Swamp: Continue To Hold

By Gary Clark
Publisher: Swamp Productions Pty Ltd
ISBN: 9789490008260

Gary Clark’s Swamp strip is one of the funniest, most versatile comic strips being published today. Set in an Australian swamp, it features frogs, rats, dung beetles, mosquitos, crayfish and an awful lot of ducks. The ducks are the most analogous to humans (although humans feature too), running diners, the police, and even air traffic control. And it’s air traffic control, and all things flying, that forms the basis for this collection.

The Air Traffic Controller sits on the branch of a dead tree and bellows instructions to the ducks wishing to leave and land on the swamp. It’s a thankless task, and one made no easier by the idiots in the sky.

Then there’s Ding Duck, a duck with almost 6000 flying lessons to his name but who is still unable to fly. He is the bane of his flying instructor’s life and a prolific filler-out of crash reports.

And then there’s just the multitude of ducks themselves. Creating bird strikes, getting in the way on runways, and getting lost during migration, to name but a few of the problems they encounter.

The collection features cartoons created across many years, and Clark’s style has altered considerably over that time. His humour, however, has been sharp and punchy since the very beginning.

At 160 pages this is a packed offering, and bear in mind that this is but a slither of his air traffic control themed cartoons, which in turn are a slither of the overall strip. 

It truly is a brilliant strip, and I for one am hoping Gary is, at this moment, preparing a Bob  Crayfish collection to follow this. 

You can follow Swamp on Facebook, or sign up to the strips being delivered direct to your inbox (like I do) at swamp.com.au 

And if you liked that: There are many more Swamp collections available, but they’re coming from Australia so do factor in the postage costs when you go to buy. In my opinion, they’re well worth it.