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

Bingham 134
the creature becomes tighter, the twenty-three letter A's signifying the creature's yells
below also become larger and, we might speculate louder. These maroon letters harken
back to the images of blood and Woodrue's eyes. They also differ from the textual
captions on the rest of the page and exemplify a montage relationship of word/picture
combination because they are physically incorporated with the images and are essential to
conveying necessary information (McCloud, Understanding 154).
Closure for these four panels is rather simple, but for the remaining three it is
much more speculative. The focus on these remaining panels is upon the right hand: a
body part whose image signifies moral and ethical implications. In the foreground of
panel five, the Swamp Thing's right hand is slightly open with curved fingers. He looks
ready to clasp it violently around Sunderland, whose position in the background with his
back turned and both hands raised over his head suggests surrender and vulnerability.
The sixth panel shows Sunderland's right hand cloaked in nearly pure black shadow
against the bright red screen of his security system's control panel; since red has shared a
connotation with evil and malevolence, especially in this issue, this image reinforces
Woodrue's influence while doubly reinforces Sunderland's wrongdoing. The black
shadow extending from his fingertips past his wrist stresses the sinister and corrupt nature
of his work. Layered on top of this long panel, the seventh, and final on the page, shows
the reverse angle of Sunderland's hand with his palm against impenetrable glass without a
possibility of escape. On the next page, Swamp Thing completes the violent homicide
readers have come to expect but in somewhat of an unconventional manner. Swamp
Thing lifts Sunderland by his head, and appears to smother him by pressing him into his
massive chest (Saga 34 panels 2-5). Death almost seems to come through an embrace.