THE AWESOME ORIGIN OF THE 'FIRST' SWAMP THING...

I doubt that there can be many people these days who are unaware that

ALEC HOLLAND wasn't the first unfortunate to become a "mock-encrusted

mockery" of a man...a SWAMP THING! That dubious gift of fate goes to

ALEX OLSEN, who - in THE HOUSE OF SECRETS #92 (July 1971) -

fell victim to the all-consuming jealousy of DAMIAN RIDGE, his co-worker

and supposed friend, who resented him being married to LINDA, whom

Damian had secretly loved and coveted for, oh...ever such a long time.

However, if I assumed that most people already knew these things, then I'd

have nothing to write about, so I'll imagine, dear reader, that you're only

aware of the second incarnation of the Swamp Thing, who debuted in the

first issue of his own magazine in November of 1972, and who was a bio

restorative research scientist working for the U.S. government along with

his wife, LINDA HOLLAND.

ALAN MOORE grafted his own take onto the character back in the '80s,

and ol' Swampy's probably undergone a few more revisions since then

 Truth to tell, I'm currently completely in the dark over the current status of

Doc Holland's alter-ego - DC seem to change the histories and continuities

of their characters faster than ALAN SCOTT can scream "I'M FREE!" in

his best JOHN INMAN voice.

However, whether you're up to speed on on what's happening to ol'

tuber-tonsils or not, whether you can differentiate between all the

subsequent versions since Alec Holland first crawled out of the mire

back in the early '70s or are as completely clueless as I am, I thought

you'd still enjoy seeing the story that spawned - THE STARTLING

SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING! Enjoy.

 

The above tale, plus the first 'baker's dozen' of the original Swamp Thing

saga by LEN WEIN, BERNIE WRIGHTSON and NESTOR REDONDO are

reprinted in the excellent DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY volume,

entitled ROOTS OF THE SWAMP THING. Wein only wrote the first

thirteen issues before moving on to pastures new, so if you were thinking

of buying a book about our favourite bog-birthed man-monster then it

has to be this one.

ISBN: 978-1-4012-2236-9.