By Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben
I picked up the Swamp thing compendiums because John Constantine had so much history with the Swamp Thing that I was very interested in finding out what that history was. The first volume actually starts with issue #21 (February 1984) so it’s not the first Swamp Thing issue in this run but it’s as close as I can get right now. The mythology of Alec Holland is explained (eventually) although I was confused about Abigail at first because I didn’t know she started out with a husband (she’s in a few of the HellBlazer issues) At the end of the first compendium I definitely wanted to read the next – though I still haven’t met up with John Constantine yet.
By Alexandra Fuller
Firstly, the cover of this book features a picture of the author as a child. The picture alone made me want to read the book. But the real reason I read it was because I was lent the book by a friend several months ago and I wanted to return it so that the stack of books at my bedside would shrink by one (I’m down to 28 now, and that’s including Swamp Thing volumes 1-10) So I picked it up and damn glad of it.
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is the incredible story of Alexandra Fuller, referred to as Bobo by her family, and her dramatic, messy childhood growing up in Africa. She writes in that hypnotizing, sing-song African cadence which I will never be able to emulate though I envy those who can. And the best part about this book is that she reveals her childhood as she lived it, not as she would want other people to view it. She paints the entire picture with the good parts and the bad parts with an underwear-on-the-bathroom-floor-dishes-in-the-sink honest reality. I found myself, several times, thinking “Oh that poor, poor girl.” Until I realized that everyone has tragedy and love and happiness and loss in their lives, perhaps not as much, but who am I to judge that?
It is partly a story of white Rhodesia and what happened when they lost the war of Independence. I can remember hearing the news stories as I grew up, about how apartheid was unjust and how the perpetrators of such injustice were suffering under the new Black government with the re-appropriation of their lands (and usually their subsequent murders.) To read an account of the other side of this story was compelling and completely mind-blowing. There is much humility in Fuller’s writing. As she talks about her first experience of being invited into the home of a black family and being fed food, which was meant for “five hungry bellies” you can feel her consciousness wake up to the world around her and find that it is not a very pretty sight.
It is also partly a story of her family hardships and how, even when all sane people would give up and lay down defeated they persevere and eventually come out, if not on top then somewhere higher than they started. One aspect of the book I enjoyed quite a bit were the family pictures at the start of every chapter. It underlines the fact that the people in the story are real people. A wonderful idea. It softened some of the blows and gave more weight and depth to the tragedies. Do yourself a favor and read this book.