So let’s take another look at those unpublished Swamp Thing pages.
One thing I was pleased to discover in those unpublished Swamp Thing #25 pages is that I was at least partially correct about the story leading up to Alec Holland being able to switch back-and-forth from human to swampy form:
My belief was that Alec would be able to do this at will, but judging from what we can see in these pages, this is not the case. In fact, it seems that, as Swamp Thing, he becomes a mindless, rampaging monster:
…and that the transition from man to muck is apparently not under Holland’s control. So in a way, I guess that ol’ Man-Thing lettercol crack about Swamp Thing being “Hulklike” is…um, I guess sorta accurate in this case. Now, whether this is just a one-time thing, a shocked response to Alec suddenly becoming Swamp Thing again after his cure in issue #23, or whether this was a situation that Alec would eventually gain some control over in subsequent issues…the world may never know.
(In comics that were actually published — the Challengers of the Unknown, in fact — Alec just plain becomes Swamp Thing again, with no ability to change back, so that’s how that’s resolved in actual DC continuity. Pre-Crisis, Pre-Zero Hour, Pre-Infinite Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint continuity, that is.)
Also, it turns out that Alec’s brother Edward’s jealousy (the seeds of which were planted in #24, noted in this previously-linked post of mine with the terrible scans) takes a turn for…well, not so much the villainous as it is the dickish as he just straight-up lies to Hawkman:
The worst thing about looking at these original pages is the penciled-in prices at the top of most of them:
…ranging from $15 to $20. AAAAAUGH…those are prices even I could afford! …I suspect they’ll probably go for a bit more than that in that auction. …Hey, you guys know my birthday is coming up in just about a month and a half, right?
…Er, right? Hello…?
