swamp thing

“Oh, look, he’s going on about Swamp Thing again.”

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(SPOILERS AHOY for Brightest Day #24 in today’s post, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

So in reading about Swamp Thing’s return in Brightest Day #24, you know what bugged me the most? Yeah, that’s right, Swampy’s word balloons:


This is definitely me wearing my fanboy hat, but I much prefer the ol’ jagged-edge orange balloons:


I suppose the green ‘n’ brown colors are more earthy in tone, and at least they’ve kept the ellipses-laden pauses, but it’s gonna a bit before I’m used to it. And on the other hand, they’ve brought Swamp Thing back, so maybe I shouldn’t complain.

It is fun seeing Swamp Thing fully back in the regular superheroic DC Universe again, and I have to admit I had bit of a stupid grin on my face reading the panel where Firestorm, Aquaman et al are (re-)introducing themselves to him. And hey, I just realized, in this issue we finally got our Swamp Thing/Hawkman confrontation promised at the end of Swamp Thing #24 (1976). (As opposed to Swamp Thing just fighting some random Thanagarians, of course.)

Another nice fanboy element for me was seeing the resurrection of Alec Holland in that full-page image, but it does lead into the question of just what is going on with Swamp Thing, here. Okay, I originally had written out a blow-by-blow description of what happened in Brightest Day #24, but let’s keep it simple. It looks like we’ve gone from Swamp Thing being based on a template provided by the deceased Holland’s memories (as retconned by Alan Moore in Saga of the Swamp Thing #21) and have since switched to the revived Alec Holland being absorbed by The Green and actually becoming Swamp Thing (which is basically how it is described in the text itself). Or The Green just up and killed Holland and “reinfected” itself with his memories like last time, which, frankly, seems a bit harsh.

And did I say “simple?” Er, sorry about that.

Regardless, it’s emphasized several times that the White Lantern-revived Alec Holland only has memories up ’til his original murder way back in Swamp Thing #1, so is this revived Swamp Thing basically starting from scratch, with no recollection of all the hoohar that followed his original transformation? Or is there some kind of “back-up” memory in The Green that was fed into Swamp Thing following his revival, which seems likely since he’s whipping out a lot of his Plant Elemental superpowers schtick in this issue. And are we back to the original premise of Alec Holland being a man trapped in a monster’s body, and not just a plant thinking it’s Alec Holland? Are these the kind of things a grown man like me should be obsessing over?

I suspect these are the questions to be answered in the forthcoming Search for Swamp Thing series, which reminds me…there was apparently some consternation regarding what Swamp Thing was getting up to at the end of the issue. In particular, considering what he says here regarding folks who are harming the environment:



…which he seems to do in some executive boardroom, where Swamp Thing appears to be straight-up killing people:


…which alarmed some readers, I noticed, but given the context of its presentation, it’s pretty clear this is just a set-up for future events (i.e. the previously-mentioned Search for Swamp Thing), like the issue’s multiple epilogues preceding this one for other characters in the series. Clearly something is wrong, and even Special Other Guest Star Who We Thought Would Only Appear in The Vertigo Imprint but Here He Is in The DC Universe John Constantine seems to think this wasn’t actually the handiwork of our pal Swamp Thing:



Have I mentioned there were SPOILERS in this post?

There were also some noting that this Constantine looks a lot younger and and lot more…um, thumbed than his Vertigo counterpart, not reflecting his more recent adventures. And you know, that’s okay. If Marvel Comics can have their MAX imprint Punisher and their Marvel Universe Punisher, and never the twain shall meet, then I think we can have Vertigo Constantine (and Swampy) and DCU Constantine (and also Swampy) with their own distinct continuities. Or distinct when convenient, of course.

But all in all, I finally got what I was asking for…a return of Swamp Thing to the regular DC Universe. Hopefully this won’t end up being a case of “being careful what you wish for,” but we’ll see how it goes.

Bring me Swamp Thing figures in tribute…THIS I COMMAND.

filed under Categories cranius, pal plugging, sir-links-a-lot, swamp thing 13 Comments

Well, my plan was to talk a little more about the whole Swamp Thing hoohar on Monday, after folks have had more of a chance to read and process the character’s reemergence in this week’s Brightest Day #24. But, as many of you have emailed, commented, and Tweeted at me about in the last 12 or so hours, there’s some other big Swamp Thing news this week: MATTEL SWAMP THING ACTION FIGURE WITH EXCLUSIVE PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES available only at this year’s San Diego Comic Con!


