Hi boy and Girls, today were going on an anatomy lesson. a very important comics book character and RUN gets a spotlight from me. Today my first big Alan Moore Coverage that isn't me recommending smaller works or Watchmen bitching, Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing was a a cult character at DC, created for a one shot horror story in house of secrets the one shot was reworked into an ongoing series changing the name of the character from Alex Olsen to Alec Holland and moving the time frame.

Now the original Swamp Thing stories are nothing new for the time, even now this type of character pops up Alec become a monster and MUST NO SEARCH A WAY TO CURE HIMSELF. This caused the book to get stale really quickly though.

But I will say it's worth it to go back to the old stories with Arcane and Abby, if only for the amazing Bernie Wrightson art, it's not as experimental as the Moore run but the run shows a lot of potential.

Let's talk about weird shit, Swamp Thing was cancelled, but he somehow early got interest from Hollywood. This allowed for his comic to come back in a new ongoing, the movie directed by West Craven, so Swamp Thing got a movie, before the Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.

Now Swamp thing got into the same rut again so Len Wein decided to try out a new writer for the comic a British dude named Alan Moore, Moore identified the problem and so decided to write it out and create a retcon MOST writers wish they could have thought of.

Issue 20 was used to close out loose ends from the previous creators and set up his new run for the character and the issue ends with Swamp Thing dying and the next is where the run really begins.

the first thing Alan does and it will be a consistent theme of the run is dust off a lot of characters who didn't tend to get a lot of spotlight at the time, in this case the Foloronic Man. A Justice League villain. He is brought in to Dissect Alec.

As Jason dissects Alec we begin to get the first MAJOR part of the retcon, Alec was never human he was a plant who THOUGHT he was Alec Holland and absorbed his memories taking away the hope that he would ever become human, this would change his entire direction.

Alec finds out after coming back to life, and this sends him into a rage, after it''s all said and done, this one of the few comics that really did make, NOTHING WOULD BE THE SAME AGAIN and HAVE IT STICK!

Gone was the search for the cure stories, now Swamp Thing would become an experimental horror superhero comic. People might not like me calling him a superhero, but he still has antagonists, fights to protect his loved ones and use his powers to solve things, GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.

As the Arc goes on Swamp Thing comes to accept it not quickly but it's given enough time to allow him to move on and set up a new status quo meanwhile Floronic Man becomes OBSESSED with the Green an element that will become much bigger in the run.

This has him become an antagonist and he tries to kill all HUMANS but one thing I like about this run? Alan doesn't just go humans bad plants good, Swamp Thing points out plants need humans, and how he went too far. Setting up Swamp Thing as a guardian of balance.

There is a lot to talk about for one Abby his love interest in the beginning of the run she is married to Matt Cable and we will GET TO HIM, because he's become a bigger character later. Not in Swamp Thing though. But at this point the marriage is on the rocks.

The end of the arc is a grand beginning to the run, this run would go on to INSPIRE many character portrayals, great comics run, and many creators. Swamp Thing to me is slightly more Important then Watchmen, Watchmen is the popular one.

People talk about Wathcmen in terms of oh look at how dark heroes got after it, but you can FIND SO MANY EARLY EXAMPLES OF THAT TREND, but Swamp Thing kind of set the standard for comic writing in terms of modern runs and pushed the envelope on what was okay at the time.

So to me Swamp Thing is slightly more important book, besides it influenced is so heavy on another major book that it's impossible to talk about it without this run being brought up to me.

Anyway let's get to the Major things it introduced I don't like doing summaries of every thing, so this is going to cover major moments and guest throughout the run, I would say PLEASE READ IT IF YOU HAVE NOT. Now let's get to Matt Cable.

Matt's dies in the run after succumbing to his darker nature and being corrupted by Anton Arcane, but this would not be his last story he eventually became Matthew the Raven the assistant and confident to Morpheus in the Sandman. Yeah. THIS IS DEEP LORE SHIT.

Alan Moore also made popular and EXPLAINED the rhyming version of Jack Kirby's the demon, before this it has shown up in some stories but he explained it and it became a unique rank for demon in hell from then on.

Because of this he introduced the version of Hell that is commonly seen in DC even today, and later writers like Neil would expand on this work.

Issue 31 would also be an important COMIC to the industry one of the first mainstream books to Completely abandon the Comics Code seal. This meant that Swamp Thing was going to be marketed from now on to mature readers. This change would eventually lead to Vertigo as a imprint.

Issue 33 would introduce another set of classic DC characters Cain and Able a set of DC comics horror hosts this is the first time they kind of appeared in mainstream canon. They would go on to become major supporting character in Sandman. I might be saying Sandman a lot.

You see Able is the host of House of Secrets, the comic Swamp Thing first showed up in, this connection allowed to make CANON the Alex Olsen version and make him on of the first Swamp Thing bringing together a whole bunch of plots.

Side tangent this also would be major on other DC characters, for one Solomon Grundy would get retcon later as a FAILED attempt to make a new Swamp Thing, and connect him to that mythos as well but he's not the only one...will get to them.

Of course I can't talk about this run with out mentioning the Sex scene issue. So Abby eat a potato from Swamp Thing and they essentially fuck. It's a tripy issue and a very good indicator of how far Moore would push boundaries, this was a higly controversial issue way back when.

