Before I begin this blog entry, I do have to apologize. Last week, I said I was going to talk about a comic story focused on Northstar for Pride Month. However, I made a goofup. I thought May was Pride Month, that was actually in June. I do apologize for this error, but I will look at that story next month, so that's something to look forward to. As such, this week, I thought it would be nice to focus on a character that's never really appeared in this blog before, and I wanted to review more DC stuff, anyway. Enjoy!
Once upon a time, there was a man named Alec Holland. He was a brilliant doctor, working on a formula to help promote crop growth alongside his beloved wife Linda. The two hoped their formula would basically be a panacea for starvation. But this endeavor would end in tragedy. The two would end up getting attacked by agents of the criminal organization known as the Conclave. The Conclave blew up his lab, saturating Alec with the bio-restorative formula and knocking him into the swamps. He would emerge transformed into a living hybrid of man and plant. He would be known from then on...as the Swamp Thing. At least, that's what seemed to have happened...
Created by the both sadly missed Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing first appeared in House of Secrets #92 (July 1971). Wein came up with the original idea for the Swamp Thing while riding on a subway train in Queens, New York. His basic sketch of the character would be refined by Wrightson, leading to the monster we know today.
The Swamp Thing would become quite popular in the 70s through the 90s, appearing in a cartoon, a couple of movies, and a live-action TV show in 1990. The character would get another short-lived show in 2019. He's also gotten numerous series over the years.
The comic we're looking at this week is from the Swamp Thing's second series, which had started in 1982. Issue #19 saw the beginning of the character's adventures being chronicled by British writer Alan Moore. Moore was not the famous figure in comics he is now back at this time. Having been given free rein to do as he saw fit with the book, Moore took the book in a more mythic and monstrous direction. He wanted to make the Swamp Thing a true monster, and this issue would seal that fate for Mr. Holland. Let's look at Saga of the Swamp Thing #21!
The cover is a Tom Yeates piece, and it's pretty awesome, depicting the Swamp Thing menacingly walking towards a man. My only complaint about it is that the building doesn't quite match the building in the actual story. But maybe the change was done for atmospheric purposes. It does a good job selling the idea of the Swamp Thing as a horrific monster.
"The Anatomy Lesson"
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciler: Steve Bissette
Inker: John Totleben
Colorist: Tatjana Wood
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano
The story begins with a man standing in a building, staring out in the sky on a dark and stormy night. He's enjoying a little wine, and contemplating some things. Life, the universe, that kind of thing. This man is Jason Woodrue, aka the supervillain known as the Floronic Man. And what he is actually contemplating? He's thinking about an old man. An old man who will be calling for help soon. And there will be blood. Lots of blood, likely.
So, how did the Floronic Man end up here? Well, we've got to go back a bit. The Old Man, a General Sutherland, had hired him for a task, releasing him from jail in the process. The Old Man had shown Jason around his building. The half-man half-plant noticed that the building was empty, but that's because everything here is automated. Sutherland shows him a special surprise.
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| "We told him to chill out, but this is ridiculous!" |
Our man Swamp Thing, frozen and seemingly dead. Yeah, he got shot up in the last issue. And now that the Swamp Thing has joined the choir invisible, Sutherland wants an autopsy done on him. Why's that, you ask? Well, it's here we get a bit of a recap of Swamp Thing's origins.
Sutherland explains that his men had exhumed Linda Holland's corpse. She was the only other person in the world that was exposed to the formula as much as Alec Holland was. The corpse was examined, and nothing was found. That was expected. It was in her tissues, but it wasn't supposed to have done anything to her. The formula was supposed to work only on plants. So, if that was the case...why was Alec transformed?
That's where Woodrue comes in. Being basically a human-plant hybrid himself, it's hoped he could provide some insight into Alec's transformation. Woodrue agrees to examine the body of the Swamp Thing. After all, he's got a "Get out of Jail Free" card out of this. The next day, the Floronic Man gets to work on the Autopsy of the Swamp Thing.
Page 43, Panels 4-6
Woodrue admits that he was excited to examine our hero's body. It's not often that the plant-powered villain gets to examine another being like himself. Maybe it will allow him to undergo a bit of self-discovery of his own.
Weeks pass. Woodrue discovers that Swamp Thing does contain organs, but they seemingly are made of vegetable manner...and don't work at all. The next few weeks are rough ones for the Floronic Man. He has made no headway in solving the mystery of the Swamp Thing's body. His employer is growing dissatisfied with his lack of progress. The Floronic Man won't be stumped for long, though. One night, while tired, he read an essay on planarian worms...and it hits him.
Meanwhile, the Swamp Thing is regrowing.
Page 46, Panel 7
You see, there was an experiment done with planarian worms. One worm was taught to run a maze. It was then chopped up and fed to other worms...that were able to run the maze. Somehow, the worms were able to obtain the knowledge of how to run the maze from their comrade after eating him.
Yeah, it disturbs me, too. Evidently, this was a real experiment done by James V. McConnell in the 60s. The results he found were considered the product of observer bias. But this is the DCU. And this is the big answer to how Alec Holland was transformed into the Swamp Thing. His body was saturated with the bio-chemical compound he was working on. The compound couldn't have transformed him on its own. If that were the case, Linda would be a She-Swamp Thing. Huh. Imagine that. Somewhere out there in the DC Multiverse, Linda became the Swamp Thing. Anyway, what if the explosion had already killed Holland, and sent his corpse into the swamp?
The plants there get altered by the biochemical formula in Holland's body. They consume his corpse, getting Alec's conciousness, much like the planarian worms inheriting the knowledge of running a maze. They form themselves into a body, trying to imitate his old organs. A new being is born out of this, unware that he is no longer even human...and can never be again. Sutherland finds this...ridiculous. ...Dude, you are literally talking to a plant-man!
Anyway, because the old man is a dope, he fires Woodrue. Thing is, Woodrue is a supervillain, and supervillains do not like being slighted. Using the knowledge of the building (Sutherland had showed him the automated defenses while he was working on Swamp Thing), the Floronic Man unfreezes the Swamp Thing, allowing him to complete growing back from his old body.
Sutherland comes down to look at the frozen body, and discovers that ol' Mr. Holland has managed to finish regrowing himself. He flees back to his office, and finds ol' Alec waiting for him.
Page 54, Panel 7
The files on Alec are on the man's desk, and our man/plant has had the opportunity to read through them. Further showing how dumb he is, Sutherland asks if Alec likes what he read. Woodrue predicted as he told this story that Alec would...not take the revelation well. The Swamp Thing pursues Sutherland all over the building. He tries to flee, but Woodrue messed with the security system. Again, the general slighted a supervillain. An it allows Swamp Thing to catch up to him and basically give the old man the Hug of Death.
The story ends with Woodrue sitting back in his apartment, having some wine...and plotting. Doing lots and lots of plotting.
Apologies for the lack of pictures, it's been a busy week for me, and I had no chance to get scans done. I'll have to get on that...and last week's, too. Sigh...
This story is a classic for a reason. It's the story that blew up everything we thought we knew about our swampy hero, turning him from a tragic man into a tragic monster. In the 80s, Alan Moore was in a bit of a mood to deconstruct and blow up the superhero genre, for better and for worse. We see a bit of that here, taking a bit of plot hole in Swamp Thing's origin and turning it into something that utterly redefined that character. Bissette and Totleben's work on art is moody and helps give the comic the vibe of a horror film. It's really good.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, get vaccinated, and wear a mask! Join me next time, when we return to the New Universe and meet a new generation of heroes, harnessing the power...of psi...
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