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.

Swamp Thing in the comics

The Swamp Thing has appeared in four comic book series to date, including several Specials, and has crossed over into other DC titles.

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1st Series

Len Wein

The first volume of Swamp Thing lasted from 1972 to 1976 for 24 issues. Swamp Thing fought against the evils surrounding him, and sought a means to return himself to his human form, occasionally encountering the mad Dr. Anton Arcane, his nightmarish Un-Men, the Patchwork Man (a Frankenstein-type assemblage of body parts, revealed to be Arcane's own brother Gregori Arcane), even leaving his swamp long enough to battle Batman in issue #7 in what would be one of the few encounters with a traditional DC superhero for the supernatural star of the comic. Of note is Dr Arcane, who acted as his nemesis and has been killed several times, appearing in different forms throughout the series (including an old man, a muscular zombie-like creature, a robot-spider-human hybrid, his nephew-in-law, and a devout Catholic). Supporting characters include Matthew Cable, who pursued Swamp Thing in the early issues believing him to be the murderer of Linda Holland (Alec's wife, who was in fact killed by Mr. E's henchmen), and Abigail "Abby" Arcane, Dr Arcane's niece who possesses long white hair with a black streak.

Related Topics:
Frankenstein - Batman - Superhero - Nemesis - Zombie - Catholic

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David Michelinie / Gerry Conway

As sales figures plummeted towards the end of the series, the writers attempted to revive interest by introducing fantasy creatures, sci-fi aliens, and even Alec Holland's brother into the picture. Holland's brother was never brought up again in the series thereafter.

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The appearance of Holland's brother toward the end of the series marked a series of plot developments which subsequent writers had difficulty explaining. Issue 23 featured an ageing superhero called Sabre, hellbent on killing Swamp Thing. In the final panel Alec Holland was shown inexplicably returning into human form, with his brother crying, "Alec Holland lives again!". Although Swamp Thing was on the cover of the 24th and final issue, Holland appeared as human throughout the interior story. The cover illustration showed a yellow muscular creature (Thrudvang) beating up Swamp Thing; the interior showed Holland imagining Swamp Thing beating up Thrudvang, in similar positions but with roles reversed. Holland, and his sister-in-law, spent most of the issue running away from Thrudvang.

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The events in these issues were not much referenced thereafter, but they were never written out of continuity. In 1977 Alec went on to appear in a 7-issue miniseries of Challengers of the Unknown, which picked up where Swamp Thing's first series ended—Alec was still human and again working for the government. Unfortunately, the effect was not permanant, and he reverted into his Swamp Thing form once more. Deadman, who interracted with Swamp Thing during this encounter, still remembered it when they met again in series 2, proving that the events of series 1 and Challengers had, indeed, happened.

Related Topics:
Challengers of the Unknown - Deadman

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2nd Series

Martin Pasko

On May 1982, DC Comics revived the Swamp Thing series after the mild success of the Wes Craven film of the same name (which is now obscure compared to the comics). The series—renamed Saga of the Swamp Thing, though it later reverted—picked up where Challengers of the Unknown left off (with Swamp Thing being his mossy self once more) and continued the theme of Swamp Thing getting into superhero-like situations and his constant inability to find a cure. The early plot, written by Martin Pasko, had Swamp Thing travelling to many exotic locations, being possessed by demons, and preventing the girl-witch Karen Clancy from destroying the world. For a number of issues, the Phantom Stranger was included at the end as backup stories. On Issue 16, the primary artist, Tom Yeats, was replaced with Stephen Bissette and John Totleben, two-third of the creative team in the later Moore era. Bissette and Totleben, who had known Yeats at the Joe Kubert School of Comic Book Art,had been ghosting various pages for Yeats, and were given the assignment on Pasko's recommendation. During this period, Swamp Thing returned to the swamp, meeting Matthew Cable and Abby, who was now Mrs Cable. Cable was revealed to be an alcoholic who achieved the ability to control otherwordly demonic beings, and Anton Arcane returned as a spider-robot-human monster to fight Swamp Thing.