Issue 37 introduced some schmuck named John Constantine, who I'm sure is not important in anyway and I will never do a thread about ever, I mean it's not like he would go on to become a major DC character or something, a character Alan Moore wrote so he could write Sting in.

John would go on to introduce the idea that Swamp Thing is an elemental a powerful being that was meant to protect the planet and this would mean Swamp Thing had much bigger powers then it was guessed at. Man someone should give him an ongoing or something.

I don't maybe Garth Ennis should write him if that ever happened this character would set the standard for a lot of how comics change things, a character comes in who KNOWS WAY more about a situation and tell them secret about them. You can see a version of this in JMS Spider-man

This often led to deconstructions of characters and would go on to set the standard for reboots, man I don't know guy John seems pretty important but oh well moving on

This arc sets up Swamp Thing learning new powers and becoming a much more powerful character in the long run the regeneration power would allow Alan to tell more far out stories later in the run especially when we get to space.

Issue 43 introduces us to the true breakout character Chester Williams who would go on to become a very important friend to Swamp Thing and Abby, an old hippie he becomes a consistent character EVEN AFTER Alan Moore left staying in the book till near the end of the title.

Issue 46 would begin a tie in to Crisis on Infinite earths this would allow Alan a shot at writing the Phantom Stranger, he would later go on to write one of the 4 origins for him in Secret Origins....most people took his at the "canon" one.

The Parliament of tree would be introduced not long after and they would play a vocal role in a lot of major Swamp Thing stories from then on out, these guys and the green are some of the most important concepts from the run and honestly let's go over who this inspired LATER NOW.

For one let's go with a mainstream one, the entire concept of the Speed Force would not exist without inspiration from this run to connect everything like that. The idea that all the speedsters that DC acquired over the decades would be nothing without Swampy.

the Firestorm mythology would also get a Swamp Thing makeover. Moving him away from his unique gimmicks this one didn't exactly stick because I think the concept of two people becoming one hero is kind of a more unique idea. Still influential on later depictions .

Posion Ivy modern character comes from a throw away line in a random isssue connecting her to the mythos so modern Ivy as the plant based revolutionary has her roots in this run.

Grant Morrison was brought in to do Animal man in order to make another Swamp Thing, he started on that...then did his own thing which worked out for the best though later writer did try.....to varying results. If I'm being honest RED stories tend to be more of a letdown.

Neil Gaiman early career can best be described as an Alan Moore cover band. Books of Magic involved several major reworks of Moore including that Dork Constantine, forming some trenchcoat brigade and the Sandman first arc is basically a Swamp Thing arc.

Before that he also worked on Black Orchid and his rework connected her to swamp thing this is also where the whole Poison Ivy thing comes from too. This ccomic would help launch his career he is now famous for making a really bad comment on twitter. I still love his work but...

Anyway that is the tip of the iceberg and ultimately this run would lead to the creation of Vertigo. One of the most critically acclaimed comic imprints of the 20th century. and thankfully it was never revived to promote horrible creators and terrible books ever(in denial)

Anyway that is just the tip I could go on and on about how even minor character and concepts got a boost even Deadman got some love despite the minor stuff Moore did with him.

Still run is marred by only two minor things in the grand scheme of things, for one Alan during this run, discovered something about himself that he was not prepared for, he couldn't write Batman himself.

This is in comparison to his Superman stories, that honestly I find to better then the Batman stuff he wrote during this period the Swamp Thing issue he did with Superman is a must read for the run.

He made a much more hardline Batman then most deceptions honestly if you want a bad portrayal of Batman you can find it here. See Abby was being convicted of bestiality and this led to a great set of stories with a terrible Batman, we can't win them all.

This also allows me to get to the Alan Moore rework he REGRETS which is his Adam Strange take. See Adam is a classic silver age space hero in the vein of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, a fine character given a unique limitation.

You see Adam is kind of trapped in another world with a twist, even back in the day he WANTED to stay but couldn't. He would always go back to earth and he would have to find a way to get back. This meant there was a unique drama element to him compared to say other ones.

You see Adam WHOLE THING WAS CHANGED from him being classic science fiction hero, to a man brought in FOR BREEDING STOCK and given fantasies to stay there and not actual savior that the planet loved.

This was meant to give him more stories but Alan realized he essentially doomed the character to a terrible ending, the most successful revivals actually ignore it for the most part and like I said it's one of the weaker aspects of the run.

I love the run but I'm also willing to call out weaknesses but the run finishes out well enough with some trippy last issues, Rick Vietch being handed over the title and some good moments all and all a fantastic run.

Later creators would be brought in with again varying quality. The run are interesting but not always the best, the Grant Morrison and Mark Millar run actually IGNORE everything but Alan for the most part and were intended to help close out the book.

So honestly if you want the best Material it's Moore then Morrison/Millar. Still you can see this run is one of the most important for American comics, many creators are in it's shadow for better or worse. This is why I give creators leeway on the character.

Because not many creator can follow up such a great act, many have tried, some have and many still look to this great run, this run brought critically acclaim to comics, the Underground scene tried but this one brought in everyone. Comics changed with this run.

post script weirdness you guys can leave now but..
The weirdest thing about this run though is that Swamp Thing ended up with a lot of media from a second movie, a tv show(not the new one) and a fucking cartoon. There was not younger reader Swamp thing title how?..HOW??

the second movie even adapts the sex scene issue!?

I guess Swamp Thing really is amazing. This was my first exposure to the character back when I lived in England.