Swampy, take the wheel.
Hey hey hey, they’re finally here:
After very nearly 40 years, the cancelled-for-various-reasons segment in Rick Veitch’s Swamp Thing in which our favorite swamp monster runs into Jesus. Illustrated by the late Michael Zulli, with finishes by Vince Locke, and featuring a nice long afterword by Steve Bissette giving the surprisingly warts-and-all telling of what happened with this comic way back when.
The book is designed to look like how it would have in 1989, including subscription forms and period house ads (Truman’s Hawkworld, anyone?). Inside the front cover is a “Johnny DC’ text piece, written in the voice of those old promotional pages, that gives the story context of this current issue for anyone new to the book. And it’s written by close, personal friend Rich Handley, the one person in this fallen world that I’ll admit has more Swamp Thing knowledge than I do.
But the comic itself…yes, it’s great. I know a lot of folks who’d been waiting for this book since 1989 went back and reread the issues leading up to this story, but I’ve reread those enough that I’ve practically got them memorized, so I’m good, but if you’re coming in fresh, don’t sweat it. Like I said, Rich’s “Johnny DC” column tees you up just fine, and the story itself does enough to give you the idea what’s goin’ on.
I don’t think the rest of the mini-series will be too difficult for new readers, either. A long time ago, the Comic Buyer’s Guide ran plot outlines for Veitch’s then-cancelled final issues for his run. As I recall, the events in those issues should be easy enough to follow on their own, given what you’re told in this first issue.
But how’s the comic? It’s great. It’s nice to read the full, completed thing after I may or may not have seen photocopies of the art many years ago, I admit nothing. But it’s as weird and magical and knowingly irreverent as Veitch usually is, while remaining respectful to Jesus Himself. We get the Vertigo-style twist of an old DC character, we get yet another origin for a certain demonic fella, and all this madness is mixed up and presented in an almost weirdly dreamlike progression. It’s a wonderful return to this era of Swamp Thing…I’m not going to say “it was worth the wait,” because should never have had to wait this long, but I’m glad it’s here.
So long to the nigh-legendary comics writer Gerry Conway, who passed away this week. While best known for his Spider-Man work, as well as being the co-creator of the Punisher and Firestorm, he of course has also written certain swamp creatures at both companies. He was the co-creator of Man-Thing at Marvel, and at DC, he wrote the inaugural issue of Swamp Thing’s short-term New Look, issue #23 (1976):
I talked about this issue way back in 2004, and it’s an interesting example of serving two masters: attempting to retain the character’s horror roots (so to speak) while transitioning toward a more superheroic tone, a balance I thought Conway pulled off. He would of course return to Swamp Thing in short order, during his stint on Challengers of the Unknown where he would actually reverse the changes made to the character at the end of his own series.
I know it’s weird I focus on this over all of his other work, both in comics and in television — I remember seeing his name on an episode of Law and Order and thinking “wait, the same Gerry Conway?” — but I always appreciated the fact that he wrote competing swamp monsters in comics. In fact, I once got the opportunity to ask him who’d win in a fight, Swamp Thing or Man-Thing, and you can hear his answer at 1:11:36 in this 2016 episode of War Rocket Ajax. I was happy that I got a chance to make him laugh.
Another loss I learned about just as I sat down to write this post was comics writer Len Strazewski, who was primarily active in the ’80s and ’90s. I remember him most for two things: writing this swell and far-too-short Justice Society series, drawn by the also-departed-too-soon Mike Parobeck:
…and for also popping briefly into the former place of employment and saying “hello.” He was a nice man, who spotted our backstock of Ultraverse titles (an endeavor he also worked for, having co-created Prime) and commiserating with us that we would probably never sell all those. Well, I wish I could tell him we did sell them all, eventually…for a nickel apiece in a bulk sale, which isn’t much but it still counts as a sale!
It’s sad to see two more pieces of my comics fandom pass from this world, but we can always remember them through their work. So long, Gerry and Len.
I’m sure I’m irrational in many ways, but one way I KNOW I’m irrational is still resenting Mike Carlin for cancelling that Justice Society book just because he didn’t like it. RIP Strazewski. (Collect the IMPULSE comics, Archie!)
I would love to think Conway’s passing would lead to someone finally buckling down to collect Atari Force, but hold my breath I will not. At least reprint Cinder & Ashe!
Mike Parobeck died tragically young; indeed there was no small amount of tragedy in his family — Parobeck was one of six siblings, three of whom predeceased their own mother.
These days it’s not like Strazewski and Conway, both in their early 70s, were so old either. F*** cancer, and I don’t think all that much better of Mike Carlin either…
I’ll understand entirely if Gerry Conway’s many obituaries don’t mention that he also co-created the Weasel, but heck — Weez counts among his achievements as well!
R.I.P.
Godammit, I’m holding out for the collected version but the fact this is so deliciously retro is sorely tempting me…
@Daniel T: the amount of people I know who aren’t aware of CINDER & ASHE.