Related Topics:
Wes Craven - Martin Pasko - Phantom Stranger - Stephen Bissette - John Totleben

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The 1982 annual of Swamp Thing served as the comic book adaptation of the Craven movie.

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Alan Moore

On Issue 20, the British comic book writer Alan Moore was brought in to replace Pasko, whose television work was leaving little room in his schedule for comics. Moore, then relatively unknown, had at that time only written several stories for 2000AD, Warrior and Marvel UK. As Swamp Thing was slated for cancellation, the editors were willing to take whatever risks Moore proposed. Moore recognised that an inherent obstacle to writing the character was that the completion of his quest to become human would result in the end of the series.

Related Topics:
Alan Moore - 2000AD - Warrior - Marvel UK

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The risk Moore took was to, in one fell swoop, destroy the entire concept of the Swamp Thing. In #20, Swamp Thing was shot in the head and captured by the malevolent Sunderland corporation. In #21, the now-legendary "The Anatomy Lesson", his body was delivered to minor supervillain Jason "Floronic Man" Woodrue, who had been hired by Sunderland to perform an autopsy.

Related Topics:
Jason "Floronic Man" Woodrue - Autopsy

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During the autopsy, Woodrue discovered that the Swamp Thing's physiology was only superficially human, its organs little more than crude, nonfunctional, vegetable-based imitations of their human counterparts, and that there was no way that the Swamp Thing's body could have been derived from a human corpse. This meant the Swamp Thing was not Alec Holland, but only thought that it was: Holland had indeed died in the swamp vegetation, and the swamp vegetation had absorbed his mind, knowledge, memories, and skills. Alec Holland would not ever be cured, because there was nothing to cure. Woodrue also concluded that, despite the autopsy, Swamp Thing was still alive, as "you can't kill a vegetable by shooting it through the head".

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Not content with retconning the Swamp Thing's origin story, about a year later Moore would reveal that the creature styled after Holland was no ordinary plant, but a plant elemental and representative of all plant life on Earth. This redefinition left the character open to much broader interpretations, giving him the ability to control plants, and to travel through "the Green".

Related Topics:
Retconning - Origin story - Elemental

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During the Moore era, Swamp Thing went catatonic due to the shock, going deep into "The Green", which is the dimension that connects all plant life together. Woodrue went insane after attempting to connect to The Green through Swamp Thing, and Abby had to revive Swamp Thing in order to stop Woodrue after he killed an entire village. He returned to the swamps (now revealed to be situated in Louisiana), and encountered Jason Blood, The Demon, then gave a final burial for Alec Holland.

Related Topics:
Louisiana - The Demon

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Matthew Cable, gravely hurt in the previous storyline, was revealed to have been possessed by Anton Arcane, and Abby had been unwittingly having an incestuous relationship with him. After a fight Cable was thrown into a coma, and Abby's soul delivered to hell. In an issue modelled on Dante's Inferno, Swamp Thing followed Abigail, encountering classic DC characters such as The Spectre, Etrigan, and The Phantom Stranger en route, and eventually rescued her.

Related Topics:
Dante - Inferno - The Spectre - Etrigan

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The relationship between Swamp Thing and Abby deepened, and in issue #34 ("Rites of Spring") the two confessed that they both have been loving each other since they first met, and "made love" though the hallucinogenic tubers produced by Swamp Thing's body. The controversial relationship between plant and human would culminate in Abby being arrested in Gotham City later for "obscene behaviour", the second encounter between Swamp Thing and Batman. Before that, the "American Gothic" storyline introduced the character John Constantine (later to star in his own comic Hellblazer), where Swamp Thing had to travel to several parts of America, encountering several archetype horror monsters, including werewolves and zombies, but modernized with relevance to current issues. The "American Gothic" storyline ended with a subtle crossover to Crisis on Infinite Earths, where Swamp Thing had to solve the battle between Good and Evil. Here he also met The Parliament of Trees, which was where Earth Elementals like him lay to rest after they have walked the Earth, and it was here Moore solved the continuity problem of the first and second Swamp Thing: the first Swamp Thing, Alex Olsen, was a part of the Parliament.

