Category: Parody

Normalman 7 (1985)
Who Killed Sgt. Fluffy This Time?

Jim Valentino‘s creator-owned super-hero parody chronicles the trials and tribulations of, normalman, a normal man living in a wacky world of superheroes.

“Meanwhile, in the toidy-toid century…” role is being called.

This series is full of parody superhero and comic strip characters from all over (DC, Marvel, Vertigo, Aardvark, your local newspaper, etc.). Of the 12 issues in the normalman series, Swamp Thing made the roster in only one. If you read quickly you might even miss him.

This comic is ideal for those moments when you’re pondering, “did Swamp Thing ever appear in/with your favorite character here?”

…Charlie Brown, Kermit the Frog, Popeye, Beatle Bailey, Alfred E Neuman, Spider-Man, Darth… the list of characters in this book is endless. It’s an honor to see our favorite muck-monster.

Spook House 2 #1 (2018)

Halloween is quickly approaching and it’s nice to have great stories to heighten the season. With all the spooky books that have been coming out, it’s clear that Kyle Hotz has been taking the Swamp Thing flag and running with it. Earlier this month, Hotz teamed up with Tim Seeley to deliver “The Spread”, a terrifying short story within Cursed Comics Cavalcade #1. In this issue of the second volume of Spook House, Eric Powell & Kyle Hotz pay homage to Len Wein & Bernie Wrightson in the form of “The Crud Kid”!

“Dedicated with respect and admiration to the memories of Bernie Wrightson and Len Wein”

“The Crud Kid” is a short story exploring the origins of a Swamp Thing parody character. Tom always daydreams of his favorite place in the world and every second of the day, he wants to return to the swamp.

Through a series of unfortunate events, Tom finds himself running through the swamp to save his hide. He comes upon an old cabin inhabited by a witch. Trying to find safety, Tom breaks through the witches door. The witch puts a curse on him.

Like Alec Holland, Tom seeks to find relief from the pain, running to the waters of the murky swamp. And, much like Alec Holland, Tom emerges from the swamp…

a muck encrusted mockery of a… child.
But unlike Alec, Tom couldn’t be happier.
I’d like to think he lives happily ever after.

Dad is a Super Hero (2018)

Swamp Thing popped up in the Father’s Day book, “Dad is a Super Hero” from Hallmark Gift Books earlier this year. Swamp Thing appears alongside various DC superheroes like Batman, Flash, Superman, Aquaman, etc.

I snapped a few photos of my favorite pages, below.
… it’s an 80-page Father’s Day card.

To order the book, visit Hallmark here.

Monster In My Pocket 4 (1991)

Farewell Swamp Beast. You lasted only four issues but we love you just the same. Last month I wrote about Monster In My Pocket #3, which features a Swamp Thing parody character. Swamp Beast lived on for one more issue before falling to pieces.

It’s time to play and the monsters are like fish in a barrel—or monsters in Barbie’s dream house. The Monsters scramble to avoid being chosen for playtime torture but Swamp Beast doesn’t act quick enough.

Dismayed by Swamp Beast’s consistency, it’s in the easy-bake oven he goes! The other monsters look on in horror as the child bakes Swamp Beast.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, crispy Swamp Beast is removed from the oven and dropped on the floor!

Fear not, Swamp Beast gets the last word in. Even though we’ll never find out, it appears water may help to rehydrate Swamp Beast.

Fables 15 (2003)
Storybook Romance Part 2 of 4

Storybook romance may not exist but a Swamp Thing parody sure does; on the first page in fact.

Boy Blue, Trusty John and Flycatcher picked up some new comics and Boy Blue appears to have found a great book.

The group discusses Bigby and Snow White’s current situation, being stranded in the woods. They don’t mention their comic book finds. Unfortunately Stalk Thing doesn’t appear further within the book so that’s all for now! Thank you for stopping by.

Monster in My Pocket 3 (1991)
Script: Dwayne McDuffie
Art: Gil Kane

This fantastic Swamp Thing parody is made possible by the miniature monsters of childrens toy fame, Monster in My Pocket. Don’t let the Man-Thing looking face tendrils fool ya, Swamp Beast has similar powers to Swamp Thing.
The comic series follows a group of pocket-sized monsters, mixing-it-up within a life-sized world where the smallest of items could prove perilous. The Monster in My Pocket franchise was vast, involving comic books, trading cards, books, toys, boardgame, video game, an animated special, music, clothing and much more. The Monster in My Pocket series only lasted for 4 issues.

Among the various monsters within the Monsters in My Pocket toy line, Swamp Beast is the muck-monster that carries the torch for those that came before him; The Heap, Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, etc. or you could think of Swamp Beast as a no-good, rotten, rip-off. Below is Swamp Beast’s bio. You’ll notice some similarities with our Swampy.

“His origin is shrouded in mystery, but some say he was once human. Swamp Beast is known to be the protector and personification of all slimy things on earth. His preferred environment is the swamps, but he can show up anywhere there is slime. Swamp Beast is composed entirely of slime and has total control of all things slimy. He can change the shape and size of his body or construct and control multiple copies of himself. He also smells pretty bad.”

Chapter 3 “Swamp Beast” is the muck-man’s time to shine. We get to see Swamp Beast flex his muscle and use his powers.

Like the bio, his moment of realization echoes the abilities of Swamp Thing.

Swamp Beast summons and harnesses the power of the slime, he multiplies to confuse and trap the dinosaur. he’s looking a lot like Swampy.

Each issue in the series features a centerfold poster-much like a checklist-of  MIMP characters.

Cracked Monster Party! #7 (1989)

In another installment of “sneaking into the covers”, Cracked’s Sylvester P Smythe gets the ‘ol Swamp Thing treatment on the backside.

Back cover:

This fantastic parody of Swamp Thing has been eluding me for over 5 years. When out of town or visiting friends, I’d always take time to ask comic shops if they had any Monster Party books. The typical answer was, “no”. I’ve kept many a friend waiting an inappropriately long time, digging through old long boxes stuffed with magazines like Starlog, Mad, Cracked, Fantastic Films, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Eerie, Fangoria, etc; looking for this book. It’s a thrill to finally find it.

front cover:

Underdog 6 (1975)
“The Mop-Thing”

It took me a little while but I finally tracked down this fantastic Swamp Thing parody within Underdog 6.

One of a few stories within this comic is, “The Mop-Thing!”. The story tells the tale of the Swamp Thing-like muck monster with “hideous strength and horrifying stench”.

Underdog ventured down to the bayou for a vacation but instead gets a history lesson in Mop-Thing. Similar to Alec Holland’s fate, a “brilliant research scientist” meets his fate in the swamp, covered in his own ingenious “soda pop or fantastic new hair tonic”.

The swamp monster ends up making his way into town and after a little confusion, he lands a deal with a movie agent!

The Death of Stupidman (1993)

The hunt for any and all things Swamp Thing -no matter how crazy or great- is a never ending job. This oddball parody book serves as the perfect example. I found it while rooting through some Long boxes looking for Super Friends (1976) books.

All of the characters in the book seem to be “stupidheroes” but I can’t imagine they’d call Swampy, “Stupid Thing”! …of course they wouldn’t.

Unfortunately Stupid Thing doesn’t appear in the book. The story parodies Doomsday and Superman’s epic battle to the end.

It’s not a very big book but it contains some funny gems like the series of panels below.