Category: Articles

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #36: “The Nuke-Face Papers, Part 2”

Swamp Thing 35 was part 1 of The Nuke-Face Papers storyline. The book introduced the effects the Lombard Coal Mine (in Pennsylvania) had on the environment by dumping toxic waste. A former mine employee named, Bob took to drinking the toxic waste as if it were alcohol. He was given the nickname Nuke-Face. He’s made his way down to Louisiana, destroying everyone he comes in contact with. Unfortunately Swamp Thing was one of the last to see Bob. At the beginning of Swamp Thing 36, we find Swamp Thing in rough shape.

Dreaming of Abby, Swamp Thing rots away the whole night and into the following day. The effects of Bob’s toxic waste has him struggling for his life.

Abby finds Swamp Thing and is terrified by the sight of him rotting away. He tells her that he plans to rebuild another body before dying but isn’t sure how long it will take, or if they’ll ever see each other again.

Wallace Monroe is being haunted by his past. The role he played in the Lombard Coal Mine dumping in Pennsylvania and elsewhere has caught up with him and it’s destroying his life and family. He hears children chanting the familiar name, Nuke Face. The kids back in Pennsylvania did the same thing.  Continue reading “The Nuke-Face Papers, Part 2” →

Black Orchid #17 (January 1995)

Unfortunately I won’t be writing about this Black Orchid story. Instead, I’m excited to share with you the fun promotional Swamp Thing trading card that was included within the book. It’s certainly not a Swamp Thing appearance but a fun promo collectible. I keep the book listed on my ads page so it’s often overlooked.

John Mueller was the artist in charge of depicting Alec Holland and Swampy for this card. You probably remember Mueller illustrating most of the covers in the 1994 Swamp Thing series. He created 9 Swampy covers in all. All of them were for the Morrison/Millar/Hester era of Swampy.

As part of a promotional campaign for the 1994 Vertigo trading cards by Skybox, this Swamp Thing card was featured as an insert in The Black Orchid #17. It’s a pretty fun addition to an already good comic (Black Orchid). The promo card number/identifier is SP1, which is indicated on the back of the card. John Constantine is featured on promo card SP2, and Sandman is on SP3. Continue reading “Black Orchid #17 Swamp Thing Promo Card” →

I’ve been meaning to post this beautiful 15″ x 30″ print for some time now. Rearranging the Swamp Thing room provided the perfect opportunity to do so.

Swamp Thing is looking pungent smelling, surrounded by some flies. Phantom Stranger doesn’t seem phased, but Martian Manhunter appears to be struggling.

The art jam was created in conjunction with a deluxe, hardcover-version of the History of the DC Universe book. It was included in the book as a gatefold. The eclectic crowd of DC characters were illustrated by some of the top artists and creators. The art was used to produce the 15″ x 30″ print that I’m holding in the photo above. DC distributed a postcard providing the opportunity to send away for the rolled poster. I was able to procure this limited, mail-away, 1 of 10,000 poster from my good friend John Nordstrom.

John Totleben and Stephen Bissette provided the Swamp Thing illustration.

Continue reading “The Gang is All Here in ’87 – Limited DC History Print” →

Happy World Environment Day everyone! I hope you all are doing well. I’m excited to announce the winners of the rootsoftheswampthing.com 6,000 Followers Giveaway. Over 130 people participated in the Giveaway and I’m so thankful for your fun responses. I encourage you to read fellow Swamp Thing fans discussing their favorite Swampy books/appearances, here.

The entries were selected at random as you can see in the video above.
1st place Winner of a box of Swamp Thing collectibles is: Ryan Spahr
2nd Place Winner of 2 issues of Holland Files Fanzine is: capeversesam
3rd Place Winner of 2 issues of Holland Files Fanzine is: Alan (Doom Wizard)

Below are their entries for the giveaway. You can read all of the entries, here.

Thank you so much for visiting the site and for following my Instagram account. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Holland Files, the Swamp Thing fanzine, email me at hollandfileszine@gmail.com

This week we celebrated Swamp Thing’s 50th birthday by hosting a virtual birthday party. Next week I’ll be continuing the festivities by holding a great big Swamp Thing giveaway!

As a thank you to all those who visit this site and its corresponding social media avenues, I’ll be giving one lucky person a great big care package of Swamp Thing goodness. The giveaway will include Swamp Thing comics, Holland Files fanzines, Swamp Thing collectibles, a Swamp Thing Fanclub mug and more! To spread the cheer, 2 other lucky people will be randomly selected to receive copies of the Holland Files Swamp Thing fanzine.

How do you enter to win all this Swamptastic stuff? All you need to do  is comment on this post. Let me know your favorite story/book that Swamp Thing has appeared in. I’ll be picking the 3 winners Saturday,  June 5th on World Environment Day. Be sure to visit this site next Saturday for the list of winners. Thank you so much for swinging by and I can’t wait to read your fun answers. Swamp Thing has a long history of fantastic appearances to draw from.

