The new Swamp Thing show is starting soon bringing attention to this bizarre character once again. Swamp Thing has always been one of DC's darker characters, and has gone from the mainline comics to DC's darker imprint Vertigo, and then back to the mainline ones. As a result, and thanks to various writers, Swamp Thing's history has changed quite often. Today we'll look at the Guardian of the Green, and how Swamp Thing has changed over the years. To make things easier we'll only look at the first two Swamp Things, and we'll also briefly look at the daughter of the second Swamp Thing.
Origin - The House of Secrets #92
Swamp Thing debuted in a story by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson in a story both reminiscent, and very different, from the Swamp Thing which we know of today. Keeping with the later stories, Swamp Thing debuted in the horror comic The House of Secrets in a story straight out of H.P. Lovecraft or Edgar Alan Poe. Issue 92 in July 1971 saw the origins of the first Swamp Thing. In the early years of the 1900s scientist Alex Olsen lived a blissful life in Louisiana with Linda, his wife, while performing experiments with his friend, Damian. However, Damian was deeply in love with Linda, and was willing to murder for them to be together. Mixing up chemicals he hoped Alex's next experiment would go wrong; the explosion didn't kill him so Damian dumped his body in the swamp. The chemicals merged with the swamp's foliage and Alex managed to emerge from the waters as a monster - the Swamp Thing. By this time, Damian had exploited Linda's grief enough so much that she married him, but Linda was suspecting that the experiment which seemingly killed Alex was not an accident. Not wishing to be caught, Alex planned to kill Linda via a secret lethal injection. Just as he was about to kill Linda, Alex, now the Swamp Thing, smashed his way in and killed Damian. A terrified Linda refused to be near him, and he was unable to speak. Unable to communicate, and unable to cry, Alex shuffled back into the swamp to live the rest of his life as a monster.
Alec Holland
The popularity of The House of Secrets #92 encouraged DC to give Swamp Thing his own series, so Wein and Wrightson decided to change the monster's origins to suit an ongoing story. Now set in the present-day, Swamp Thing #1 tells the story of a scientist, Alec Holland, is forced to create a bio-restorative formula to encourage rapid plant growth by a sinister group. Holland tried to resist so the group blew up his lab; Holland was dosed in chemicals as well as being set on fire, and his wife, Linda, was killed. Trying to extinguish the flames he fell into a swamp, however, as he was dosed in the formula the nearby plant life grafted to him and gave him powers. 'Dr. Alec Holland had all the answers... he was an intelligent man... but Alec Holland is dead... and in his place stands only a... SWAMP THING!' Wanting revenge, Alec killed the individuals, and he began his journey. The first Swamp Thing volume set the stage for the later comics and introduced several important concepts. As Swamp Thing, Alec was granted super-strength and the ability to control plant life. His most infamous opponent was Anton Arcane - a mad scientist and warlock obsessed with immortality. Introduced, officially, in Swamp Thing #2 Arcane had witnessed Holland's resurrection so hoped to use that to gain eternal life. He had even stitched his blown up brother back together again, and then had him confined in a dungeon. Using an army of half-human creatures called Un-Men the two fought, and to save a village which Arcane hoped to destroy Swamp Thing knocked the wizard from a tower window. This issue also introduced one of Swamp Thing's most important characters - Abigail Arcane. The niece of Anton, she grew up with telepathic and empathy, living in terror of her evil uncle. However, her empathy powers allowed her to understand that the Swamp Thing meant her no harm, and had a kind heart. She would later travel to the US, and in the future marry Alec. The first run of Swamp Thing ended after 24 issues in 1976 - the last two issues saw Alec lose his powers and have to fight as a regular human. The promised fight against Hawkman at the end of #24 consequently never happened.
The Alan Moore Run
In 1982, a movie adaptation of the first volume by Wes Craven, who also made Nightmare on Elm Street and The Hills Have Eyes, was being released, so DC decided to bring Swamp Thing back. Now called The Saga of Swamp Thing it was written by Martin Pasko and drawn by Tom Yeates. Swamp Thing had now become an urban legend in the Louisiana swamps, and travelled across the world fighting demonic threats - including a resurrected Anton Arcane. However, by issue 20 it was quickly losing popularity so DC decided to take a chance and give a little known British writer free reign. This writer was Alan Moore - the creator of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen among others - and his run would become one of the greatest runs in comic history. Swamp Thing had always had a darker tone compared to other comics, but Alan Moore decided to expand on this aspect by ignoring the Comics Code of Authority. Moore, as a spiritualist, was also keen to expand on the magic and monstrous aspect of the Swamp Thing comics. The Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 opens up with the monster being captured and dissected only for it to be revealed that he doesn't have organs. Swamp Thing was never a human; a collection of plants took Holland's dying consciousness so the creature which emerged believed itself to be formerly human. We also find out about the Green. The Green is an elemental force connecting all plant life, and Swamp Thing is the protector of the Green - he has to prevent humanity from devastating the foliage of the world. Not only that, in order to connect the current comics to The House of Secrets, there have been other defenders of the Green - Alex Olsen was one previous defender of the Green. As Swamp Thing protects the Green he gets his powers from it, and cannot be killed as long as plants exist. One time he managed to come back to life using tobacco leaves.
