Swamp Thing

The Swamp Thing is a fictional character created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson for DC Comics, and featured in a long-running horror-fantasy comic book series of the same name. He is a humanoid mass of vegetable matter who fights to protect his swamp home, the environment in general, and humanity, from various supernatural threats. The series was continued by a number of writers, notably Alan Moore, whose reinvention of the character was particularly influential.

Related creatures

DC Comics rival Marvel Comics had a strikingly similar rival to Swamp Thing in the 1970s with the Steve Gerber-scripted Man-Thing. Due to the close premieres of each comic, it is unlikely that either comic was directly derivative of the other - although in an interview Gerber noted that Wein and Man-Thing creator Gerry Conway were roommates, and had simultaneously came up with similar characters by coincidence. Gerber later asked Wein to describe the premise of Swamp Thing, and rewrote it to be as different as Wein's creation as possible.

Related Topics:
Marvel Comics - Steve Gerber - Man-Thing - Gerry Conway

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The best-known precursor to both characters was the shambling muck-monster The Heap, who first appeared in a 1942 Hillman comic. But the Heap (and consequently, both Swamp Thing and Man-Thing) may owe its existence to a 1940 horror story by Theodore Sturgeon titled "It", in which a shambling monster, made from decaying plant life and a human corpse, creates havoc for a farm household.

Related Topics:
The Heap - Hillman - Theodore Sturgeon - It

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The Heap was mentioned by Alan Moore in his introduction of the Parliament of Trees, though never by name.

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The Brazilian character "Monstro do Pântano", created by Eugenio Colonnese two years before Swamp Thing, resembles in many ways Wein and Wrightson's creation. "Parliament of the Trees", a Moore-scripted Swamp Thing episode from 1986, includes visual nods towards these other "muck monsters" when various past and present plant/human "tree spirits" assemble together in the Amazon Rainforest.

Related Topics:
Monstro do Pântano - Eugenio Colonnese - Amazon Rainforest

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Long-time DC comics villain Solomon Grundy shares an origin similar to the swamp monsters mentioned above, although his appearance differs greatly. During his run on Swamp Thing, Rich Veitch indicated that Grundy was "meant" to be a plant elemental, but his development was stunted and incomplete.

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