Snake Eyes Saturday #1.

filed under Categories saturday 7 Comments

WATCH “SHARK WEEK” ON TELEVISION?

GO AHEAD, WIMP

from G.I. Joe #47 (May 1986) by Larry Hama, Rod Whigham & Andy Mushynsky

“Garbed in bright fetishes.”

filed under Categories swamp thing 7 Comments

Since Swamp Thing is going to be palling around with superheroes in short order (or, at least, hanging out in the same world that they do), I thought I should go back and find that brief bit of business where he reveals what he thinks of the capes ‘n’ tights set. So, here you go, from Swamp Thing #75 (August 1988) by Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala:


The lettering in that second-to-last caption box looks…just the slightest bit off from the rest of the lettering on the page. Maybe added after the fact? Or the text was altered from whatever was there before? Or maybe I’m just imagining things?

EDIT: Chris K notes in the comments that a Rick Veitch interview in The Comics Journal revealed that the caption was added after the fact (and I’m sure I’ve read that interview, but obviously didn’t remember that), and Mr. Veitch himself pops in to confirm that caption was a later addition.

I wanted to like it. I really did.

filed under Categories swamp thing 8 Comments

So I read the last issue of the Brightest Day: The Search for Swamp Thing mini-series, and…honestly, what was the point of this? I said before the plot of the series seemed to be about resolving the relationship between Swamp Thing and Alec Holland, which already seemed to be resolved at the climax of the Brightest Day mini. And (SPOILER) it’s still not resolved, or rather it’s been unresolved, with Swampy and Alec still split up for some reason, leaving it for the new ongoing series to take care of, I guess.

Ultimately, it’s as I suspected previously…the point of the series was to show the two of Vertigo’s flagship characters tooling around in the regular superheroic DC Universe. And that’s it. As far as character or plot progression goes, it was just a whole lot of running in place. There’s novelty in Constantine encountering Superman and Batman, and was that a Cranius cameo I spotted in there? But that’s about all I can say for this series. Oh, and the variant covers were nice, too.

Speaking of that upcoming Swamp Thing series…the logo for the new book can be seen here. I was kinda hoping for this logo, if Swampy is going to be all superhero-y an’ all.

If you follow me on the Twitter, you’ve probably seen most of this stuff.

filed under Categories sir-links-a-lot 2 Comments

from Ideal All Stars #2 – Super Star Heroes (December 1978)


In other news:

STOP THE PRESSES.

filed under Categories swamp thing 4 Comments

…I presented incorrect information about Swamp Thing in a previous post. Yes, it’s true, and I hang my golden-maned head in shame.

In this post (since corrected), I noted that a caption missing in the paperback edition reprinting Moore’s earliest issues was included in the more-or-less equivalent Saga of the Swamp Thing hardcover. Well, that was bad info, friends.

So let’s get this straight:

Swamp Thing Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing trade paperback, reprinting issues #21 through #27, has the final caption from issue #24.

Saga of the Swamp Thing Vol. 1 hardcover, reprinting #20 along with #21-#27, is missing that caption.

Now, this is from checking the copies that are on our store shelves at this very moment. If there has been a newer edition of the hardcover that corrects this issue, I don’t know about it. (And I believe I reordered this copy of the hardcover on our shelf about a month ago, I think, so I’m pretty sure it’s the current printing.)

Let me revise my advice: buy the trade paperback, but also buy issues #16-#20 to…complete the experience, I guess.

Or, buy the hardcover, and paste this into the upper right hand corner of the last page of issue #24:

You may need to resize it and perhaps adjust the brightness/contrast.

Or you can just buy all the original issues from my shop, and I’ll give you a swell deal. Well, a deal. At the very least, I will charge you money for them.

In other Swamp Thing-related news:

  • Oh, gosh darn it, I know someone sent this link along to me, but I forgot who it was and I can’t track it down. But, thanks to that someone for pointing out this post about former Swamp artist Steve Bissette’s visit to the International Cryptozoology Museum, which includes some small samples of Bissette’s art from The Vermont Monster Guide.

  • “If Swamp Thing is killed does that mean all life in the universe dies? “

    Lots of questions from someone who seems to think the whole Brightest Day/White Lantern thing is going to continue having a major impact on the ongoing Swamp Thing title. My guess: will either never be mentioned again, or will be noted briefly and forgotten about as the storylines move forward.

  • This week: Brightest Day: The Search for Swamp Thing #3 is coming out this week, and I’ve shown the regular cover previously. Here is the variant cover by David Mack:


    In case you missed it, here’s my review of issue #2 where I kind of wonder what the point of this series was. Other than to get me to buy two copies of each issue for the covers, of course.

It’s been a long weekend, so you’re just getting a link today…

filed under Categories jack kirby, pal plugging 7 Comments

…but it’s a good link. So it seems Andrew may have found a possible inspiration for Jack Kirby’s character Flippa Dippa from the 1970s incarnation of the Newsboy Legion.

Yes, “Flippa Dippa.” The kid who wore the scuba gear all the time. Of all the weird-ass things Jack put into his comics, Flippa Dippa…well, may not crack the Top Ten of Weird-Assedness in Kirby’s work, but he’s on the list somewhere. Like, maybe at number 39. But that something very specific may have inspired Kirby to introduce this character…that’s even weirder. Anyway, go check out Andrew’s article and decide for yourself if he’s onto something, there.