OH MAN. And he comes with a case shaped like his head that apparently doubles as a mask:


It seems as if the figure may be available beyond SDCC, but the accessory Un-Men figures are exclusive to this release, such as (what appears to be) Ophidian:


…and of course, the incredible Cranius:


I mean, c’mon, who deserves a Cranius figure more than me? …Well, okay, Wein and Wrightson, but I’m a close third, dammit!

So, since it’s about as likely I’ll be able to travel to Mars as to the San Diego Comic Con, I’m gonna have to plan a way to get my mitts on this thing. Plans probably won’t involve murder and mayhem, but I guarantee nothing.

You can see the whole video presenting this beautiful thing right below:


…or if that doesn’t work, you can look at the video right here.

In other news:

  • So apparently there’s going to be an ongoing subplot in the Superman comics about Supes renouncing his U.S. citizenship, causing people who’ve never read Superman comics to threaten to never read Superman comics. Or something. I guess this is really, really important, somehow.

    Hey, remember that time Superman died and he totally was never going to come back? …Yeah.

  • Andrew has a new Nobody’s Favorites entry featuring one of those characters that everyone’s heard of, but doesn’t make it any less peculiar that the character even existed in the first place.

  • So Kevin Church and Max Riffner contributed a swell four-page story to the Panels for Primates online anthology.

  • When making your Deadpool fan film, be careful with your live ammunition. REMINDER: Deadpool is a professional comic book character and his firearm frivolity should not be attempted at home. (via pal Dorian)

  • Bully, the little bull whom, it seems, is quite stuffed, presents: TALES OF THE SPOILER. Good spoilin’ fun for everyone!

  • Hey, pals Randy and Denise have a new book out: Sketch Card Mania, all about the process in producing those collectible insert cards you find in trading card sets, from two veterans of that industry! Randy and Denise are good people and fun, talented artists, and having seen the book at our shop, I can verify that it looks great. SPECIAL DEAL: if you order from Randy’s site, you will get your copies with original sketches from Randy and Denise.

    Congrats to those two on the release of their book!

  • Oh, I totally forgot to link to this…my latest article for The Content Farm site: How to Sell Your Soul to the Devil. You know, in case you were wondering how to go about that an’ all.

So perhaps you’ve heard that Swamp Thing is in Brightest Day.

filed under Categories swamp thing, this week's comics 12 Comments

So here’s the regular cover for this week’s Brightest Day #24, featuring Swamp Thing as drawn by Gary Frank:


I like the detail of the scarlet snake (I think it’s supposed to be, anyway…I don’t see any red-on-yellow-kill-a-fellow of the coral snake) entwined in Swampy’s shoulder:


And yes, the variant cover, available to retailers in a 1/10 ratio to the regular cover, also featured Swamp Thing (as drawn by Ivan Reis):


Yes, I’m picking up this cover too. I’m buying two copies of the same comic just for the covers, you bastards. Also, is Swamp Thing coughing up the White Lantern rings, or opening his plant-hole wide to receive them? Or maybe they’re just hovering around his face and he’s agape in astonishment. Who knows.

And then there’s the 1/10 variant for the final issue of the Justice League: Generation Lost series, which I swear is mocking me personally:


I mean, just look at this:


Dicks.

…

Yes, I’m getting this cover too. Jerks.

I finally went back to that old post and fixed the contrast on that Adrienne Barbeau pic.

filed under Categories sir-links-a-lot, swamp thing 3 Comments

  • Since I’m probably never going to get that official Swamp Thing/Man-Thing crossover (though we’ve had some unofficial ones), I’ll have to settle for things like this awesome drawing by Paul Wee.

  • Hey, here’s a fantastic William Stout rendition of Swampy.

  • Can’t help but think I’ve linked this before, but it’s Swamp Thing and MODOK, hangin’ out in the swamp together. (Not to be confused with SWAMPDOK, of course.)

  • Speaking of pal Tom Foxmarnick, who drew that SWAMPDOK image for me, here is another drawing of his presenting yet another Man-Thing/Swamp Thing team-up:


    Click on that image for a much better look. And yes, I know Man-Thing has no mouth, but that little tongue is so cute.

    Tom will be selling prints of artwork just like this at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, so drop on by his table and give him a howdy-do. And some money. For art.

  • So apparently at one time there was a vote for which series was most deserving of being presented in a DC Archives hardcover edition, and coming in at a close second was Swamp Thing. So clearly there’s need of a recount. Anyway, there’s a mock-up on that site of what a Swamp Thing Archives might look like.

  • It’s tough not to love a review of the Swamp Thing movie that includes this line:

    “There’s one naked swamp bathing scene, but you just barely catch a glimpse of anything important.”