Related Topics:
Hallucinogenic - Tubers - Gotham City - Batman - American Gothic - John Constantine - Hellblazer - Horror - Werewolves - Zombies - Crisis on Infinite Earths - The Parliament of Trees

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Although Abby was eventually released (through a loophole Batman pointed out: Superman and Lois Lane were also in a similar alien-human relationship), Swamp Thing was ambushed and his soul sent into space. He would travel to several planets before returning home to exact revenge on his attackers. A particularly popular story in this sequence was issue 56, "My Blue Heaven", an allegory of depression in which Swamp Thing populated a lonely planet with mindless plant replicas of Abby and other reminders of his lost Earth.

Related Topics:
Batman - Superman - Lois Lane

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Alan Moore's Swamp Thing had a profound effect on mainstream comic books. It was the first horror comic to approach the genre from a literate point of view since EC Comics' horror comics of the 1950s, and broadened the scope of the series to include ecological and spiritual concerns while retaining its horror-fantasy roots. Moore began a trend (most notably continued by Neil Gaiman) of mining the DC Universe's vast collection of minor supernatural characters to create an overall mythology. Characters spun off from Moore's series gave rise to DC's Vertigo comic book line, notably The Sandman, Hellblazer, and The Books of Magic; Vertigo titles were written with adults in mind and often contained material unsuitable for children. Saga of the Swamp Thing was the first mainstream comic book series to completely abandon the Comics Code Authority and write directly for adults.

Related Topics:
Horror - EC Comics - 1950s - Neil Gaiman - DC Universe - Spun off - Vertigo - The Sandman - The Books of Magic - Comics Code Authority

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Moore's run also included several references to obscure or forgotten comic characters (Phantom Stranger, Cain and Abel, Floronic Man) but none so prominent as in issue #32, when he broke with the serious and moody storyline for a single issue. In the story "Pog," we see Walt Kelly's funny animal comic character Pogo (created in 1943) and all of his woodland friends show up as costumed visitors from another planet, looking for an unspoiled world after their own utopia had been overrun by brutal monkeys. It is a striking social commentary where Moore shows the lost innocence of the old comics, the cruelty of humans (who are referred to as "the loneliest animal of all"), and the destruction of a natural beauty that can never be reclaimed. It is simple in its premise, complex in its message, and heartfelt in its execution.

Related Topics:
Walt Kelly - Pogo

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Rick Veitch

Moore's final issue, #64, was dated September 1987. At that point, regular penciler Rick Veitch began scripting the series as well, continuing the story in a roughly similar vein for 24 more issues. Hellblazer also began then, and the two series had storylines which crossover to each other. In Veitch's stories, the Parliament of Trees, believing Swamp Thing already dead, grew a Sprout to replace him. Unwilling to sacrifice an innocent life, he convinced them that he would take the Sprout as his own child, and impregnated Abby (now his wife) with it by possessing John Constantine's body. Later, during the Invasion event, Swamp Thing was thrown into the past, and went through time trying to return to the present.

Related Topics:
1987 - Rick Veitch - John Constantine - Invasion

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Veitch's term ended in a widely publicized creative dispute, when DC refused to publish issue #88 because of the use of Jesus as a character despite having previously approved the script. The move was said to be made due to controversies then arising from the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ. Artist Michael Zulli had already partially completed the art. The move disgusted Veitch and he immediately resigned from writing, as that episode was supposed to be his last. Neil Gaiman and Jamie Delano, who were originally slated to be the next writers, sympathetically declined to take up the helm.

Related Topics:
Jesus - Martin Scorsese - The Last Temptation of Christ - Michael Zulli - Jamie Delano

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Doug Wheeler

From September 1989 to July 1991, Doug Wheeler wrote issues #88-109, a run widely resented by fans. He did in fact have Swamp Thing meet Jesus in issue 88 (proving that it was Veitch's depiction of Christ, rather than the event of Him appearing that caused the censorship). Another major plotline revolved around the birth of the Sprout, whom Swamp Thing and Abby named Tefé Holland.

