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

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