Roots of the Swamp Thing

Swamp Thing‘s Beer Break

Published on May 12, 2020 by Roots of the Swamp ThingLeave a comment

Blandman #1 (1992)

Eclipse Comics takes a poke at DC/Vertigo’s poor sales and struggles with readership in this one-off spoof comic. The comic features a parody of Swamp Thing (Swamp Thug), John Constantine (Hellrazor), The Doom Patrol, Shade the Ch… you catch my drift.

The books creators, Fred Schiller, Bill Maus and Bob Hanon depict The Vertigo cast setting out to increase their sales. Dicey Comics (DC Comics) put the imprints characters in a home and they are ready to get out.

Constantine frantically ruminates while Swamp Thing assumes the booze drinking, laid-back type. Constantine wants his big break, he wants to be popular again.

Swampy and Constantine share a beer while reminiscing about their salad days. Even Abbygull Arcada and Alex Hollandaise make an appearance. Swampy references Melon Smore’s (Alan Moore) epic run and how his career dipped considerably once he departed as writer from the title.

While Constantine attempts to rope Swampy into one of his plans, Swamp Thing is seen with Woodstock from Peanuts. That is one of the stranger pairings I’ve seen Swampy in in some time.

Enjoying the last laugh, Swamp Thing lets John know he was on a fools errand.

A Mossy Friend Within The New Teen Titans

Published on April 20, 2020April 20, 2020 by Roots of the Swamp ThingLeave a comment

The New Teen Titans #22 (1986)
Interlude, Part Three: Friends & Foes

Swamp Thing doesn’t appear in this book, his name not even mentioned. But, John Constantine does have a cameo and he alludes to our “mossy friend”… atop George Washington’s head.

How does this all come to be?
Exposition time: Within Swamp Thing #49 “The Summoning” (1986), Constantine awakens/enables Steve Dayton’s (Mento from Doom Patrol) powers. Constantine convinces the frazzled/unstable Dayton to put on his Mento Helmet in an attempt to make contact with the spirit realm. The two panels below, from Swamp Thing #49, give you an idea of how things went with the helmet. The two panels also give context to Steve Dayton’s mental state going into The New Teen Titans #22.

losing your mind while witnessing what could be the beginning of the end of the world is not an ideal headspace when exacting revenge.

In the third part of The New Teen Titans #22, Cyborg and Garf are bonding over their struggles with being in the Titans. Cyborg also reaffirms his feelings toward Garf’s father, forgiving him for his actions and telling Garf not to blame himself.

Meanwhile in South Dakota, Steve Dayton-now assuming the role of Mento-waits for John Constantine. Sure Mount Rushmore is an odd place to hold a meeting but that doesn’t stop Dayton, who’s still wearing his Mento helmet… with a few loose screws.

“With my Mento helmet, I can flow with the currents, I can move within the molecules that make up everything.” Dayton bides his time by torturing Cyborg, manipulating him to kill his adopted son, Garfield Logan (Beast Boy).

As I mentioned, Dayton’s got a few screws loose.

Constantine finally arrives at Mount Rushmore, blaming his tardiness on Swamp Thing!
“held up with a rather mossy friend of mine.”

The two words, “mossy friend” is why I own this, The New Teen Titans #22. It’s not a Swamp Thing appearance nor is it a name drop. This is-yet again-the fun connective tissue that helps bind Swamp Thing’s canon together. It’s fun to see John’s animosity toward Swampy carry over into other books besides Swamp Thing & Hellblazer.

Although Swampy isn’t mentioned in the story, he did make the editors note!

Swamp Thing Lends an Arm in Guy Gardner: Warrior #29

Published on April 15, 2020 by Roots of the Swamp Thing2 Comments

Guy Gardner: Warrior #29 (1995)
It’s My Party and I’ll Fight If I Want To

Guy Gardner’s Warrior’s Bar is having its grand opening and it appears that ALL of DC showed up. To emphasize/celebrate the over the top event, this book is outfitted with a cover that opens up to the impending party. Guy’s Warrior’s Bar is open for business! Step right in…

The gathering is so large, even Darkseid heard about the shindig.

You’d think with the vast cast of characters present that Beau Smith (writer) & Phil Jimenez (pencils) were trying to set a record for most superheroes in a single issue. And amongst this enormous cast of characters lies an extremely small Swamp Thing appearance.

Did you miss it? Maybe I should have been more clear. This is less of a Swamp Thing appearance and more of a forearm cameo. In the above panel, on the left side, that’s Swampy’s arm. You could say the panel is an early Justice League Dark outing with Zatanna, Constantine and Swamp Thing making an appearance at Guy’s grand opening event. Below, I’ve included a detail taken from the digital version of this book for clarity purposes.

The party is short lived as various disturbances arise. Guy Gardner starts a fight with Captain Atom, Lobo crashes the party and a number of characters within the book sense a disturbance within the universe (or perhaps it’s the arrival of Dementor). The issue ends with a cliffhanger but continues in Action Comics #709.

Along with the never ending list of comic characters at Guy’s grand opening, Hollywood stars were also in attendance. Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone dropped by the opening to assess the professional competition. It appears that Warrior’s Bar is Planet Hollywood for Superheroes.

