This blog has nothing to do with the Swamp Thing comic books, but since I swiped the title from them, a brief homage is in order (see this post to see what the blog is all about).
Writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson came up with the Swamp Thing character, which first appeared in print for DC Comics in 1971 and got his own book in 1972. The character is a swamp monster resembling a humanoid mound of vegetable matter, and is variously depicted as a hero, antihero, and villain. The hero interpretation is paramount, however, as Swamp Thing protects nature and humans from threats of both scientific and supernatural origin, as an embodiment of the cosmic energies that gives life to all plant life in the known universe: "The Green".
The cover of Swamp Thing #1, 1972. Art by Bernie Wrightson. Public domain image obtained via Wikimedia Commons.
S.T. emerges from a human scientist (there have been several over the character’s life) who is tragically killed and reemerges as the avatar of The Green—except in the most recent (2021) reinvention, where a young scientist is chosen at an early age to be the next Swamp Thing.
Several writers and artists have worked on S.T. over the years, including a famous turn by Watchmen writer Alan Moore in the 1980s. Swamp Thing also appears in several films and in other media.
Swamp Thing lives in Louisiana and has not commented on my Swamp Thing blog.
Poster for Wes Craven’s 1982 Swamp Thing movie, starring Louis Jourdan & Adrienne Barbeau.
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