GH: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #9

Goodbye, Hello

As I got older, my tastes in comics began to change, or at least to grow more expansive. And so I wound up trying titles that might have done nothing for me before, like SAGA OF THE SWAMPO THING, The series was a bit of a hybrid, existing in a world halfway between that of DC’s other mystery/supernatural series and a horror hero title like Marvel’s INCREDIBLE HULK or WEREWOLF BY NIGHT. So I could approach it on that level and get some enjoyment out of it. But by issue #9, I was finding the book increasingly dull (an opinion that time hasn’t really changed.) I was continuing to purchase it out of rote, I think–so when teh buy-list needed to be pruned, it was an easy book to jettison.

I first took the plunge into the world of Swamp Thing in DC SPECIAL SERIES #17, which reprinted three consecutive issues of the original Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson run on the character, #5-7. I had expected it to be the first three issues, though, even though I had known that DC had recently reprinted those in earlier releases. I don’t think that I would have bought it if I had realized its contents. But I was glad that I did, as the material here was really strong. Wrightson’s artwork was moody and powerful, and Wein’s stories were adjacent to the sort of fare that I’d been following for years. The last story in the issue, pulled from issue #7, even guest-starred Batman as the Swamp Thing journeyed to Gotham City in pursuit of his kidnapped friends. So I was on board with the character, and I worked to seek out the other issues that I had missed, as well as appearances in other places such as BRAVE AND THE BOLD and CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN.

Swamp Thing hadn’t carried a title of his own for several years at this point. But with a Wes Craven film in production, DC decided that they ought to capitalize on it by producing a new series. To differentiate it from the original, it was called SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING. (DC also put out an adaptation of the movie that wound up being better than the film itself, which is a bit of a cult classic but didn’t make a whole lot of impact in 1982 when it was released.) Swampy’s co-creator Len Wein was the editor of this new series, insuring that its stories would be of a piece with the classics he had written, while Marty Pasko was recruited as the writer and Tom Yeates as the artist.

While it was still operating under the auspices of the Comics Code at this point, SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING was the progenitor of the proto-Vertigo titles that DC would build into an imprint only a couple of years later. It tried earnestly to be more sophisticated, more adult-oriented, than the average issue of BATMAN or THE FLASH. There weren’t any super heroes present for any of the stories, and the threats were all supernatural-based or rooted in reality, evil government projects and so forth. it didn’t really all work, but it was a game attempt to reach for the sort of books Vertigo would later make a name for itself doing.

But the truth is, the stories just weren’t all that interesting. I had enjoyed a lot of Marty Pasko’s work earlier, particularly his run writing SUPERMAN. But here, he seemed to be taking himself too seriously. And as a reader, i found that I didn’t care about any of the characters much. Even Swamp Thing himself often felt like a guest star in his own series–just trying to find interior pages of this issue that show him is a bit of a challenge. But I felt as though I “should” like this book somehow, and kept at it, even though it was almost a chore to read it when it turned up in my to-read stack each month.

A couple of issues, including this one, attempted to lessen the burden on the lead storytellers by featuring back-ups starring the Phantom Stranger. I liked the Stranger well enough, but these particular adventures seemed largely of a piece with the leads in terms of how fanciful they were going to get. In other words, from my standpoint, equally dull and unmemorable. I didn’t even recall that there had been Phantom Stranger backups here until I cracked open this issue again for this write-up.

What brought me back to the book was Alan Moore. Moore started writing the series with issue #20 and he hit the American shores like a bombshell. He was immediately the most literate writer in comics, the best wordsmith, the finest plotter. he was on a title that nobody had been paying attention to, but word of mouth continued to grow. I heard about it in my regular visits to me comic chop of the era, Captain Blue Hen in Delaware. But I didn’t take the plunge right away. CBH, though, had been stocking up on issues of the book, reckoning that fans were going to catch on and want back issues. So they had a few heavily in stock, including one, #33, that featured a homage to the very first Swamp Thing story from HOUSE OF SECRETS #92 on its cover. That was the first issue that I picked up, and it included that original short story as a part of the new story. And the new story was great, recontextualizing that original tale in a manner that made my head spin, frankly. I wanted more. On a return trip to CBH, they had a big stock of teh second SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING Annual, which featured the character’s descent into hell to retrieve the soul of Abigail Arcane and guest-starred a number of recognizable DC characters including Deadman, the Phantom Stranger, the Demon and the Spectre. And it was stellar. Moore completely created an ordered afterlife system out of all of these stray pieces while having them remain themselves. I wanted more, so I started buying the book regularly with the next new issue, #37, the first appearance of John Constantine, while I simultaneously embarked upon a quest for all of the back issues that I had missed (which were already going for premium prices in those pre-collected edition days.)

