Last month marked the two year anniversary of RootsOfTheSwampThing.com and I am extremely proud of what I’ve accomplished in the past year. Compared to year one, I’ve reached out to numerous fellow Swampy fans and many Swampy fans have reached out to me. The network of fellow fans I’m in contact with has grown quite a bit making this Swampy world feel a lot smaller. I’m extremely thankful for everyone who has stopped by the site and those who’ve shared the website with others.
2016 will be filled with some really great Swamp Thing related events and releases. The Wein and Jones mini-series is off to a great start and I’m excited to see where they take it. There are rumblings of a Swamp Thing appearance in a feature film on the horizon and I’ve begun work on an international Swamp Thing fanzine. The zine will involve contributors from around the world, from 12 different countries. So far Bernie Wrightson, Rick Veitch, Nancy A Collins, Kim DeMulder, Bill Munns, Jen Vaughn, Rich Handley, Daniel Emery Taylor and many more are contributing by way of illustrations, interviews and articles. It’s shaping up to be a really special debut release. Barring any hiccups, I’m hoping to have the fanzine produced and ready to ship by June. Another fantastic, upcoming event is in April. I’ve been asked to host a Swamp Thing panel as well as exhibit my Swamp Thing collection at SiouxperCon. SiouxperCon is a Sioux Falls, SD based comic convention held April 15-17. It is their debut year and I am very excited to participate. Swampy friend Phil Hester will be sitting in on my panel and I am thrilled at the opportunity to exhibit my collection on the convention floor. There will be plenty of Swamp Thing information going around for new and old fans alike. Now, for some movie props!

Last month I picked up some screen-used Return of Swamp Thing props. Also included were candid photos from the set and other random ephemera. Most of the major items came with signatures. The items were acquired from a man that was on the set and later restored the Arcane Corp Jeep that exploded in the movie. It is a really great lot of items and they are detailed below.

The Return of Swamp Thing Production Sign
It looks like a bumper sticker but I heard from Daniel Emery Taylor (the young redheaded actor from the movie) that the stickers were used as signage during production. I love the homespun look of the sticker.

A husky portion of screen-used Swamp Thing suit!
The piece of suit arrived within a shadowbox style frame along with a news clipping. I’m over the moon to have this in my collection. I obtained a couple small pieces of screen-used Swampy suit last year but nothing like this. I’m thrilled to see the zipper still attached along with a large chunk of the root. I plan to pull together the movie stills I’ve accumulated and try to find exactly where on the suit the piece came from. The Return of Swamp Thing suit was designed by Carl Fullerton and Neal Martz. Fullerton’s signature is included in the shadowbox along with all the other cool items.

I obtained a couple small pieces of screen-used Swampy suit last year. More information on those items can be found here.

Suit Detail

Arcane Corporation Vehicle Decal
The decal was used in the movie, on one of the Arcane Corp Jeeps. The sticker measures, roughly, 12″ x 12″. Since taking these photos, I carefully removed all times from their frames and replaced the frames. No more cracks, no more non-archival materials mucking up these wonderful items.

Brick Prop and Set Photos
One of the items in the lot was a frame with 3 candid, on-set photos along with a fake brick from the set of Arcane’s laboratory attached to the glass. The brick was easy to remove since the glue that was used to adhere it to the glass had dried up for the most part. I removed all of the items from the frames to replace the frames and was extremely exited to find notes on each photo. The notes on the back of the photos detail where the pictures were taken, on set and geographically, within Savannah, GA where the movie was filmed (and I’m from).

detail:
I’d imagine the fake brick is made of some sort of asbestos based material. I’m really hoping that the hole in the fake brick is from a squib but I’m pretty sure it’s from a nail.

Collage
One of the items in the lot of Swampy props was a framed collage. The collage included more candid set photos, the above mentioned production sign and a couple clippings from newspapers and a magazine.

Dick Durock holding Heather Locklear
I was sure that Durock was holding a mannequin but when I removed the items from the frame for a closer look, the notes on the back of the photo clearly indicate that Durock is holding Heather Locklear. This was a really neat find.

Durock with the production crew

A Newspaper clipping from one of the papers in Savannah. I believe it’s from the Savannah Morning News but I’m not positive.

The Novelization of The Return of Swamp Thing
The last item in the lot is an autographed copy of the novelization of The Return of Swamp Thing. I have a few Dick Durock autographs and I’ve had this particular book for sometime but now both worlds collide in a magnificent explosion, dedicated to Voan or Loan, maybe Joan? I’m not sure which but Durock is sure to mention that she has “a nice son too”. that last bit really made me laugh. It seems like it would be an uncomfortable moment,trying to come up with something to write.