And by “files” I mean multiple stacks of CD-Rs.
Let me present you the two oldest digital images of Swamp Thing I have in my “files.” The date stamp on both of these put them as being downloaded July 14, 1994, almost certainly from America Online. Yup, I was tying up the phoneline pulling these pics off AOL at however-many-cents-per-minute they were charging me.
Given the date (and, um, the drawings themselves) these are during the Mark Millar run, illustgated by Phil Hester. I think these came from the official DC Comics “room” (or whatever it was called…it had some kind of specialized name) on AOL, promoting upcoming comics. If my eyes worked better I’d dig through and find the actual issues these came from, but it’s around #147, I think.
One thing I do recall from this period of online promotion, at least where this particular DC outlet was concerned, was that quite a few of the images offered were limited color/”color hold” pics, like one of the ones I’m about to show you. And inf act, let me show them to you now:
Interestingly, when I tried to upload the original files to the site, I received the message “this kind of file is not permitted due to security reasons” or words to that effect. They were GIFs, but these are new jpegs I just created from that source. Did the GIF format somehow change so significantly over the last, eep, 26 years that old GIF files are a problem?
Anyway, enjoy those pics of Internet Yesteryear. And no, I’m not still on AOL, though I miss the anticipation of hearing the “YOU’VE GOT MAIL” message when I would sign in. I always thought that was pretty cool.
Should have a “You have orders!” message for your mail app now.
Speaking of Mr. Thing, it seems the series is returning:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/swamp-thing-canceled-at-dc-universe-coming-cw-1294230