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34 thoughts on “GH: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #9”

  3. I did not glom onto Moore’s run until I saw the house ads for Annual #2. I foolishly waited until then to jump on board.

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  4. Captain Blue Hen, Newark, DE. My LCS for almost a decade. Paul was a shrewd, savvy proprietor. He seemed to know how to gauge what was gonna sell. He also had a good selection of indie books, too.

    Alan Moore remains unsurpassed to me. And only Morrisson and Gaiman have written comics I admire as much. Ennis has come close. 

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      1. From about, well, whenever they moved to that beige-colored stucco exterior twin on East Main St. (1983?) Then ’til about ’91, ’92? I starting seeing a girl who lived off of Rt 40 in Bear (you know where that is), & I stumbled onto First State Comics in the then-new Fox Run Shopping Center. Got to know Mike there pretty well. Was also frequenting Between Books in Claymont, which eventually became my home shop. I think Mark Waid’s been there. The owner’s name was Greg. I helped him unpack his stuff in that location when he 1st moved from behind the Tri-State Mall. I stopped in @ Comics & Robots to see Dixon & Lyle appearing there to promote the “4 Winds” imprint @ Eclipse. That was set up in the owner (Craig?)’s basement, I think. Much later, there was a Legends shop briefly on Rt. 202, south of the Concord Mall.

        I’d go back to Capt. Blue Hen on & off in the 90’s. I’ve met Neil Vokes, John Ostrander, KC Carlson, & Frank Cho (during his “Liberty Meadows” days) @ various CBH events. Michael Eury started the news letter for it in the 80’s, before he joined DC. I think David Michelinie lived in Hockesson for a bit. Brett Breeding may have been in DE, too. You probably know Paul moved CBH into the strip where it still is, sometime after 1990, though they’ve since swallowed up most of it (the other 1/2 is the Newark Co-Op health food/fresh grocery). I remember when Paul sold CBH to his manager, Joe. My sister’s taken her son, & our other nephews & nieces there when they were younger. They’ve volunteered for about a dozen Free Comic Book Days. She knows more comics pros than I do. She’s still pretty tight w/ Joe’s crew.

        Last I saw Paul was @ a big event in Middletown, DE. He was selling back issues @ a big table. That was 6 or 7 years ago, now. Since 2007 my LCS has been Comic Universe in the Ridley area of Delaware County, PA.

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      2. So you would have been shopping there at the same time that I was between 1984 and 1989. First State Comics was owned and run by a good friend of my brother. And I recall most of the other places you mention. Did you ever get to either of the two Xanadu Comics locations?

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      3. No, I don’t think I’ve even heard of Xanadu. Or I completely forgot, if I did hear about it. What was that place like? Capt. Blue Hen opened 1 or 2 other stores, too, but I never made it out to them. I had my spots, already. ;-)

        I met Ken once or twice, either @ your mom’s or with his then girlfriend @ the apt Joe & I were sharing. But it wasn’t until decades later, reading your blog, that I knew Ken was into comics. Instead we talked about the economy. Well, he talked, since he was the only one of the 2 of us that really knew anything. I realized pretty quickly into it to just listen & try to learn from what he was saying. He was kind enough to let me ask him some questions. I didn’t realize he knew Mike @ First State Comics. Makes sense. They’d be close in age.

        The other New Castle County DE comics shop I remember was Bill Lee’s comics something on Rt. 4, in the shopping center w/ the Shop-Rite & Cinemark movies, in Stanton. I think you were back in NY when that opened. Sometime early in Image Comics’ existence, Bill won some contest, or otherwise managed to get Jim Lee to appear in Bill’s store. I didn’t attend. Bill was reportedly charging a hefty admission.

