Ancient Astronauts #7 (Vol 4) August 1978

This fantastic swipe/homage to Bernie Wrightson’s House of Secrets 92 was published in 1978 but was brought to my attention last week. It was like a hidden treasure within Swamp Thing’s history. Unlike House of Secrets 92 where Swamp Thing lurked behind Linda Ridge, this illustration features two Swamp Thing space men! I wonder if Louise Simonson knows about this tribute to her likeness.

The Swampy appearance can be found within Ancient Astronauts #7. I was fortunate enough to find a copy on EBay. I did have to purchase a lot of 8 issues of Ancient Astronauts to obtain the Swamp Thing sighting in #7 but it was well worth it.

The Swampy appearance comes by way of an article about aliens and skin complexion. It’s a random yet delightful sight. This magazine is full of bizarre and funny articles. I’m not sure if all of the content is meant to be funny. Below is the spread for, “Beware of Strange Skin Blemishes.” I believe the House of Secrets 92 homage was illustrated by either, Gene Day or Clifford Spencer. Gene Day illustrated a number of pieces of art throughout this magazine but he typically signed his work.

The above Swamp Thing astronauts sighting reminded me of another spacey scenario involving Swampy. If you were reading Batman in 2014, you may have come across this awesome Swamp Thing preview in the back of Batman #33.

The preview/advertisement appeared in other DC comics published around September of 2014. The spread outlined some of the plans DC had for Swampy going into 2015. All books/story arcs mentioned came to fruition except one. As Matt Idelson wrote, “one of those four scenarios isn’t real.” As you can guess, Swamp Thing #38 “In Space, No One Can Hear You Grow” was the odd one out. It never was a real story but it sure is fun to see Swamp Thing in a space suit and helmet. For more serious space Swamp Thing content, see Alan Moore’s issue #60.

Below is the ad write-up by Matt Idelson.

Swamp Thing #38 ended up being titled, “Decompilation” and was released in March of 2015. Swamp Thing did not battle mice in space within that book.

Circling back to Ancient Astronauts #7, below are some of the fun articles from the magazine.