Volume 1 |leftLen Wein was the writer for the first 13 issues, before
David Michelinie and
Gerry Conway finished up the series. Burgeoning horror artist
Bernie Wrightson drew the first 10 issues of the series, while
Nestor Redondo drew a further 13 issues, the last issue being drawn by
Fred Carrillo. The original creative team worked closely together; Wrightson recalled that during story conferences, Wein would walk around the office acting out all of the parts. The Swamp Thing fought against evil as he sought the men who murdered his wife and caused his monstrous transformation, as well as searching for a means to transform back into his human form. The Swamp Thing has since fought many villains. Though they only met twice during the first series, the mad scientist
Anton Arcane (with his obsession with gaining immortality) became the Swamp Thing's nemesis, even as the Swamp Thing developed a close bond with Arcane's niece
Abigail Arcane. Arcane was aided by his nightmarish army of
Un-Men and the Patchwork Man, alias Arcane's brother Gregori Arcane who, after a land mine explosion, was rebuilt as a Frankenstein Monster-type creature by his brother. Also involved in the conflict was the Swamp Thing's close friend-turned-enemy Lt.
Matthew Joseph Cable, a federal agent who originally mistakenly believed the Swamp Thing to be responsible for the deaths of Alec and Linda Holland. As sales figures plummeted towards the end of the series, the writers attempted to revive interest by introducing fantastical creatures, aliens, and even Alec Holland's brother, Edward (a character that was never referred to again by later writers) into the picture. The last two issues saw the Swamp Thing transformed back into Alec Holland and having to fight one last menace as an ordinary human. The series was cancelled with issue #24 and a blurb for a 25th issue containing an upcoming encounter with
Hawkman led nowhere. Alec Holland's transformation back into the Swamp Thing was covered in
Challengers of the Unknown #81-87, within which the Swamp Thing is enlisted by the titular team to fight the
Lovecraftian cosmic threat M'nagalah, whom the Swamp Thing had encountered during Wein's run.
The Saga of the Swamp Thing and Volume 2 In 1982, DC Comics revived the
Swamp Thing series, attempting to capitalize on the summer 1982 release of the
Wes Craven film of the same name. A revival had been planned for 1978, but was a victim of the
DC Implosion. The new series, called
The Saga of the Swamp Thing, featured an adaptation of the Craven film in its first annual. Now written by
Martin Pasko, the book loosely picked up after the Swamp Thing's guest appearances in
Challengers of the Unknown #81-87,
DC Comics Presents #8, and
The Brave and the Bold #172, with the character wandering around the swamps of Louisiana seen as an urban legend and feared by locals. Pasko's main arc depicted the Swamp Thing roaming the globe, trying to stop a young girl (and the possible
Anti-Christ) named Karen Clancy from destroying the world. When Pasko had to give up work on the title due to increasing television commitments, editor Len Wein assigned the title to British writer
Alan Moore. When Karen Berger took over as editor, she gave Moore free rein to revamp the title and the character as he saw fit. Moore reconfigured the Swamp Thing's origin to make him a true monster, as opposed to a human transformed into a monster. In his first issue, he swept aside most of the supporting cast that Pasko had introduced in his year-and-a-half run as writer and brought the Sunderland Corporation to the forefront, as they hunted the Swamp Thing down and "killed" him in a hail of bullets. The subsequent investigation revealed that the Swamp Thing was not Alec Holland transformed into a plant, but actually a wholly plant-based entity created upon the death of Alec Holland, having somehow absorbed duplicates of Holland's consciousness and memories into himself. He is described as "a plant that thought it was Alec Holland, a plant that was trying its level best to
be Alec Holland". This is explained as a result of the plant matter of the swamp absorbing Holland's bio-restorative formula, with the Swamp Thing's appearance being the plants' attempt to duplicate Holland's human form. This revelation resulted in the Swamp Thing suffering a temporary mental breakdown and identity crisis, but he re-asserted himself in time to stop the latest scheme of
Floronic Man. Issue #32 was a strange twist of comedy and tragedy, as the Swamp Thing encounters an alien version of
Pogo,
Walt Kelly's character. Moore would later reveal, in an attempt to connect the original one-off Swamp Thing story from
House of Secrets #92 to the main
Swamp Thing canon, that there had been dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Swamp Things since the dawn of humanity, and that all versions of the creature were designated defenders of the
Parliament of Trees, an elemental community which rules a dimension known as "the Green" that connects all plant life on Earth. Moore's
Swamp Thing broadened the scope of the series to include ecological and spiritual concerns while retaining its horror-fantasy roots. In issue #37, Moore formally introduced the character of
John Constantine the Hellblazer as a magician/con artist who would lead the Swamp Thing on the "American Gothic" storyline. Alan Moore also introduced the concept of the DC characters Cain and Abel being the mystical reincarnations of the Biblical Cain and Abel caught in an endless cycle of murder and resurrection.