    However, sir, I must disagree. That’s naked Adrienne Barbeau you’re speaking of…every bit is important.

    Also, the cartoon at the end of the review is something else.

  • Behold: RETIRED SWAMP THING, courtesy Awesome Hospital‘s Matt Digges.

  • “Swamp Thing could fit 20 riders in its single train.” …You don’t say!

  • …And Tony Isabella tells me this comic strip made him think of me when he saw it, so I shall add him to the list of people that I’ve infected with my particular obsession. And soon, I will call upon all these people to rise up as my personal army to…well, perhaps I’ve said too much.

Under normal circumstances, admitting that you’ve held onto, but not looked at, a magazine for thirty years could be considered a problem.

filed under Categories swamp thing 5 Comments

So a Swamp Thing fan did a bit of an info dump regarding the character in my comments section from a couple of days ago, which…you know, you can probably just email those to me, that’d be fine, honest! If I act on any of your suggestions, I’ll give you credit, I promise! But he did remind me of a Swamp Thing appearance I’d totally forgotten about…one I did buy off the stands when it came out, so I have it in my collection, but I probably haven’t cracked open the cover of the thing since originally reading it around 30 years ago.

It’s DC Comics Presents #38 (October 1981), and, like issue #50 of the series, featured a two-page pin-up (by George Perez) of all the characters Superman had teamed up with in the previous issues. Including, of course, our favorite swamp creature:


Yeah, I know it looks like the Flash is hanging on Swampy’s arm like a prom date, or that he’s on the verge of plowing through Swamp Thing’s body at superspeed. Also, I’m reasonably certain this is the only time Swamp Thing and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny ever appeared in the same image together. Unless Hoppy’s in that two-page crowd scene in Crisis on Infinite Earths #5, and I’m too lazy to go check.

Speaking of which, I think Swampy’s appearances in those couple of issues of Crisis are, along with this pin-up, the only times George Perez drew Swamp Thing. Well, that were published, anyway…for all I know, at conventions, when he isn’t being asked to draw topless Starfire, maybe he’s doing dozens of Swamp Thing commissions. Or maybe commissions of Swamp Thing with topless Starfire.

…

I would like to apologize in advance to Mr. Perez for the commission requests he’s about to receive.

Sez you.

filed under Categories letters of comment, swamp thing 7 Comments

From the letters column in Challengers of the Unknown #86 (April-May 1978):


The editorial reply:


Well, I don’t know about you, but I’d totally be in favor of an “Adventures of Alec Holland” series. In fact, in a way it looks like we might be getting a little bit of that in next week’s final issue of that one series I don’t want to spoil by mentioning that Swamp Thing may or may not have made an appearance in the previous issue.

We’ve had the occasional Alec Holland adventure in the various Swamp Thing titles, usually when he reverts (or imagines he reverts) to human form, like in the last issue of his original series and the couple of Challengers of the Unknown issues which followed up on those plot threads.

And then there was this, Alec Holland’s one and (I think) only appearance in the DC Animated Universe comics, from Batman Adventures Vol. 2 #16 by Ty Templeton, Rick Burchett and Terry Beatty:


Alas, at no time was there an animated universe Swamp Thing to go with our animated universe Alec Holland, aside from some sneaky cameos in the Justice League cartoons.

As an aside…there sure were a lot of typos in that Challengers letters column. In the scans you can see “there” used in place of “their,” and “permanently” spelled “perminately.” Not shown: “November” spelled “Nobember.” By the way, I was going back through some of my older posts as I was writing this and quickly spotted several typos of my own, so I’m not taking the high road, here.

And if I may quibble a bit with the original letter writer’s point…Holland didn’t spend “his whole life looking like that.” Even in real world time, as opposed to however much time allegedly passed in the comics, Holland had only been Swamp Thing for about six years at that point. So let’s not exaggerate, Guy Who Wrote in to Challengers of the Unknown 30-Plus Years Ago!

The Joker was so excited, he slipped while putting on his lipstick.

filed under Categories swamp thing 10 Comments

DC Comics Presents #50 (October 1982) had a two-page pin-up by Alex Saviuk and Frank Giacoia featuring all of Superman’s guest-stars thus far in the series’ run, and shown here is a detail from that image with Swamp Thing and some of his super-pals:


Speaking of Swamp Thing and his super-pals, one of my readers directed me to this bit of business over at the DC Comics site presenting a Certain Mr. Swamp Creature of Some Renown popping up on the cover of a Certain Year-Long Superhero Event Maxi-Series of Some Notoriety.