Thank you Len Wein & Bernie Wrightson. Last night was a birthday party for the history books! Christine Valada (Len Wein’s wife), Stephen R. Bissette, Phil Hester, Nancy Collins, Bernie Wrightson’s sons (John & Jeff), Joshua Dysart, Stuart Moore and many more expressed their gratitude and birthday wishes to Swamp Thing for his 50th birthday. It was so wonderful to spend time with fellow Swampy fans, celebrating the character. I can’t thank the Grail Keepers Podcast enough for helping to host the show. The idea to host a Swamp Thing birthday party started as a small concept but quickly blossomed into a virtual, community celebration. Like a ripple effect, It’s been exciting to see many Swamp Thing fans join in on the birthday wishes on various social media platforms. Even though Swamp Thing’s 50th birthday party was live last night, you can still catch all the excitement on YouTube, here!

In coordinating the birthday party, I contacted the various participants for Swamp Thing’s video birthday card. It was a thrill to speak with so many big names in comic book history. I’m fortunate to know most of them because of Holland Files, and naturally crossing paths being a Swampy fan. I’m extremely grateful that so many people took time out of their schedules to wish Swamp Thing a happy birthday. I owe a special thank you to Tom Kleve for arranging John Wrightson’s video. I edited the birthday video submissions and am honored to share the results with you, below. 

The Swamp Thing birthday show was a wonderful reminder of how great Swamp Thing fans are. Hearing sentimental and fun stories regarding how the character changed peoples lives was really special. The birthday party inspired an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the wonderful experiences and the people I’ve met by being a fan of the character. It also reminded me to take time to say, “thank you” to everyone who visits my site, rootsoftheswampthing.com. I greatly appreciate your passion for Swamp Thing and am glad this site can be a place to love and learn about the character.

Join me and the Grail Keepers Podcast in celebrating Swampy’s 50th. We’re excited to chat live with fellow Swamp Thing. Fans, and hear from Swamp Thing’s family and old friends. Joshua Dysart, Nancy Collins, Stephen Bissette, Christine Valada, John Wrightson and more will be wishing Swamp Thing a happy birthday. 

Swamp Thing’s 50th Birthday Party is this Tuesday, May 25th at 9pm CST, live on YouTube. The party is presented by The Grail Keepers Podcast and this site, rootsoftheswampthing.com. The show will be live on YouTube, here. 

Selecōs N° 213 “Swamp Thing!” – May 1979

A little over a month ago, Dallis (@ozark_comics) from The Grail Keepers Podcast let me know that Selecōs N° 213 was on eBay. I about fell out of my chair with excitement. I bought it immediately, thrilled to share it with all of you wonderful people. The Portuguese book features an original Swamp Thing cover and I’ve been looking for it for a number of years. After a month of waiting by the mailbox it arrived!

I’m always thrilled to find a cover where Swamp Thing is being reinterpreted. Usually a title page is used as a cover in place of the originally published DC Swamp Thing covers. Few and far between are the completely original covers, but they usually relate to the featured Swamp Thing story within its pages. Not long ago, I was able to track down a Hindi book that featured a fantastic cover and original story. The Australian Murray books are among my favorite reinterpreted covers 1, 2. These two Swedish edition covers are great 1, 2. As well as this German cover. This is turning into a covers gallery so I’ll get on with it.

The Selecōs N° 213 cover artist appears to be named Enetto. I love Enetto’s illustration depicting the action from Swamp Thing #4 “Monster on the Moors” (May 1973). As you can guess, this book reprints the story of Swamp Thing’s misadventures on the moors. The cover appears to be a reinterpretation of one of the panels from the story. Enneto proudly defines Swamp Thing’s butt. I’ve paired the two images below. Unfortunately I was not able to find information about the artist. The book measures 16.5 cm x 23.5 cm.

Below are a few of the interior pages. I always love seeing Bernie Wrightson’s artwork in black and white. The detail is fantastic.

I tried to capture a clear image of the publishing info below. This book was published in May, 1979.

The gentleman with the pencil thin mustache on the cover of this book doesn’t appear in Swamp Thing #4. But, he is the featured character in the backup story, “Fire Ball.” I haven’t translated the story but he seems like quite the action hero. I bet he and Matt Cable would be fast friends.

Below is a photo of the back cover.

Superman The Man of Steel #104 “Bounty: Man of Steel – No Axioms” (September 2000)

In this issue, Superman & Swamp Thing pass each other like two ships in the night. Swampy only shows up in one panel but he looks great. Doug Mahnke is on pencils. Tom Nguyen and John McCrea are the inkers.

Superman and Swamp Thing are aboard the S.S. Arkham. The flying detainment facility is dubbed the UFO of irrationality. Superman is being detained for being rational.

After his evaluation from Dr Skizm, Superman is sent to the rational ward of the UFO. It’s where the “perverts—your fellow scientists and skeptical scum” are held.

While pondering his conundrum, Superman wonders the rational ward. While doing so, he passes Swamp Thing whose getting advice.

Two inmates suggest to Swamp Thing that he try aromatherapy and psychotherapy (rebirthing) for what ails him. The rebirthing suggestion is funny, knowing that Swamp Thing can regrow himself anywhere he pleases.

This Swampy cameo is surely an appearance for fun and doesn’t affect Swamp Thing continuity. This book was published the same month as, Swamp Thing #5 “Burning Down the House” (Series 3). At this time, Swampy was taking a break from the comic book kingdom for the most part. Around this time, he only showed up in brief cameos and books based on Elseworld stories. You can reference the Vertigo Era: ’93-’10 appearance list, here.

 But, it would be fun to imagine how and why Swamp Thing would allow himself to be held captive on the ship.