When the clock strikes midnight, The Podcasting Hour shines a creepy candle on the dark corners of DC Comics… brought to you by the ghastly PJ Frightful!
This time Ryan Daly and Ben Avery unearth the tragic first appearance of the Swamp Thing from a story originally published in House of Secrets #92.
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All right it’s that time for the midnight hour is close at hand.
Definitely have been wAiting for swamp thing one of my favorite bog monsters.
My first exposure to the character was the cartoon series though I was a little kid and had no idea he was based on a comic I loved it just for the monster abd he was really cool.
Years later when I was getting into comics I went through Alan Moore phase reading watchmen and all his other works I had seen the two live action movies as well abd while not great I love them for being fun b movies so my exposure to swampy was growning thankfully my library had the hardcover volumes of Alan moores series all six volumes and to my suprise they had also the collection of the first run which included this story so I was able to read the original run through to the Alan Moore run definitely was a treat.
This story really is my favorite I feel no other comic had really captured this kind of atmosphere and the art the beautiful art especially that cover
One thing I do like in the alan Moore run is when his swamp thing revisits this story to basically explain why he looks different from before it’s definitely one of my favorite and dug the recreation of the panels in that story.
This is just the beginning of the saga and I can’t wait too see the other issues coming up.
See you at the big top for next time.
Heh, Shazam sfx.
As long as I’m standing, that effect will never go away.
Swamp Thing is ‘my’ Swamp Monster. Never much cared for Man-Thing. I was such a DC kid.
I have to be honest that I first encountered this story in the Moore run as it was reprinted in issue #33 (that cover is a nice nod to this one). And, of course, Moore folded this nicely into his vision, making this Swamp Thing the one before Alec Holland in canon.
Since then, I have seen this reprinted a number of places. I think this was one of the Millenium reprints.
It is a great story with a lot happening in just 8 pages. I have adopted ‘If tears could come, they would’ in my personal lexicon, said when I am witnessing something horrific but so emotionally/physically exhausted that I can’t muster tears.
I picked up the book in the pre-Moore days with Pasko and Yeates. I looked for the early Wein/Wrightson stuff at flea markets and have bought a couple here and there. I should seek them out.
I suffered through the Veitch run longer than I should have. And I felt so burned out from that (and so high on the Moore stuff) that I haven’t read another Swamp Thing series since.
Looking forward to all this.
I’ll stand up and defend the Veitch run any day Anj. They were the first Swamp Thing’s I read and I loved his twisted takes on DC Universe characters like Roy Raymond, Solomon Grundy, Sgt Rock, Enemy Ace etc. I actually went backwards into the Moore and Wein stuff after starting here.
I find it a lot harder to defend the Doug Wheeler and Nancy Collins runs as they are monotonous and uninspired, but the Mark Millar run is terrifically imaginative and disturbingly horrific.
I did pick up some of the Millar run but didn’t stick with it. I think in the end that Veitchs story about the next Green elemental just went on too long.
I wonder if I would think differently if I read today. I purged them from my collection long ago.
I’d revisit the Veitch run between issue 79 with Superman on the cover through to 87 with the Swamp Thing Spider with Camelot on it’s back. Issue 80 was an Invasion tie in and the single most unflattering depiction of Guy Gardner ever.
Sorry 81 is the Invasion. My bad. 82 to 87 were the only Veitch issues not traded.
Bass and I were shocked. SHOCKED! Look forward to your comments in a couple episodes of First Strike.
Great episode! Enjoyed the comparisons of ST and MT, and Ben’s descriptions of Heap stories (“another magic jewel?”)
I don’t remember when I first encountered Swampy, but I do remember one of the early Wein/Wrightson issues was covered on Nickelodeon’s VIDEO COMICS show. I remember marveling (heh) at the beautiful, moody art, shot up close panel by panel, and on TV no less! Seems highly improbable that such a dark series was the subject of a kid’s show, but hey it was the early 80s, things were pretty loose back then.
