The Saga of the Swamp Thing 5 (1982)
The Screams of Hungry Flesh
It’s been a busy, Swampy filled month so far. New books and collectibles have sidetracked me a bit from keeping up with posting Swamp Thing’s chronology. The tiny Swamp Thing cameos in the Convergence books have been fun to keep up with and it’s nice to see Len Wein writing Swampy again.

I’m currently finalizing a Swamp Thing costume for O Con, a local comic book convention out of Omaha, Nebraska. The convention runs May 29-31, and this will be my first attempt at putting together a Swamp Thing outfit. I’ll post pictures at the end of the month. Now, back to series two…

In SOTST #4, we last saw Swamp Thing being loaded into an ambulance after taking on a crazed, murderous demon.

Out of the fire and into the frying pan. Swamp Thing is heading back into the hands of Sunderland Corp thanks to Liz Tremayne.

Liz has been portrayed as a cold-hearted reporter with a big head up to this point. She becomes a much more appealing character once Moore takes over.

Back at the Barclay Clinic, in an undisclosed location within the Black Hills of South Dakota. Swamp Thing is about to get a mega dose of sedative.

His beady eyes explain it all.

Harry Kay has emerged from the burning rubble, looking as if Dr Zoidberg and an Ugnaught got together and had a child.

It took Kay a couple days to find a dime and a phone but his healing powers take only a phone call to return to his normal self.

Barclay and Swampy hit it off with some touching and healing. Barclay gives Swampy the rundown on the facility and they exchange backstories. Swampy plants a seed of doubt in Barclay’s perception of his namesake clinic, the Sunderland Corp and Harry Kay.

Swamp Thing origin story panel! Like Pee-wee’s playhouse, if ST had a word of the day type celebratory cheer, it would involve his origin story. I wonder which comic character has the most origin story appearances.

A great example of Swampy’s brute force. I love the energy of the door and knob being pulled apart.

Swamp Thing escapes from his room/cell to follow what sounds like screaming. What he finds is another locked door!

I didn’t bother to count how many doors were broken in the course of this book but I think we are up to three, counting the ambulance door he destroys at the beginning (not pictured).

Barclay and Tremayne have been talking about the dubious nature/activity of Sunderland Corp and Harry Kay. The two quickly come to Swamp Thing’s defense.

Liz Tremayne with the sneaky, behind the back pass. It does not read, “we should swing by Mount Rushmore on the way home.”

Harry Kay and his naked, pink friends party?

Kay does a great job of explaining why he is torturing pink, test tube clones. Barclay is told he never had powers and that the empathic receptors have been taking the pain and doing the work the whole time. Naturally, Swamp Thing chokes Kay and destroys the basement stairs giving Kay and his goons a leg up on getting away.

Or does he? I love how – in the above panel – Swampy, Liz and Barclay escape out the back while Kay and his goons escape out the front. I’m willing to bet Swamp Thing broke another door while escaping.

It’s a sad day for the Barclay Clinic security guards but they got what was coming to them. The pink clones do their worst while Kay flies off in a helicopter. The clones mention that they have the ability to reverse the empathic connection which means that Harry Kay’s clone should be able to hurt Harry enough to make him crash. Stay tuned, more on Harry Kay in future issues.

Liz, Swamp Thing and Barclay hit the road; first stop, Mount Rushmore!

Another Phantom Stranger book story in the back of the book.

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Sgt Shark’s cleft chin has a cleft chin.