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Remember those very early posts on this site, where’s I’d just post a brief paragraph with one link?

§ August 22nd, 2010 § Filed under giant-size man-thing § 4 Comments

The All-Seeing Eye of Sanctum Sanctorum Comix spotted this brief appearance of Man-Thing in the promo for the animated Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes series. Perhaps a hint of an extended Man-Thing adventure at some point in the series’ future?

Yes, yes, “extended Man-Thing.” Quiet, you.

Your Sunday Swamp (And Man-) Thing update.

§ April 11th, 2010 § Filed under giant-size man-thing, swamp thing § 8 Comments

It’s a short’un, so here you go:

  • As has been emailed to me, and as also been popping up in my “Swamp Thing” Google alerts (yes, I’m the guy with the Google alert set for occurrences of “swamp thing.” And “progressive ruin.” And the word “the”), the guy who made the movie Cube (which ain’t half bad) also would like to make a Swamp Thing flick. Not that I expect to happen, ever, but I’d like to see it.

    Someone in the comments says this:

    “Has to be better than the first two campy Swamp Thing movies.”

    Sir, those two Swamp Thing movies are genius. The second movie has Swamp Thing escaping from explosions and gunmen by driving a Jeep with Heather Locklear in the passenger seat. Just as God intended.

  • In other swamp creature news, Siskoid covers that one What If story where Man-Thing retains the mind of Ted Sallis, the poor sap what got himself all swamped up. I’m kind of glad he did, because after being reminded a week or so back that I do not have this particular comic in the Vast Mikester Comic Archives, I looked at the shop for it…and we don’t have it there, either? What’s a boy to do?

    Yeah, yeah, I know, look on the eBay for it, or something. I’ll get around to it someday.

  • More Swamp Thing stuff…a Googling revealed this item at Walmart, a DVD featuring “10 Favorite Episodes” of the Swamp Thing live action TV series. Frankly, I’m surprised they managed to find ten. Meanwhile, at Best Buy, there’s an “Eight Favorite Episodes” DVD for the series, which is, perhaps, a little more keeping with expectations. Hey, it’s $12.99…financing available!

SWAMP BEAR STICKER.

§ May 22nd, 2009 § Filed under giant-size man-thing § 1 Comment

Matt M., he of Strangeways fame, had this to say about yesterday’s post:

“Wasn’t a possessed Man-Thing on the cover of issue #98, which led into this story?”

Oh yes indeedy…as drawn by Marshall Rogers:


How’s that for an awesome cover? I like Man-Thing’s “hypnotic eyes” effect, and that he has little demonic root-horns sticking out of the top of his head.

Inside the book it’s not quite as terrifying, but it’s still lots of pages of the Defenders fighting a mystically-possessed giant-sized Man-Thing, and that’s still fun.


Speaking of Man-Thing, I did pick up that Classic Marvel Figurine Collection: Man-Thing Special that I mentioned a couple of days ago. The figure itself is about 3 1/2 inches tall, and heavy! The details and paint job are nicely done, as they tend to be on these larger figurines from this particular line. The 20-page magazine contains a solid overview of the character’s history and his supporting cast, as well as featuring an interview with co-creator Roy Thomas. Interesting factoid from the interview, which I hadn’t known: according to Roy, Man-Thing was named by The Man himself, Stan Lee. And yes, DC’s muck-monster counterpart Swamp Thing is mentioned briefly, mostly in the context of “Man-Thing was first! Nyah-nyah!”

The Man-Thing Special also comes with a two-sided poster with two pieces of Man-Thing art from the more recent iterations of the character, as well as a slipcase for the box in which the figurine was packaged. Generally I’m impressed with the quality of these Figurine Collection magazines. A lot of work goes into the accompanying booklets, and for the most part the figurines tend to be pretty nice (though there is the occasional clunker). I couldn’t see buying each one of these as they came out, though I’m sure someone is somewhere…but if they put out one of these based on a character you happen to really like, it’s worth giving it a look, I think.


In other swamp creature news:

Reader Paul sent along this snapshot he took of a sticker he spotted out in Washington, DC:


Paul described it as a “Swamp Thing Bear,” which is about as good description as any. If you know any more about this sticker, feel free to let me know in the comments section. (Not that I’m expecting there really is that much more to know about it, really.)

"UNNN UNH"

§ October 2nd, 2008 § Filed under giant-size man-thing § 1 Comment

More comics badassery – Ka-Zar’s pal Zabu beats the tar out of a bunch of AIM agents:


HOLY CRAP. The blood-red (well, more or less) backgrounds certainly add to the holy-crapness.

Okay, that wasn’t the reason I pulled out this particular comic (Astonishing Tales #13 from 1972)…what I wanted to say was that the comic contains a very early appearance of Man-Thing, where some of Man-Thing’s attributes are a bit different from the currently accepted version of the character.

