Forget The Dark Knight Returns, forget Watchmen. Alan Moore's Swamp Thing is one of the best creative runs in the history of comics, surpassing all expectations and earning its place above and beyond these other classics.

Swamp Thing's strength comes from the fact that it is like nothing else out there. Our "hero" starts off as a monster, escaping from its captors and questioning its humanity. The creature progresses thrughout the next 40 issues from not understanding what it is to becoming a dominant force of nature, able to transport itself across the globe, through space and even beyond the realm of the living. Swamp Thing became Moore's own creative sandbox. The creature was merely bound by the continuity of the previous 20 issues, leaving Moore free to do as he wished. Moore took advantage of this freedom, placing no limits on the exploration of Swamp Thing's world.

Aside from having a relatively fresh protagonist, Moore was also able to devise plots for the creature free from the continuity of the regular DCU. While DC icons Batman and Superman share a common world, Swamp Thing is more or less set outside of that, while still existing within it. Characters such as Batman, John Constantine, Etrigan and The Spectre guest-star in the run, but they are not integral to it. Common spandex adventures are not to be found here, and this title is better without it. In fact, in Book 5, Swamp Thing faces off with Batman; though the fight and manifestation of the creature's powers are incredible, it's actually a disappointment to see this wonderful Vertigo title walk into the "simple" realm of capes and masks. It loses the mystique it typically carries.

One of the most powerful stories in the run is the first standalone issue. It gives a sense of the tone for the series, and segues into an excellent arc featuring the creature and the Floronic Man battling for the right to control nature. The first issue shows our protagonist captured and frozen and the subject of experiments. Our hero is, in fact, the villain of the story, escaping its prison and terrorizing the man holding him there. Moore creates a strong sense of savagery and anger in the creature that is present for the first half of the run -- it is only through love that the creature is tamed.

The Swamp Thing's love for Abby Cable is one of the defining characteristics of this creative run. Though Moore introduces the idea that the creature is just a vegetable with the mind of the deceased Alec Holland, Abby Cable refuses to give up on the monster's humanity. She is often the anchor that allows both the Swamp Thing and the reader to have insight into the fantastical and bizarre world that occupies the pages. She gives "Alec" purpose, for without her it might have simply allowed his mind to be absorbed by nature, lost in the stars, or destroyed by one of its many foes.

The "villains" of the Swamp Thing run range from nature-based to spiritual. One of the thrills of these collections is seeing what insanity is tossed at the creature and his friends next. While the Floronic Man seems pretty outlandish and creepy in the first arc, that's nothing compared to successive opponents. A fear-powered monkey demon, underwater vampires, celestial organic machines, ghosts, evil incarnate, a werewolf and demonic cults are among the many foes for our monstrous hero. While Alec seems like a brutal creature in the first issue, the true scale of good and evil is quickly revealed as some of these enemies come into the light. The creature also becomes less savage as it understands its place in the world and falls more in love with Abby.

Just as crucial to the book as Moore are the artists that bring his creations to life. Stephen Bissette and John Totleben are predominant in the first several volumes of the run. They create an incredible style and mood for Swamp Thing. Emotions and action are perfectly captured with a rough, primal style that frequently heightens the power of the story. The art is not what might be called "mainstream" by today's spandex-oriented standards, but it perfectly complements and augments Alan Moore's writing. Some books are stronger because of the writing or the art, but with Bissette and Totleben, the art forms a perfect synergy with the writing; both are better because of it.

The Swamp Thing volumes are not perfect. From an artistic standpoint, the somewhat frequent (increasingly so as the run progresses) fill-ins are distracting. It's not that the substitute art is poor, but Bissette and Totleben fit the book so well that when they are absent, the book suffers. Any other artist seems too ordinary and too pleasant to fit Moore's primal tone. This is especially noticed during the creature's invasion and domination of Gotham -- it feels like a Batman book and not a Swamp Thing one.

Moore's weakness is that his artists convey more than he realizes. There are frequent illustrative captions that attempt to capture a mood or environment of a place or group of people. This would be fine with some artists, or in a prose novel, but not with his team of collaborators. Often the scene and mood are set perfectly by the art -- and that is noticed first -- that Moore's words come across as unnecessary. This is not always the case, but there is a tendency for being verbose.

Swamp Thing Vol. 1-6 Written by: Alan Moore

Art by: Various

Publisher: DC/Vertigo

Genre: Horror

Price: $12.95-19.95 each

Suggested Age: 16+

Release Date: Now Available Learn more about IGN Comics' rating system. Rating: Must Have

If those complaints seem like picking faults for the sake of finding some, that's not far from the truth. Swamp Thing is so masterfully crafted that any complaint just seems irrelevant. Changing artists and an overabundance of description aside, Alan Moore's tenure on this title can still be considered perfection. This is not a superhero book. There are no grand plans to eradicate mutants or rob banks. The heroes are just as monstrous as those that they fight. The most unlikely character can be far more interesting than the franchise players. Everything Alan Moore creates in this book is wonderfully creepy and captivating. Comic readers who have not indulged in this title are missing one of the best runs in the history of this medium. Swamp Thing cannot possibly receive as much praise as it deserves. We read comic books year in and out to experience something this euphoric just once.