Keeping it short but swamp.

§ January 29th, 2012 § Filed under swamp thing § 14 Comments

So a little bird tells me that original art from the unpublished issue #25 of the first Swamp Thing series has popped up on an auction site. Take a look at the Heritage Auctions site to finally, finally get a glimpse of that Swamp Thing versus Hawkman battle we were originally promised over thirty years ago.

(Thanks, Rich!)

14 Responses to “Keeping it short but swamp.”

  • Wow, I didn’t know that much of that issue even existed! It’s been so long since I read #24, I had forgotten most of what was going on there.

    That’s some real overripe scripting there by Conway. I bet Marv Wolfman and Len Wein were so jealous.

  • CW says:

    That’s a piece of comic history right there. Certainly didn’t think so much of that issue had been completed.

  • Rich Handley says:

    You’re quite welcome. Incidentally, the most maddening part of this story is the last page–it says “Next issue” on it, and indicates that the next chapter would unleash a creature called the Fire Master. So now we know something about issue ***26*** as well. The question is… is there an existing creature in DC Comics lore called the Fire Master, or would this have been a new hero/villain?

  • John Parker says:

    You mute,murdering menace ! Love it. Thanks for sharing this.Oh, and Fire Master must be related to Razor Fist from Master of Kung Fu.

  • White Lantern Alec Holland says:

    That’s Kraft writing, not Conway, Johnny.
    Remember Savage She-Hulk #2-25…

    Joe Orlando must have hauled serious ass to save these pages from the wrath of Jennette Khan, CW.

    Too bad the “Clown Prince of Crime Vs The Entire JLA” story from Joker #10 wasn’t spared from the DC office fire pits at the time as well.

    And then of course, there was that Patchwork Man story that was exiled to Sweden until recent years! Do the letters pages of subsequent issues of HOS (#141-144) explain this?

    Mike Sterling seriously needs a complete 70’s run of House of Secrets, I’m told, as *even he* hasn’t read any of the *many* letter page responses to the first Alex Olsen ST story…

    Fire Master must be related to Thrudvang the Earth Master, Rich! Water Master and Air Master would have both showed up by #30 I guess, then onward for Alec to CHALLS #81-87. The New 52 could learn from this.

    Somebody need to interview Kraft about this lost ST story, stat! Show him these scans to jog his memory!

    http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/thread.jspa?threadID=2000268521&tstart=0

  • White Lantern Alec Holland says:

    BTW: Can anyone actually read all those captions?
    What do all the smaller scans say?

  • White Lantern Alec Holland says:

    Wait. The scans are larger now. Should have looked again first. Thanks, Rich!

  • Rich Handley says:

    Sorry, folks. I don’t know what happened the first time–the scans came out practically unreadable. Once I noticed that, I replaced them. They’re all large and readable now.

  • Whoops, did I say Conway? Heh. Kraft, of course!

    Yeah, my bad. Didn’t Conway script the last couple of published 70’s ST’s though?

  • White Lantern Alec Holland says:

    Conway wrote ST #23 by himself (the start of the storyline), then co-plotted #24 with Kraft scripting, and Kraft took over from there, with #25 getting the axe. Then Conway brought back Swamp Thing a year later in Challengers of the Unknown #83-87.

  • Rich Handley says:

    They’re easy to confuse, though–the Swamp Thing stories of both Conway and Kraft, in Swamp Thing and in Challengers, sucked. They’re on equal suckage terms.

  • Rich Handley says:

    Which, in no way, I should note, lessens my excitement about these pages being found. I’m still ecstatic to know (part of) what happened next, even if it’s bad. :)

  • Rich Handley says:

    I just wish we had the first half of the issue. Only the second half has surfaced.

  • White Lantern Alec Holland says:

    Maybe you can get Kraft to send you the full script! :)