Now, a poster of Swamp Thing in that Farrah Fawcett pose…that I’d display.

filed under Categories other swamp creatures, swamp thing 7 Comments

So I checked my email yesterday morning and immediately received about, oh, a billion emails telling me about these limited edition Swamp Thing movie poster prints that are going on sale today (or may have already gone on sale by the time you read this) from Mondo Tees. The regular edition is handnumbered and limited to 230 copies at $45 a pop, and the even more limited (90 copies) glow-in-the-dark edition is $90. You can get a better look at the crazy amounts of detail in these posters right here.

Apparently the sale will be announced at some time tomorrow on the official Mondo Twitter feed, so keep your eyes peeled there if you need one of these on your wall. I’m tempted, particularly by the glow-in-the-dark poster (which wouldn’t be the first glow-in-the-dark Swamp Thing item I own), but I’m not really a poster guy. I already have multiple Swamp Thing posters still rolled up and sitting in a closet (including one of these) and don’t really want to drop a c-note (or even half a c-note) on something that probably wouldn’t be displayed.

But I want to thank everyone who emailed, Twittered, or commented to let me know about this new bit of Swamp Thing merchandise. I really do appreciate it, and if you see any new goodies, don’t be shy about letting me know! …It’s a bit amusing, and a tad intimidating, to know that people all around the world, that I’ve never met, think of me whenever they encounter anything Swamp Thing-ish. I’m internationally recognized for my nerdly obsessions!

Also, special thanks to my Canadian twin Steven for being first in line to let me know about these posters.

In other news:

A commenter asked in yesterday’s post if I’d read the new Heap comic yet. Oh, do you mean…this one?


The latest revival of the swamp monster originally introduced in the Golden Age Airboy comics, I thought it wasn’t bad. The monster looks different enough from his four-color brethren, what with that hideously creepy mask, and it’s more mystical in nature than scientific, like Marvel’s Man-Thing. Without getting into any spoilerish detail, it does follow the four-color swamp creature tradition of a man trapped within a hideous monster body, but approaches it in a fashion different enough from Swamp Thing and Man-Thing, and even previous versions of the Heap, to make it feel reasonably new. There is a character in the story who has bit of a John Constantine-y feel to him, and fills a similar role as John did in his earliest apperances, but…again, it’s presented in a way that doesn’t make it feel like a retread.

So, yes, I enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to future issues. Still not a patch on this work of genius, however.

Oh, sure, let’s talk about Swamp Thing for a bit.

filed under Categories giant-size man-thing, swamp thing 11 Comments

The fellow with one of the greatest handles ever, Professor Booty, asks in the comments to yesterday’s post

“I own exactly 0 Swamp Thing comics. I became quite interested in the character through your blog, but I don’t wanna read all that current stuff – I’d much rather grab some tradepaperbacks or other collected back issues. What would you recommend? I’m all for the (pretty) easily available & quintessential Swamp Thing stuff to get me going.”

The best two books to start with are these:

Roots of the Swamp Thing: this is available in hardcover right now, and in softcover in a few months (it’s only a $10 difference…get the hardcover!). This reprints the original House of Secrets short, and the first thirteen issues of the original series, which comprises all the stories written by ST cocreator Len Wein, the ten issues drawn by the other cocreator Bernie Wrightson, and three issues drawn by Nestor Redondo. The overall story arc comes to an end of sorts, with a nice send-off by Wein in the last chapter that harkens back to the House of Secrets debut. But this will show you how it all started, and what the status quo of the character is…

…so that when it’s totally blown apart in the second book I’m recommending, Saga of the Swamp Thing hardcover volume one, you feel its full impact. I’m recommending the hardcover versus the softcover edition because 1) the hardcover includes issue #20 of Saga of the Swamp Thing, which is Alan Moore’s first issue but not reprinted prior to this. It was seen more as an end to the previous storyline and not a suitable beginning to a trade paperback, which was crazy talk, frankly; and 2) there was a production issue with a caption being dropped off from the end of issue #24 (“…And meet the sun”) in prior reprintings, which is now fixed in the hardcover. (I think it wasn’t there in earlier printings of the hardcover, so you may want to check.) EDIT 8/21: I totally lied…it’s fixed in the recent edition of the paperback but the Saga of hardcover is still missing the caption. Sorry, my memory is apparently…um, something.

Ideally, if you can get your hands on issues #16 – #19 of Saga of the Swamp Thing, which have never been reprinted in trade form (as far as I know, at least in the U.S.), you probably should. These are the issues that reintroduce Swamp Thing’s arch-nemesis Arcane, and also bring aboard the art team of Steve Bissette and John Totleben, who are as responsible for Swampy’s later success and critical acclaim as Moore was. It is this Arcane story that Saga #20 was the epilog for. (You can probably skip #18, which reprinted issue #10 of the original series, but still had a new framing sequence by the new crew.)

And that’s not just for Professor Booty. I expect all of you reading this right now to rush out and buy these. I want your book reports on my desk by Monday.

In other Swamp Thing news:

  • Also pointed out in yesterday’s comments by Professor Booty is this contribution to the “DC Fifty-Too” project (where artists create their own covers for theoretically-relaunched DC #1s). …I’m trying to think if Swamp Thing and the Creeper ever met, or were even in the same panel (like in a Crisis tie-in) or on the same cover or something, at some point. Up way too late and am way too tired to think of any right now, but one of you smart people out there will remind me if such a thing exists.

  • Chris sent me a note pointing me in the direction of this swell sketch of…Man-Thing? Well, it’s not Swamp Thing, but it’ll do, it’ll do.