Man-Thing is, as the character is used now, mindless and voiceless, a shambling heap of plantlife and muck with no semblance to humanity. So, this panel is pretty much impossible today, given the character’s established interpretation:


There are plenty of panels in this comic of Man-Thing grunting and growling and otherwise making sub-vocal noises, like above, which, as we Fans o’Manny know, more or less contradicts nearly every other appearance of the character. And, also contradictory is the idea that Man-Thing has it together enough to point other characters toward an exit, which requires more reasoning power than Man-Thing is supposed to have.

Also in the story the captions make reference to Man-Thing having a brain, and when Ka-Zar checks an apparently-dead Man-Thing for life, he hears Manny’s beating heart. Needless to say, the Manny we know and love has neither of these things.

Now, I’m not listing all this to be a jerk (for once). I simply find this comic to be an interesting example of trying to nail down attributes for a brand new character…attributes that may have been altered or discarded over the years since. It still seems a little strange to be reading a story where Man-Thing actually growls and shows more brain-power than normal.

Speaking of Man-Thing, he gets a swell cover on this week’s new issue of Alter Ego (#81), as well as an article about the character’s creation. Apparently a lawsuit was, at least, briefly considered against DC for their Swamp Thing character. I didn’t know that. Anyway, the article contains lots of information of interest to the swamp creature enthusiast.

Also, having seen the preview copies for next week, Man-Thing puts in an appearance in a Marvel book coming this Wednesday. Which one will it be…which one? (Oh, okay, it’s Marvel Zombies 3.)

Anyway, that’s enough Man-Thing for now…here, have another helping of Zabu:

images from Astonishing Tales #13 (Aug. 1972) by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Rich Buckler, and Dan Adkins

A little Swamp joy, a little Swamp heartbreak.

§ August 11th, 2007 § Filed under giant-size man-thing Comments Off on A little Swamp joy, a little Swamp heartbreak.

So customer Kevin, who is an art assistant for a Big Name Comic Artist, just out of the blue gave me an original Man-Thing pencil drawing of his:


Pretty cool of him, no? And yes, for some reason Man-Thing is carrying a naked lady. Maybe there’s a nudist colony at the edge of Manny’s swamp or something. She’s obviously not afraid, since “whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing’s touch” and all that jazz.

And this is how much of a jerk I am:

Kevin: “Here, Mike, this is for you.”

Me: “Wow, thanks, Kevin! It’ll look great on eBa…er, I mean, my wall!”

Kevin: “You jerk!”

Yes, he knows I was joking. We give each other a bit of friendly grief, until employee Aaron walks into the room, then we both turn on him.

In other swamp creature/eBay news, I discovered that searching completed auctions on the eBay can only lead to tears, as I missed out on a whole bunch of these period Mexican Swamp Thing editions from the ’70s:


They went for twelve bucks a pop, so it’s just as well I missed them. I probably would have tried to buy them all despite being short on coin of the realm at the moment. But don’t they look fabulously lurid?

And now, some reader-generated content.

§ April 13th, 2007 § Filed under giant-size man-thing Comments Off on And now, some reader-generated content.

I get some interesting e-mails, so keep them a’comin’, friends. I always like to hear from you, especially when you let me slide on coming up with my own content for a day send me neat stuff like this.

First, reader Caleb (from Every Day Is Like Wednesday) pointed me in the direction of a scene in this week’s Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing one-shot that resembles some Swamp Thing shenanigans from a few years ago. Now, I wasn’t planning on picking up this new Man-Thing comic, so I didn’t notice the scene in question at first…but darn if Caleb ain’t right. To wit:


Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing (2007)


Swamp Thing #159 (1995)


Aside from the shared swamp-creature-head-on-plate motif, the stories are entirely different in purpose and effect, so it’s certainly just a coincidence. Heck, the fact that Swamp Thing and Man-Thing debuted nearly simultaneously is a big ol’ coincidence in and of itself, so what’s one more?

The next item e-mailed to me comes from reader Chad, who quite correctly notes that I love finding and sharing oddball things on the eBay, and thus decided to send to me a link to some good old fashioned nightmare fuel. Ladies and/or gentlemen, I present to you Wonder Woman as you’ve never seen her before:


“Pose her every which way” indeed.

And, from one of my favorite webloggers, Booksteve, comes a note that he wrote about that Life is a dollar twenty-five paperback B.C. book well over a year before either Mark Evanier or I did. See, all three of us agree it’s a good gag! We must be right!

Speaking of repeating things from the past, I see that terrible Doomworld comic, based on the computer game, is making the rounds again. One of the very first posts on my site, near the end of 2003, was an entry about that Doom comic, where I mention that I’d been seeing references to it all over the internet. I guess, three and half years later, it’s finally cycled back into everyone’s awareness. If you hadn’t seen Doomworld already, it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s not just bad…it’s magnificently bad.

And I’d rather see something like Doomworld make the rounds again, than something like the Hamster Dance, or Mr. T Ate My Balls, or whatever. I kiss you!

"Swamp Thing is a god. Man Thing is what his name says, a man."

§ January 12th, 2007 § Filed under giant-size man-thing Comments Off on "Swamp Thing is a god. Man Thing is what his name says, a man."