I’m just rambling about Swamp Thing. You can probably skip reading this post.

filed under Categories swamp thing 10 Comments

So on the Twitter the other day, when I wasn’t complaining about Superman movie villains or discussing my dream casting for the Wonder Woman TV show, I had this to say about Swamp Thing:

“So where is my ROOTS OF THE SWAMP THING HC Vol. 2 w/#14-#24 of the first series? That’s (mostly) Nestor Redondo art, friends!”

Volume one of Roots of the Swamp Thing came out a few years ago, reprinting the first thirteen issues (and House of Secrets #92, my twelth copy of that story!) and thus containing all of Len Wein’s writing work with the character. A theoretical Volume Two would be primarily illustrated by Nestor Redondo (with the last story by Ernie Chua and Fred Carrillo) – now, Mr. Redondo was a fantastic artist, and you can see a small sample right here (from Swamp Thing #18, September 1975):


…but alas, he’s not quite the “name” that Bernie Wrightson is, and I don’t know that there would be enough interest aside from weirdos like me and this guy to justify the expense. But man, it sure would be nice to have those Redondo pages recolored and on nice, white (well, not browning newsprint) paper.

Also, this currently-imaginary Volume Two would end with these two stories, which would probably leave new readers with…well, maybe not a bad taste in their mouths, but certainly a quizzical one. …A quizzical taste? Sure, why not. Moving on….

A Showcase Presents Swamp Thing trade paperback would be possible, squeezing 24 issues into one black and white volume. Sure, I’d rather have it all in color, but this may be the only way to get the non-Wrightson stuff reprinted, by pairing it with the Wrightson issues.

I’m not holding my breath for this run of Swamp Thing appearances to be reprinted anytime soon, however. But, you never know…if there’s a sudden bump in interest in Swamp Thing due to current DC Universe events – oh, wait, SPOILER ALERT – maybe some of this stuff will get some new exposure.

Something else I was reminded of when I was going through my Swamp Thing issues, and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before: there were only about six years between the end of the original series and the launch of 1982’s Saga of the Swamp Thing series. It sure seems like it was longer, doesn’t it? (Much in the same way there was only about eight years separating the Golden Age Flash from the Silver Age one.) The last Swamp Thing series ended in 2006, about five years ago, so I think we’re about due for a new one, in my own completely unbiased opinion.

In site-related news, I’ve started the arduous process of going back and “tagging” the appropriate posts with the “swamp thing” tag, so you can access them all with one clicky-clicky. …Turns out I’ve talked about Swamp Thing a lot, so this may take a while.

There may be some postings about Swamp Thing in the near future.

filed under Categories swamp thing 6 Comments

So I was reading some of the more recent Swamp Thing comics the other evening, for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with Swamp Thing’s theoretical current involvement in the DC Universe which there absolutely isn’t and surely you can’t consider this a spoiler, when I glanced through Vertigo Secret Files and Origins: Swamp Thing (Nov. 2000) and spotted this:


Okay, the obvious bit is that “Holland” in “Abigail Holland” seems to be missing an “L.” Also, the characters’ first appearances (along with Matt Cable and Arcane) are noted as being in Saga of the Swamp Thing, which was the title of the second series which started in the early 1980s, and not the 1970s series where the characters actually first appeared. Also, Abby’s first appearance is given as issue #2, which is incorrect whether Saga of the Swamp Thing or the ’70s Swamp Thing was meant. It’s issue #3 of the original series, which Wikipedia (as of this writing) and some other online sources also get wrong. I mean, I went through that #2 about a half-dozen times just now, and didn’t spot her. Am I overlooking something? (EDIT: Just now fixed the Wiki entry. Let’s see how long it takes before it’s reverted back to the incorrect information!)

Also, I should note, because someone’s gonna say something about it, that #1 of the ’70s series is the first appearance of the Alec Holland version of Swamp Thing, as House of Secrets #92 featured, of course, Alex Olsen. But surely most of you knew that, what with the dozen or so different reprintings of that issue all of you own. I mean, it’s not just me that has them, right? …Right?

Anyway, I really don’t remember noticing those mistakes before, though it has been over a decade since it was released. Much like the terrible Superman art I’ve discussed, did I just gloss over the mistakes at the time, pausing briefly for a quiet sigh? Or am I simply more actively aware of these things now because I’m always looking for stuff to talk about on this here internet thingie? The world may never know.

• • •

Also, I completely forgot about my terrible Swamp Thing limerick, so if any of you missed it the first time, there it is again.