Flashback ’96 – Wizard 62, Swamp Thing on a Calendar

Published on April 13, 2020May 12, 2020 by Roots of the Swamp ThingLeave a comment

Wizard #62 – 1996

Flashback to 1996! Wizard Magazine is five years old and another Swamp Thing series comes to an end. October of 1996 saw the final issue of Swamp Thing series 2 with, #171 “Trial by Fire”. But that’s not why this book is Swamp Thing gold. Wizard #62 is special because it features a Swamp Thing parody image along with an article related to the NES game
74BA2DC6-9E70-4E4F-BC50-3C51C9FACC36

Within the magazine is a fold-out calendar and poster, Wizard’s 1996 “Spooky Calendar” to be exact. Swamp Thing and Batman start October strong, featured as the 1st day of the month. Highlighted in this parody panel is Alan Moore’s notable story, “The Garden of Earthly Delights” from Swamp Thing #53. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to write about that issue-and its surrounding story arc-but it’s one of the greatest Swampy arcs. It holds a special place in Swamp Thing fans’ hearts. It features one of many defining moments in Abigail & Swampy’s relationship. Swamp Thing also brings Gotham City to its knees and battles Batman.
3E81AB9B-E724-4785-AADE-B219DCCCE5E6

7F19FF5B-B2D6-4C07-93A3-AF2728465B62
“It’s a jungle out there! Alec visits Gotham City in Swamp Thing #53, October 1986” Swamp Thing looks on, unhappy while Batman begrudgingly cleans up Gotham City-post issue #53. Note: although the cover of Swamp Thing #53 reads October 1986, it was published on July 17, 1986.

The back of the Wizard “Spooky Calendar” features a poster of the Fantastic 4 by Jim Lee.
818D3272-9300-4801-9432-B4930CC6275E

On page 42, the staff of Wizard magazine casts Kingdom Come with acting greats. “Since Alex Ross painted these heroes to look like regular folks, it’d be a cinch to cast, so we did.” Quite a few of their pairings are dead on. I’ve included a couple of the pages below.
9CD9EE0F-B759-474C-BADC-CEA689A8011C 87272241-ADBA-4C39-AD17-9C4A8D272391 A7417D5D-B3F8-40FF-B2AB-5293BFFD7660

In the Drawing Board section of the book, Gill Sanchez won grand prize for his killer rendition of John Constantine. I searched for Gill on the internet and found that he illustrated the cover of The Elvis Files #1 in 2017. It’s great to see he is still working on comics.
CA7D526A-8D52-47C7-BA73-A1FF5476C05C

The Second piece of Swamp Thing goodness within this issue of Wizard is on page 193. In this segment of Junk Drawer Video Games, “DC Comics: A video Game Guide” features a blurb about the Swamp Thing video game.
1486B340-F2F9-4AE5-9072-711CD5E21DBE

It’s mentioned that an SNES and Genesis release may have been possible but the Swamp Thing video game was only available on the NES and Gameboy platforms. A version of the game was in development for Genesis but it never saw the light of day. You can play it though and as I wrote in a previous post, it’s much more fun than Nintendo’s versions.

If you have played the Swamp Thing video game, nothing you’ll read below is a surprise.
95483FA1-BAA2-4C6E-AF56-C1992A83BCC9

1FE8F19A-A546-4198-B283-07E37A3D486F

Digital to Analog: The 2017 Story That Almost Got Away

Published on April 10, 2020April 20, 2020 by Roots of the Swamp Thing2 Comments

Harley Quinn and Batman TPB – 2019

When I purchased the trade paperback, Batman and Harley Quinn in March of 2019 I was thrilled to see Swamp Thing, Poison Ivy and Floronic Man in one book. But, I was surprised in realizing that I’d never read the chapter in the book titled, “Floronic Man: The Judgment of the Green.” It’s the only chapter in the book to feature Swamp Thing and I was not familiar with it. I just assumed this book was a collected edition, comprised of previously published comics. So why couldn’t I find, “Floronic Man: The Judgment of the Green” as a single issue within my collection? I’m usually aware of upcoming Swamp Thing releases, acquiring any and all Swampy appearances as soon as they are released. This story had me buzzing with excitement to track it down!
50397085-A5F3-4C03-A035-41A2A4E3F3DA

A Swamp Thing story that may have flown below your radar (as it did mine) was released in a trade paperback in March of 2019. It might have gone unnoticed because-prior to the TPB-the story was only available in digital format and was originally released in November of 2017. I have quite the blind spot when it comes to digital comics. I prefer physical comics and as a completist, I’m usually focused on the physical format which lead me to completely space on this Swamp Thing story.

F99BBEF1-3186-400C-8A6A-9D73B5A7B7E3
Batman and Harley Quinn: the 136-page trade paperback collects chapters 1-5 of the digital comic series, “Harley Quinn and Batman“ and chapters 1-7 of the digital series, ”Batman and Harley Quinn” (November 2017). The digital series was created by Ty Templeton and Rick Burchett to act as a continuation to the Batman and Harley Quinn animated film from August 2017. The film featured a small Swamp Thing cameo making his appearance in this continued story arc even more exciting.