Mike: I’d always heard the story that the Justice Society book was a placeholder for artists waiting on whatever universe THE COMET and THE WEB were in. I’m probably screwing all of that up. Still. How wrong am I?
This is the series that was commissioned to give the creators work while they were waiting for Impact to come together.
https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/justice-society-of-america-the-demise-of-justice
I picked up the Swamp Thing issue, and… wow. I’m not a religious person, but I grew up Catholic and have read enough scripture to have a handle on Jesus’s story. Veitch’s description of Jesus, using Swamp Thing’s perspective, was remarkably respectful without being boring. The horror that befell the Golden Gladiator was truly chilling. I think some Christians would reject this for surface-level reasons (the identities of the 3 people who summon the demon, calling Jesus a magician, the fact that DC characters interact with Jesus), but the comic didn’t mischaracterize Jesus, deny his divinity, etc. I’m always on board for Zulli’s art, which looked good here.
It was something of an anti-climax. How could it not be after waiting so many years? Veitch’s take on Jesus was quite superficial. I’d agree it was respectful of Christianity, even adding that Alec Holland was a Christian. It’s funny how some things fall through the cracks while others become a scandal. There were more sacrilegious elements to be found in Hellblazer and Vertigo publishing Punk Rock Jesus must have made Veitch’s Swamp Thing #88 seem incredibly tame long before 2026. On the other hand, Mark Russell’s Second Coming (which was also, overall, respectful and especially in comparison to Punk Rock Jesus) ended up being cancelled by DC.
I think the corporate merger taking place at the time (as discussed in the back matter) was the major deciding factor in cancelling this comic. It was simply bad timing on Veitch’s part, and had he completed this story six months earlier, I doubt there would have been any controversy, as it probably wouldn’t have gotten the attention to create a scandal.
Too young to have caught the OG Swampy, I was thrilled to get in on the ground floor (in jr. high) of SotST even though I didn’t see the movie. The Pasko-Yeates team made some decently memorable comics that I enjoyed sticking with month in and out as well as a couple of re-reads. Bissette-Totlben and then obviously Alan Moore elevated it to top-o-the-stack, can’t-wait-for-the next reading for me for a long time! But by #63 I was a poor college student looking for jumping off points, and that gave me one even though I had enjoyed Rick Veitcth’s Epic work. I didn’t pay attention anymore until the TCJ Newswatch article about #88, which just made me glad I hadn’t invested in the previous 2 years.
Now I’m glad to be able to catch up with Veitch’s run thanks to the new omnibi, and I am vicariously thrilled for fellow Swampy fans who have waited nearly 40 years for the arc to wrap up finally this spring. I would love to read online reviews specifically from such folk (such as you first, Mr. Sterling) to say if the pay-off (for the entire concluding arc, not just this issue) was worth the life-long wait. I really hope that for you it is.
P.s. gotta say that Swampy using Constantine’s body to hmm hmm hmm (avoiding spoilers) made for a totally different kind of body horror comic in Veitch’s Swampy vol. 2!
Clumsy me, I just re-read the part where you say you’re not going to say it was worth the wait, but I do hope the rest of the arc rewards the folks who have waited so long for this, regardless of whatever art and details made it into the published or “published” realm then and since.
Mike, thanks so much for the kind words about my Johnny DC piece. The folks behind this issue–and the three more to follow–pulled out all the stops, and it shows. I was thrilled to be a small part of it. I hope you enjoy my columns in the remaining issues. :)
Having finally read “Morning of the Magician,” I think the only truly controversial aspect is Veitch’s proposed cover commits the crime of being both deliberately provocative and a classic “this actually doesn’t occur in the story” image. I am nowadays (I’m wasn’t then) a Christian believer in Jesus as God and Savior, like apparently Alec Holland was (and THERE’S a revelation). The story (particularly Swampy’s narration) is largely respectful and quite original for mainstream comics then, though Mary Magdalene as the hooker w/heart of gold is certainly trope-y enough. The horror element is an interesting inclusion and well done, genuinely creepy as well as creatively linking other biblical details to a DC character’s origin.
If I remember late 1980s cultural chronology correctly, there seemed to be a rise in deliberate jabs not just at outraged Christians, organized religion, and its relationship to politics, all of which deserved that, but also over-the-top stuff like Immersion (Piss Christ) or Madonna’s suggestive use of crucifixes and sacred imagery. Those seemed designed to put symbols of Jesus’s sacrifice in the crosshairs solely to provoke outrage from the moral majority types. Which of course it did. Jenette Kahn’s cold feet on SW #88 is understandable but still awful given that Veitch’s story didn’t go in that direction, but that proposed cover… why in the world didn’t they just reject that but still go with the story? The lamb cover works great, for instance.
Anyway, I’m glad to get to read this finally as well as to have this reason to dive back into the Swamp Thing saga when its quality was sustained for quite some tjme.