The Saga of the Swamp Thing was the first mainstream comic book series to completely abandon the
Comics Code Authority's approval. With issue #65, regular penciler
Rick Veitch took over from Moore and began scripting the series, continuing the story in a roughly similar vein for 24 more issues. Veitch's term ended in 1989 due to a widely publicized creative dispute, when DC refused to publish issue #88 because of the use of
Jesus Christ as a character, despite having previously approved the script in which the Swamp Thing is a cupbearer who offers Jesus water when he calls for it from the cross. The series was handed to Doug Wheeler, who made the cup that the
Shining Knight believed to be the
Holy Grail to be a cup used in a religious ceremony by a
Neanderthal tribe that was about to be wiped out by
Cro-Magnons, in the published version of issue #88. In issue #90, Wheeler not only reintroduced Matango, a character that Stephen Bissette had introduced in
Swamp Thing Annual #4, but he also completed Veitch's story arc that intended to have Abby Holland give birth to the human-plant hybrid elemental
Tefe Holland . After a period of high creative turnover, in 1991 DC sought to revive interest in
Swamp Thing by bringing horror writer
Nancy A. Collins on board to write the series. Starting with
Swamp Thing Annual #6, Collins moved on to write
Swamp Thing (vol. 2) #110–138, dramatically overhauling the series by restoring the pre-Alan Moore tone and incorporating a new set of supporting cast members into the book. Collins resurrected
Anton Arcane, along with the Sunderland Corporation, as foils for the Swamp Thing. Her stories tended to be ecologically based and at one point featured giant killer flowers. With issue #140 (March 1994), the title was handed over to
Grant Morrison for a four-issue story arc, co-written by the then-unknown
Mark Millar. As Collins had destroyed the status quo of the series, Morrison sought to shake the book up with a four-part storyline which had the Swamp Thing plunged into a nightmarish dreamworld scenario where he was split into two separate beings: Alec Holland and the Swamp Thing, which was now a mindless being of pure destruction. Millar then took over from Morrison with issue #144, and launched what was initially conceived as an ambitious 25-part storyline where the Swamp Thing would be forced to go upon a series of trials against rival elemental forces. Millar brought the series to a close with issue #171 in a finale where the Swamp Thing becomes the master of all elemental forces, including the planet.