        We may have crossed paths @ CBH back then. I remember being young & perplexed, looking @ a B & W issue of “Adolescent Radioactive Hamsters”… We actually met for 2 seconds @ your mom’s around Christmas 1994 or ’95. Then another 2 seconds @ Joe’s wedding reception in ’06.

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      4. *”Adolescent Radioactive Black BB belt Hamsters”.

        “Amazing Heroes” rightly surmised that TMNT transcended any B&W comic craze, & was just a crave own its own.

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  6. “SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING was the progenitor of the proto-Vertigo titles that DC would build into an imprint only a couple of years later.”

    Er, ten years later, at least if you’re talking about the Vertigo imprint, rather than the set of titles that got to be known as “the Berger Books,” in the years prior.

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    1. And just to note — I had a similar reaction to the series. I thought it was beautifully drawn, overwritten (to the point that the art was unfairly and unattractively crowded with text), and the stories weren’t all that compelling.

      I never saw the SWAMP THING movie, but if that choppy, shallow annual was better than the film itself, it must have been terrrrrrible.

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      2. “Thriller” was very visually impressive. I loved Trevor Von Eeden’s expressive, kinetic stuff on that. The characters were cool. The premise was interesting, but a little over my head.

        When they migrated Ms. Berger’s DCU books to Vertigo, I noticed they let “Wonder Woman” where it was. ;-) For obvious reasons. Maybe she’s already left WW before establishing Vertigo.

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      4. @Kurt Busier, thanks, sir. Details are hazy now, but I don’t think I stuck around constantly after George Perez exited. I wasn’t as interested in the art by Chris Marianan & others. George’s run as writer & artist was a real high point.

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      5. I can’t fault ‘Thriller’ for being overambitious. Nowadays its elliptical and eccentric style seems to anticipate Grant Morrison (surely they read it at the time).

        The series would’ve worked better if it’d been planned to run 12 issues from the start, as ‘Camelot 3000’ did. I’m still angry at how DC forced Fleming and Von Eeden off their own comic.

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      6. I read somewhere that Alan Moore may have been interested, maybe even offered, to take over writing “Thriller”. I can’t remember if that was in an issue of “Back Issue” magazine or elsewhere. Moore & Von Eeden together could’ve been an dream team for me. Though TVE had left the book an issue or 2 before it was cancelled.

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      7. “I read somewhere that Alan Moore may have been interested, maybe even offered, to take over writing Thriller.”

        That’s something Alan Gold said. And he ought to know, since he was the editor.

        He didn’t want to fire Bill duBay, even though he didn’t think he was doing a good job, because he didn’t like firing people.

        “Moore & Von Eeden together could’ve been a dream team for me. Though TVE had left the book an issue or 2 before it was cancelled.”

        Four issues prior.

        I tend to think that an Alan Moore THRILLER, while it would have been well-crafted and compelling, wouldn’t have been the Fleming THRILLER and thus would have felt wrong. Though, yes, he and von Eeden would have been quite a team. For that matter, he and Alex Nino would have been something to see, as well.

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      8. Thanks, Kurt! Much appreciated . I like Tom’s posts, & the stuff he gets us to think about. But your insights & reactions make it even more enjoyable.Im glad you’re free.

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  7. I wanted to like this series, but bailed after 3 issues and the annual. I managed to come back in pretty early in the Moore/Bissette/Totleben run which were comics on a level I hadn’t seen before. Simply amazing and I ought to reread those some time.

    I liked the Swamp Thing movie, but I was also 17 and starved for comic book movies at the time. At least the guy making it tried, which was not true of most of the comics adaptations up to that point.

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  8. I’m making my way through the Alan Moore oeuvre, I’ve just finished Promethea and deciding between Tom Strong and Swamp Thing and this has sold me on Swamp Thing! I’ve done Halo Jones, V and From Hell so far, From Hell by my favourite by a mile

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  9. No critique on your choice of sequence. Actually, if you get even half the get sheer joy & satisfaction from “Tom Strong” that I did, it could be the perfect read after the weight and intensity of Moore’s “Swamp Thing”. Both are fantastic in different ways. I did love “Promethea”, too. I hope you include “Top Ten” & his “Supreme”, too. And “Tomorrow CC Studies, for the hijinks of Jack B. Quick, boy inventor.. And “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen “.