Moore's run further engaged with magic seeing the Swamp Thing becoming closer to Abby Arcane, so much so that they would become married. The foul-mouthed, Liverpudlian wizard John Constantine, whom Moore has claimed to have personally met, was introduced in issue 37; originally introduced as a way to explain Swamp Thing's status as a Plant Elemental, Constantine would become one of DC's best known magic users. We also have the Parliament of Trees - a group mind of former Plant Elementals, including former Swamp Things, who, once their time has ended, join this collective. Moore's run ended with issue 64 in 1987, and various other writers would take over including Doom Patrol's Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, the creator of Kingsman and Wanted. When the Vertigo imprint was created in 1993 to publish DC's darker stories Swamp Thing was moved there. The series ended with issue 171 when Swamp Thing became the master of all elementals.
Tefe Holland
The next volume of Swamp Thing came out in 2001 in a series written by Brian Vaughan, and drawn by Roger Peterson and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Instead of focusing on Holland, it instead focuses on his daughter Tefe. When Holland was believed dead the Parliament created a Sprout to form a new protector, but when he was found to be alive the Parliament decided to destroy the Sprout. Holland and Abby wanted the Sprout saved, so Constantine allowed Holland to take over his body to impregnate Abby with the Sprout. Tefe was born as a result - she was half-Elemental and half-human. While her parents hoped she could mend the divide between two worlds, or just lead a regular life, the Parliament wanted to use her to wipe out humanity for destroying the planet. Making things more complicated, Constantine had demon blood flowing through him at the time when Tefe was conceived so she also has demonic blood in her veins making it harder to control her powers. Initially ignorant of her powers and heritage, Tefe lost control at her prom when her boyfriend and best friend attempted to betray her. Her powers resulted in their deaths, and made Tefe go on a journey to find her origins. She eventually meets her father who had lost contact with the Green, and the next volume dealt with their lives in relation to the Green.
Brightest Day
Swamp Thing would not properly return until Brightest Day, but we need to quickly explain Blackest Night. In DC, there are the Lantern Corps representing different emotions connected to colours, and then a new one was introduced - the Black Lanterns of death. A representation of death, Nekron, used Black Lantern rings to resurrect dead heroes and villains in order to wipe out all life in the universe. He was defeated and a new corps was created - the White Lanterns of Life. Brightest Day focuses on the heroes who were fully resurrected by the White Lantern rings, and there was a specific story focusing on Swamp Thing. During the Blackest Night the Green had become corrupted, and now its protector no longer believed that it was Alec Holland; instead it viewed itself as being Nekron and had a new goal of wiping out all life. Constantine, however, enlisted the resurrected heroes to solve the issue. They needed a new Guardian Entity, so they resurrected Holland. Instead of being a mass of plants who thinks that it is Alec Holland, this new Swamp Thing was to be actually Holland. As a result, this new Swamp Thing's last memory was jumping on fire into the swamp. The new Swamp Thing destroyed the corrupted original, and began restoring dead regions of the world to life. Since then he has made a few appearances, but no major ones.
Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook, or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.
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| Constantine and Swamp Thing |
Tefe Holland
The next volume of Swamp Thing came out in 2001 in a series written by Brian Vaughan, and drawn by Roger Peterson and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Instead of focusing on Holland, it instead focuses on his daughter Tefe. When Holland was believed dead the Parliament created a Sprout to form a new protector, but when he was found to be alive the Parliament decided to destroy the Sprout. Holland and Abby wanted the Sprout saved, so Constantine allowed Holland to take over his body to impregnate Abby with the Sprout. Tefe was born as a result - she was half-Elemental and half-human. While her parents hoped she could mend the divide between two worlds, or just lead a regular life, the Parliament wanted to use her to wipe out humanity for destroying the planet. Making things more complicated, Constantine had demon blood flowing through him at the time when Tefe was conceived so she also has demonic blood in her veins making it harder to control her powers. Initially ignorant of her powers and heritage, Tefe lost control at her prom when her boyfriend and best friend attempted to betray her. Her powers resulted in their deaths, and made Tefe go on a journey to find her origins. She eventually meets her father who had lost contact with the Green, and the next volume dealt with their lives in relation to the Green.
Brightest Day
Swamp Thing would not properly return until Brightest Day, but we need to quickly explain Blackest Night. In DC, there are the Lantern Corps representing different emotions connected to colours, and then a new one was introduced - the Black Lanterns of death. A representation of death, Nekron, used Black Lantern rings to resurrect dead heroes and villains in order to wipe out all life in the universe. He was defeated and a new corps was created - the White Lanterns of Life. Brightest Day focuses on the heroes who were fully resurrected by the White Lantern rings, and there was a specific story focusing on Swamp Thing. During the Blackest Night the Green had become corrupted, and now its protector no longer believed that it was Alec Holland; instead it viewed itself as being Nekron and had a new goal of wiping out all life. Constantine, however, enlisted the resurrected heroes to solve the issue. They needed a new Guardian Entity, so they resurrected Holland. Instead of being a mass of plants who thinks that it is Alec Holland, this new Swamp Thing was to be actually Holland. As a result, this new Swamp Thing's last memory was jumping on fire into the swamp. The new Swamp Thing destroyed the corrupted original, and began restoring dead regions of the world to life. Since then he has made a few appearances, but no major ones.
Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook, or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.
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