Oh, we all love a good Swamp Thing story, don’t we?
That muck-encrusted avatar of the green, harbinger of horrors both on this earth and other planes of existence, is a popular and long-standing pop culture figure. So much so that he’s often made the leap from his original home in comic books to cartoons, television and the silver screen.
It might be early days, but ‘ol Swampy looks to own an important (darker) corner of filmmaker James Gunn’s revamp of the DC Universe slate of films, with a movie being written and directed by the acclaimed James Mangold. We’ll see. The in-development offering is still quite some time away.
In the meantime, we have a fantastic, decades-long collection of harrowing, beguiling, important and wonderful comic book tales to enjoy again and again. Perhaps your favourite (or soon to be favourite) is the original 1970’s EC horror inspired stories of Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. Maybe it’s the 1980’s gothic horror of Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Tottleben. Maybe it’s the strange time-hopping late-80’s narrative of Rick Veitch or the re-kindled horror of twentieth century offerings from both Scott Snyder or Ram V.
Whatever your horror interest, whatever your terrifying tastes, there’s a Swamp Thing story for you.
Today sees the release of the hardcover compilation of the most recent, outside of any DC Comics continuity, Swamp Thing story. This one takes the sad, wayward and always heroic monster into the not-so-distant (but altogether horrific) future of mankind. Today sees the release of Swamp Thing: Green Hell.
Written by fan favourite Jeff Lemire (The Bone Orchard Mythos, Black Hammer, Sweet Tooth, Animal Man, Essex County, Joker: Killer Smile, The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage, whew!) and superstar artist Doug Mahnke (Green Lantern, The Mask, Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein, JLA, Batman: The Man Who Laughs, Final Crisis, Black Adam: The Dark Age, etc.) and published by DC Comics’ Black Label imprint, Swamp Thing: Green Hell is a 152-page hardcover compilation of the three part miniseries that was originally published in late 2021 and throughout 2022.
In the not-too-distant future and amidst a sea of endless floodwater, the last members of humanity are relegated to a mountaintop island, bickering and bartering with each other in order to survive. The Parliaments of Green, Red and the Rot persist and, in an effort to strip bare the planet of humankind and start the cycle of life anew, create a new gruesome, terrifying and all-powerful creature.
Only one entity can stop the dreadful creature and salvage any kind of hope for mankind: the original Swamp Thing. The only problem is that he’s been dead for decades. The foul-talking old Brit magic-swindler, John Constantine has, as always, got a set of machinations that might just help bring life to the lifeless and hope to the hopeless!
Make the run to your local comic book shop or bookstore and pick up the horrifically thrilling hardcover compilation of Swamp Thing: Green Hell and discover a new favourite edition to the muck-monster’s “best of” oeuvre!