08B655AA-9CFC-4398-AB1C-D42D1B0788F7
Floronic Man: “The Judgment of the Green”, part 3 of 7 of Batman and Harley, is written by Matthew Dow Smith with art by Sandy Jarrell. In the story, Floronic Man has been summoned by the Parliament of Trees to be held accountable for his crimes against nature and humanity. Mistakenly, Woodrue thinks he has been brought before the Parliament to be commended for his acts against humans and for defending nature. Woodrue has upset the balance of the planet and the Parliament wish to restore it by eliminating Jason Woodrue.
7B065345-E5A6-4ADD-9D5E-F30841C39393 54ED155D-BF5A-4C9F-A5BE-5102448A33BF 09A8361A-85D5-47D5-BDDF-937023AD2828

Woodrue eludes the Parliament but is quickly confronted by Swamp Thing whose been tasked with returning him.
BD4ADBEB-590B-411B-B63B-4370FCD86D8E B87CB02A-2ACC-4F4A-89C3-0E4076908001

In typical fashion, Woodrue thinks he knows what is best for the Green. He gets so wrapped up in thinking he is Earth’s #1 candidate for avatar of the Green that he forgets who is actually in control of the Green.
8A33D8E5-94AF-40E5-9D58-635B1AB24175 1FCAA797-50C1-4432-83EB-E92D32FB75AA
The Parliament reclaims Jason Woodrue and judgement is served.

0FE9D93B-828E-4697-8C44-00A577327B6A
The dedication, “For Len” at the end of the story couldn’t be more fitting. The great, Len Wein passed in September of 2017. This digital comic was originally released 2 months later, in November. Len and Bernie are greatly missed. Enjoying and sharing Swamp Thing tales like this helps to remind and educate others of their greatness.

DC Comics Co-op Advertising Program Binder

Published on April 7, 2020April 15, 2020 by Roots of the Swamp ThingLeave a comment

DC Comics Co-op Advertising Program Binder – 1991

Friend and purveyor of all things comic books, John Nordstrom swung by the house (social distancing was indeed applied) to give me this fine DC marketing/advertising program. Since the virus is doing its damnedest across the globe, Nordstrom had time to root through some of his items in storage. He was pleased as punch to find a little bit of Swamp Thing within the DC Advertising Program. I was even more pleased to take it off his hands! Although I had never seen the DC Program binder before, I was familiar with the Swamp Thing appearance within it.
gasss

Front cover of binder
A007CE40-246E-494C-AA58-8CFB8EE87FA3

The program came with 2 DC Co-op Pre-Authorization Forms, the business card of then DC Marketing Representative, Christine Maturo and 22 pages of advertising information. Sure the ad info isn’t all that entertaining but the artwork involved in the layouts is pretty cool! I’ve included photos of various pages from the program, below.
E8CBF933-7753-4844-9531-59C921FAB761

47DF0742-7605-49AB-9E8D-505BA7655260

70AE3D85-7311-41AE-A671-A2E3DB606F4B

3C3D07B6-794E-4707-AF71-C5FEFA6722F6

BB1E6F0F-8511-497A-B6E1-FCD395E88484

The binder is broken-up into 4 sections: The “Dear Retailer” letter, “General Information”, “Ad Slicks” and “Yellow Pages”. All but the “Dear Retailer” letter feature special binder tabs. My favorite portion of this binder is the Yellow Pages. That’s where the Swamp Thing lies.
C0F9821E-1430-47B4-B978-D95353DA8AE1

Within the various Yellow Pages ad examples, Swamp Thing can be found on the right, interior page.
96F9CE8E-88B3-45F1-A186-C3D568CEC4C6

Four years ago I stumbled upon the same Yellow Pages insert page from the binder. I thought it was a one and done item. I wrote about it here with more detailed photos. Four years later I now know where the inert belongs, pages 19-22 of the DC Comics Co-op Advertising Program binder!
gasss

Back binder cover
DBB00782-24E7-44B8-835E-5407E41E4775

Global Comic Safari

Published on March 5, 2020April 13, 2020 by Roots of the Swamp ThingLeave a comment

Matt from Foreign Comic Collectors Magazine (FCC) contacted me this past weekend to ask if he could use images from my website for his latest episode of Global Comic Safari. Having a hefty collection of non-US Swamp Thing books, I was happy to oblige. In their new episode, Matt and Jon Z (of CBSI) look at international comics featuring Bernie Wrightson & Len Wein’s classic, Swamp Thing #1. The comics feature some beautiful variations from Mexico, France and beyond. Matt also discusses the different styles and sizes that publisher, Navaro (Mexico) used in publishing the comics.

Jon Z is a member of the Tales from the Flipside Podcast team as well as a contributor to comicbookinvest.com

Matt is a foreign comic fanatic and a founder of the Foreign Comic Collector Magazine. You can join the Here

Follow Matt & Jon on Instagram
Matt @Define999
Jon Z @ComicsaretheNorm