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  10. I agree with your comments regarding this period of Saga of Swamp Thing. I felt that this particular story line while interesting just ran for too long (a full year if I remember correctly). I decided to continue to buy the series at the time but ironically eventually came to the conclusion that SOST 20 (which was Alan Moore’s first issue, with a fill in artist) would be my last issue. Of course when I read it, it had that ending where it appeared the Swamp Thing had been killed, so of course I was curious and did get SOST 21 (the Anatomy Lesson). This was before the internet and nothing prepared me for the experience of reading SOST 21. It is still one of the best comics I have ever read, and as someone who read and enjoyed the first 10 issues of the original Swamp Thing, I still thought SOST 21 was amazing and would continue to read Alan Moore’s entire run on SOST. Martin Pasko was a perfectly fine writer and actually I like those Superman stories also (which I found in later years as back issues) but Alan Moore took Swamp Thing to another level entirely (as did Bisette and Totleben).

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  11. “This was before the internet and nothing prepared me for the experience of reading SOST 21.” Right? Who do you tell, after reading something that friggin’ good? If that had been someone’s 1st comicbook experience, would they think that was the normal story quality, that other books were that good? I guess we had comicbook stores to react together. But if you’re not of driving age, & no one else in your home reads comics, you were almost in a vacuum back then. And Amazing Heroes was only monthly. Was the Comics Buyers Guide weekly? I don’t remember, now.

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    1. I was in a total vacuum back then. I had no friends reading comics and didn’t make any friends at my LCS. I didn’t read Anatomy Lesson because while I liked Pasko’s run, horror books are a hard sell for me. Heroic monsters like Werewolf By Night or Ghost Rider were more my thing. I did occasionally pick up Swamp Thing but was never a fan of the art and to be honest, Alan Moore’s work was never to my taste. I loved the Superman Annual he did and his send off to pre-Byrne Superman but I’m just not into deconstruction of heroic archetypes. Lesser talents trying their hand at the same things were worse, I have to admit. His work was well put together all the times he riffed off existing properties and there was sense to why things went horribly wrong but his imitators normally just made everyone an awful person doing awful things to other awful people for no other reason than the plot demanded and shock value. 

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      1. For anyone that likes “traditional” or “conventional” superheroes, I recommend Moore’s “Tom Strong”, “America’s Best” Science Hero. Clever, genuine, insightful, naturalistic, sublime, and fun.

        I also really loved his Supreme run. The “Platinum Paragon” was the Silver Age Superman, expanded.

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    2. For an Alan Moore tribute book, Carla Speed McNeil drew a picture of her younger self, standing in the drugstore with a copy of Swamp Thing in her hands. The back of her head has blown open, and her brains are splattered all over the walls. A very accurate depiction of what reading those issues for the first time felt like.

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  12. My first intro to Moore was through Watchmen. I didn’t get into the Vertigo titles, because I didn’t like the Goth crowd that sprang up around Sandman and hyped the book so much. I found out on my own, years later, and Sandman is indeed a great series. It took me even longer to read Swamp Thing, because of lack of collected editions and not knowing where to start. I also was never a horror fan, so that probably also explained my reticence at the time. Once I did read it though, I thought it was a really good read…but I had already read Watchmen, Miracle Man, V, etc. So it didn’t have as much impact on me as it did on people who were first introduced to Moore that way.

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  13. I thought that this book demonstrated that there there was a market for (for want of a better term) “comic book Dark Fantasy” at DC, JJ. M. DeMatteis’s work (particularly) also started going in this direction in the waning days of the DC Mystery Books J. M. DeMatteis has admitted to being influenced by Gerber, so I assume Pasko’s take on Swamp Thing also have had a Gerber influence.

    There seems to be a through-line from Gerber’s work (particularly on Man-Thing from 1972 to 1975) to the DeMatteis stuff (1976-1982 0r so) to Pasko’s 1981-1982 Swamp Thing tp the “proto Vertigo”/”Berger Books”/British Invasion” (1983-’87 or so) to Vertigo (started in 19(3?).

    Gerber later did work for Vertigo.

    Moore, Gaiman, Morrison and the other British Invasion writers were real talents, but they were lucky in their timing as well. 

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