Related Topics:
1989 - 1991 - Doug Wheeler - Christ

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Wheeler had the unfortunate task of writing under the shadow of Moore and Veitch, and also Neil Gaiman, who had just finished the Swamp Thing Annual and a Black Orchid miniseries previously. The bright and clean style of his regular illustrator Pat Broderick was also a departure from previous popular Swamp Thing artists, although John Totleben continued to contribute painted covers.

Related Topics:
Black Orchid - Pat Broderick

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Nancy A. Collins

Horror writer Nancy A. Collins began scripting the issues in 1991 with issue #110. She brought a familiarity with the setting of the series in South Louisiana, writing her stories with more focus on fantasy and myths. She introduced the fan favourite character Lady Jane and tied up several loose ends during the Moore era (mostly involving Anton Arcane), and the series regained some of its popularity. The series ended with Abby leaving Swamp Thing after discovering he not only cheated on her, but also created a clone to deceive her. Lady Jane too left, taking Tefé away as Swamp Thing was considered a "bad influence".

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Swamp Thing was officially placed in the Vertigo line in Issue 129.

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Mark Millar

With issue #140 (March 1994), the title was handed over to Mark Millar, a writer largely unknown in the US at the time. Millar's initial four-issue storyline was co-written with fan favourite Grant Morrison, who by that time had finished writing both Doom Patrol and Animal Man. It depicted a human Alec Holland waking up from "a dream". Although it was later explained how Swamp Thing became human-like, the shock value of this storyline heightened reader interest.

Related Topics:
1994 - Mark Millar - Grant Morrison - Doom Patrol - Animal Man

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Most of Millar's run is divided into several smaller arcs, in each of which Swamp Thing first learns of the existence of, then becomes the champion of, the Parliaments of the various other elements. In order, these are Stone, Waves, Vapour and Fire. In the final six issues, Swamp Thing, no longer approachable by mortals, is willing to rid the world of humanity in order for the other elements to survive; he becomes a planet elemental, representing the Earth itself, and joins the Parliament of Worlds. This was the most significant change made to the character since Moore's reinterpretation.

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Millar wrote Swamp Thing until the series ended, with issue #171 (October 1996). His run was more like those of Moore and Veitch than those of his immediate predecessors, especially in its use of guest stars from the wider DC Universe. One of his achievements include the reintroduction of Anton Arcane, resurrected but converted to devout Catholicism, raising the question of whether evil could indeed be changed after all.

Related Topics:
1996 - Catholicism

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3rd Series

Brian K. Vaughan

Written by Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by Giuseppe Camuncoli in 2000-2002, the third series focused on the daughter of the Swamp Thing, Tefé Holland. Even though she was chronologically 13, the events which occurred in the previous run caused her to appear as a teenager. Due to the circumstances when she was conceived (Swamp Thing, possessing John Constantine, was not aware he was given a blood transfusion by a demon), she held power over both plants and flesh. The idea of using a teenage female protagonist was a fresh one. However, the series was preceded by a Vertigo one-shot, Totems, which had made major changes to continuity that Vaughan had to take into account, basically demoting Swamp Thing from the omnipotent status Millar had given him. Tefé's story was discontinued at Issue 20, whereupon after eating from the Tree of Knowledge she saw two visions of possible futures, and chose neither. Vaughan would later write the critically acclaimed ' and Ex Machina.

Related Topics:
Brian K. Vaughan - Giuseppe Camuncoli - Teenager - Tree of Knowledge - Ex Machina

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4th Series

Andy Diggle / Will Pfeifer

The fourth series began in 2004, with rotating writers of Andy Diggle, Will Pfeifer and Joshua Dysart. The series is solicited to Issue 20 as of June 2005. In the current series, Swamp Thing is reverted back to his original "muck monster" status after the first storyline, and he is now attempting to live an "eventless" life in the Louisiana swamps.

Related Topics:
Andy Diggle - Will Pfeifer - Joshua Dysart - As of June 2005

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Joshua Dysart

Meanwhile a rogue consciousness, calling itself the Holland Mind, is living in the Green. As of issue #15, a botany professor from Alec Holland's past has been summoned to the swamp by strange visions and memories, apparently manipulated by this rogue consciousness. The full purpose for this manipulation remains to be seen.

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