a Breccia homage to me.

Also, oh yeah: Mike Spicer was an amazing and key component of this run.  Such great work and bold choices.  His A-game added the salt AND acid to the heat and fat Mike and Ram were brewing up in this amazing slumgullion of theirs.  He was truly... the Spicer...?

(AAAAAAAAAAND that's one exhausted metaphor (and exhastING dad joke) which tells me I really need some breakfast before posting anything further.  Most important meal of the day, kids!  Don't post hungry!)

Beautifully done and Mike cleverly blended those middle panels with the backgrounds outside the panels. 

Gorgeous page, Ruben. That is high praise for Spicer given Perkins has been coloured by Laura Martin but after looking at those scans I must agree with you. 

Outstanding storytelling, and the combo of what he's drawing in panel along HOW he's drawing it...result is so layered.  Killer stuff, man.  Congrats!

How DOES Mike create such consistently mind-bogglingly beautiful and detailed pages like this and every finish an issue? Does he ever eat or sleep?  I mean, after he finishes a page like this, he must lean back, let out a long "Aaaaaah" and smoke a cigarette.  Then on to the next one!  Needless to say, this is an amazing page.  Thanks for sharing!

Superb page from the amazing Mike Perkins! It's stunnning how Perkins and Spicer have managed to build on the Swamp Thing mythos, raising the comic book to the status of a mystical saga.

Stunner of a page - glad you're adding at least a little art from the series to your collection. Man that 3 panel center sequence is just unreal good

Had to swing past and take another look at this beauty...  and that's just the well-written description! 😜

Seriously, though - fantastic page, Rubén.  Love it. :)