In 1983, Eclipse Comics released this portfolio of images based on the just-released Swamp Thing movie directed by Wes Craven. Why it was released by Eclispe Comics rather than Swamp Thing’s publisher DC Comics, I have no idea…perhaps DC wasn’t set up to publish portfolios (though they started doing so just a couple years later, to the best of my knowledge), so perhaps the Swamp Thing movie licensing was left up to the film’s producers, with no say by DC. (Maybe someone reading this can set me straight.)
Anyway, this set features four 11 by 14-inch full-color plates by Paul Gulacy, so they at least look nice, despite being drawn from scenes and characters in the film. The first plate is the same image as on the cover sheet above (sans logo).
Plate two is probably the best image in the set, and I’m not just saying that because of its focus on Adrienne Barbeau. Well, okay, maybe I am, but in this picture Swamp Thing actually looks like Swamp Thing, and there’s a feeling of suspense as “Alice Cable” waits for the approaching “monster.” (An aside for those few Swamp Thing fans who aren’t familiar with the movie…the government liason Matt Cable in the comics was changed to “Alice Cable” for the movie, and Alec Holland’s wife Linda in the comics was changed to being his sister, as to allow for a “Beauty and the Beast” relationship between Swamp Thing and Alice. However, by the time the second movie rolled around, Swampy was gettin’ it on with Heather Locklear, but that’s another story.)
Plate three features Gulacy’s most “guy in a rubber suit” image of Swamp Thing in the entire batch, with Swampy just looking like a bald green guy with some fairly prominent veins. Despite this, it’s still not a bad image, with a good sense of motion and great detail on the figures and faces (which don’t show up very well in this picture I took, I realize).
The classic battle of muck-encrusted mockery of a man versus chemically-mutated Frenchman is represented here in this image, from the film’s climatic battle. Interesting to note that even when drawn by Paul Gulacy, the mutated Arcane costume doesn’t really look any better. And I know that it wasn’t really Louis Jourdan in that costume, but I’m going to pretend that he actually was, because that idea makes me very happy. Anyway, it’s a nice image — points for showing Swampy knocking Arcane around with a club, points off for a marked lack of Adrienne Barbeau.
(Another aside…holy frijole, Louis Jourdan is 85? And yes, he’s reportedly still alive.)