Volume 3 Written by
Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by Roger Petersen and
Giuseppe Camuncoli in 2001, the third
Swamp Thing series focused on the daughter of the Swamp Thing,
Tefé Holland. Even though she was chronologically 11–12, the series had Tefé aged into the body of an 18-year-old with a mindwipe orchestrated by the Swamp Thing. Constantine and Abby try to control her darker impulses, brought about by her exposure to the Parliament of Trees. Due to the circumstances under which she was conceived, the Swamp Thing, possessing
John Constantine, was not aware that he was given a blood transfusion by a demon. She held power over both plants and flesh. Believing herself to be a normal human girl named Mary who had miraculously recovered from cancer three years prior, she rediscovers her powers and identity when she finds her boyfriend and best friend betraying her on prom night. In a moment of anger, her powers manifest and she kills them both. Tefé then fakes her own death and embarks on a series of misadventures that take her across the country, and ultimately to Africa, in search of a mythical "Tree of Knowledge". During this series, it seems that the Swamp Thing and Abigail have reunited as lovers and are living in their old home in the Louisiana swamps outside Houma. The home in which they live more closely resembles the one that the Swamp Thing constructs for Abigail during the Moore run than the home in which they dwell during the Collins run. In a confrontation with Tefé, the Swamp Thing explains that he has cut himself off from the Green and there seems to be no trace of the god-like powers he acquired from the Parliaments of Air, Waves, Stone or Flames during the Millar run. Also, Vaughan's Swamp Thing does not seem to have been divorced from the humanity of his Alec Holland self. The disconnection between these two entities becomes a plot point in Volume 4.
Volume 4 A fourth series began in 2004, with writers
Andy Diggle (#1–6),
Will Pfeifer (#7–8) and
Joshua Dysart (#9–29). In this latest series, the Swamp Thing is reverted to his plant-based Earth elemental status after the first story line, and he attempts to live an "eventless" life in the Louisiana swamps. Tefé, likewise, is rendered powerless and mortal. Issue #29 was intended to be the final issue of the fourth volume, which was cancelled due to low sales numbers.
Return to the DC Universe Brightest Day The conclusion of the crossover event
Brightest Day revealed that the Swamp Thing had become corrupted by the personality of the villain
Nekron in the wake of the
Blackest Night crossover event. The Swamp Thing now believed himself to be Nekron, similar to how he had once believed himself to be Alec Holland. The Swamp Thing went on a rampage in
Star City, seeking to destroy all life on Earth. The
Life Entity uses several heroes, including
Hawkman,
Hawkgirl,
Firestorm,
Martian Manhunter,
Aquaman and
Deadman, to slow the rampage while a new Swamp Thing was formed around the human remains of Alec Holland. Instead of merely
thinking that it was Holland, this version of the Swamp Thing would actually be him. The new Swamp Thing defeated and killed the corrupted and original Swamp Thing. Restoring life to natural environments across the Earth, he declared that those who hurt the Green would face his wrath. He also restored Aquaman, Firestorm, Hawkman, and Martian Manhunter to normal. The book ended with the Swamp Thing resuming his original mission by killing several businessmen who engaged in deliberate, illegal polluting activities.
Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for the Swamp Thing This three–issue miniseries follows immediately after the events of
Brightest Day, and follows the actions of
John Constantine as he tries to work out what has changed with the Swamp Thing and track him down, with the assistance of
Zatanna,
Batman, and
Superman.
Volume 5 DC Comics relaunched
Swamp Thing with issue #1 in September 2011 as part of
The New 52, with writer
Scott Snyder (#1-18 and
Annual). Snyder's run concluded with "Rotworld", a crossover event between
Swamp Thing,
Animal Man and
Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. Charles Soule wrote issues #19-40.
Volume 6 A six–issue miniseries written by Len Wein, co-creator of the Swamp Thing, with art by
Kelley Jones was released between March and August 2016. It follows Swamp Thing giving up his powers to Anton Arcane, who is disguised as Matt Cable. This was followed by a
Tom King winter special in 2018, also featuring Len Wein's last Swamp Thing issue.
The Swamp Thing A 16-issue miniseries retitled with "
The" written by Ram V with art by
Mike Perkins began publication in March 2021. The book focuses on a new character named Levi Kami taking up the Swamp Thing mantle while Alec Holland is off-world. Originally planned as a 10-issue miniseries,
The Swamp Thing has been extended to 16 issues, with
The Swamp Thing #10 followed by a short hiatus before returning in March 2022. == Character overview ==