Okay, first off, how’d I miss this: “Swamp-Thing vs. Man-Thing.”

And let me get this out of the way: “Swamp Thing” does not have a hyphen in it (and please read that sentence aloud in your best Comic Book Guy voice for full effect).

Anyway, the debate is opened to that site’s readers, and here is an excerpt or two of what they had to say:

“My vote goes to Swamp-Thing.He can control plants,regenerate,super strength, asuume differnt shapes with his body parts such as extending limbs or extra apendages and turn into sludge. His only weakness is pollution which Man-Thing has no accsess to. So my vote goes to Swamp-Thing.”

“Swamp Thing calmly stares at Man-Thing, and the mindless being feels peace and a unity with all of Creation for the first time in its existence. It then goes back to its swamp, as happy as it can possibly get, having been briefly touched with the grace and favor of the nearest thing the DCU has to a God of Plants.”

“Swamp Thing is a god. Man Thing is what his name says, a man. Swampy is gonna pulverise him.”

“You know with two guys like Swamp and Man thing there is only one criteria babes! Swamp thing got Heather Locklear Man Thing got a skin condition that causes girls to burn if he touches them.”

And some people voted for Man-Thing, too, but clearly they’re mistaken.

So long as I’m wallowing in the pig-slop of my nerdiness…this theoretical fight is hosted on Electric Ferret, and one of the guys responsible for Alec Holland becoming Swamp Thing is named “Ferrett…?” COINCIDENCE?

Thanks to “Anonymous” for dropping the link in my comments section.

While I’m on the topic…hey, Gordon, regarding your request to see an image of Swamp Thing cuddling a kitten: while a pet kitten does join Swamp Thing, Abby, and Tefe in Swamp Thing #112, between that issue and the kitty’s demise at Tefe’s hands in #118, at no time does Swampy himself cuddle said cat. Well, at least not until it’s dead (or as good as), and I doubt that’s a pic you want to see. (For more context regarding this incident, this fella details events for this particular storyline.)

In other non-Swamp Thing news:

  • Amazing Fantasy #15 (first appearance of Spider-Man, don’cha know) spotted on background newsstand in ’60s TV show. (via)
  • As hard as it is to believe, there’s some weird-ass stuff going on in old Wonder Woman comics.
  • Neilalien lays into X-Men: First Class #4, dissecting it thoroughly.
  • Returns not diminished enough: “Halle Berry to Fox: ‘Bring On More X-Men films!'”

    “I want to thank Tom Rothman for allowing me to play Storm, and Brett Ratner for allowing Storm to finally use her cape and fly this year,’ said Halle Berry at yesterday’s People’s Choice Awards.

    “‘But I have something to ask you guys. You guys really love X-Men? Ok, here’s what you have to do. […] Write a letter to Tom Rothman at Fox and tell him so and you will get another one, and I’ll be there too.'”

Man-Thing’s War on Swamp Thing!

§ March 29th, 2006 § Filed under giant-size man-thing § 3 Comments

Well, sorta. At least it gives me an excuse to link to this cool Nestor Redondo image from an old Comic Buyer’s Guide cover again:


So anyway, in Man-Thing #3 (March 1973), this editorial reply appeared in response to reader inquiries as to the similarities between the two swamp creatures:


Swamp Thing, openly disparaged in the letter column of his direct competitor. Okay, so it’s probably partially true, though I think the huge sales of Swampy’s first appearance in House of Secrets #92 had more to do with the creation of the ongoing series than, as implied above, anything Marvel may have been doing.

But that implication pales in comparison to this editorial reply in Man-Thing #2 (January 1979). A letter writer asks about Manny’s origin, confusing it with Swampy’s, which results in this response:


Oh SNAP! Oh no you didn’t! You didn’t just describe Swamp Thing as also being a Hulk knock-off!

Of course, that’s not to say the S.O.O.S. (“Supporters of Ol’ Swampy”) contingent didn’t get their licks in, as in this excerpt from Man-Thing #16 (April 1975):

Of course, the Swamp Thing comic ended up co-opting, in a way, the Man-Thing character as a background member of the Parliament of Trees – the plant elemental tribe elders, after a fashion. He first pops up in Swamp Thing #47 (April ’86), the issue where Swamp Thing first encounters the Parliament…what appears to be an overgrown version of Man-Thing appears in a two-page spread:


And later in the issue, you get an extreme foreground close-up of his face:


And he pops up a few more times, in this issue and a few others. Alas, no official crossover has ever been published, though I was hoping for maybe a throwaway panel in JLA/Avengers. I mean, heck, they devoted a panel to Rick Jones versus Snapper Carr, after all.

(And just so there’s no misunderstanding…I greatly enjoyed the original Man-Thing series as well, despite my pro-Swamp Thing bias. It really is prime Steve Gerber, at his most quirky, earnest, and experimental, accompanied by some great artists – Mike Ploog, John Buscema, Val Mayerik. Good stuff!)

(Where’s my Essential Man-Thing reprint volume?)

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