I agree re: Ben’s point, that it was good that there’s no host appearing in this story. It’s so well done, and the ending so perfect, I would have hated to see Mark Hanerfeld show up in the last panel, making a corny joke.
And yes, the cover is perfect.
I appreciated Scott’s comments on “The Demon Within.” How sad to realize we’re not as far away from that kind of monstrousness as we thought.
Thanks guys for a great episode! Like others I loved the swamp monster background and I also loved your coverage of the House of Secrets first appearance.
Like Rob K, I fondly remember VIDEO COMICS on Nickelodeon. I know that is where I first encountered Swamp Thing (along with Ultra the Muti-Alien, Adam Strange, and others) in the late 1970s. I got reintroduced to Swampy in the mid 80s during Alan Moore’s run. I stopped reading regularly not too long after his run finished though I would still pick up random issues from time to time. I have had interest for a long time in reading the Wein/Wrightson original run and your episode has inspired me to hunt down those stories.
Thinking more about VIDEO COMICS I did a little web search to see if I could find any online. I was able to find only one. And low and behold, it was a the Swampy one that I remember from my childhood! (the Wein/Wrightson Swamp Thing #1) Here is the web address:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdm0JgM8UYU
Watch it! It is about 20 minutes long.
I love how they not only narrate but also voice act. The camera work they use also gives the feeling of motion (I think Ken Burns is often given credit for the technique which he used in his documentary “The Civil War” but this predates that production by quite a ways). The episode is great and good prep for what I assume will be Ryan and Ben’s next Swamp Thing episode.
Though Swamp Thing was billed as a horror comic and presented on Nickelodeon, it was not nearly as creepy to me as the Nickelodeon Mime that appeared on the channel at the time. You can find that on Youtube too. Yikes!
Thanks guys. Keep up the great work, and I’m looking forward to more!
Best,
Scott X
Great episode! I’ll always pick Swamp Thing over Man-Thing, despite the greatest comic title of all time (Giant-Size…well, you know) and the awesome Power Record made featuring the character.
I first read this story in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #9 (a Secret Origins issue!), and even though I was quite the weiner back then, I was still fascinated by this story, and enjoyed it. My next exposure to Swampy was in issues of DCCP and The Brave and The Bold, and of course, the movie. I remember being at my grandparents house and catching it on HBO. I felt like I’d stumbled onto something dirty! Adrienne Barbeau left quite the impression.
The animated series was really just a mini-series as I recall. It didn’t get picked up for a full season. But everyone remembers that theme. The 2nd movie was just misguided, and the TV series was…boring. I’ve heard it described as Swampy and Arcane being fussy neighbors who yell over the fence at each other at every episode end. I tend to agree.
Really looking forward to your coverage of the original run in particular. I read those many, MANY years ago from my then-brother-in-law’s collection, and I haven’t gotten any reprints since. Fantastic stuff!
Ben brought the goods, and reminded me I need to get that Swamp Men book from TwoMorrows. Ryan, you did a bang up job on the narration and editing, music, etc. Midnight…is one of the best sounding shows on the network.
Chris
I think the heavy shadows are to blame, but the bit of triangular design over Swampy’s nose reads like a mustache to me in this, which I never really got before.
Even before Bissette and Totelben made Swamp Thing much more tree-like, I always kind of thought of the triangluar-bridge across his nose as a fork in a branch or a root. I think the original movie suit helped me think in that direction.
Chris
Thanks for yet another terrific episode, Ben sounds like a lovely fellow.
‘If tears could come, they would,’ basically tells us that Swamp Thing is less human than The Vision. I’m not sure how I can use this great insight.
I started with the Pasko/Yeates run when it came out – didn’t it share house ad pages with Fury of Firestorm? – and loved them. Which isn’t to say I wasn’t enormously excited when a British fanzine editor pal – the late, lovely Martin Skidmore – who was friendly with Alan Moore gave me the scoop about six months ahead that he was joining DC to write Swampy. There’s a great interview with Pesky Pasko about his Swampy work in the current Back Issue. You know, the one with the wonderful Phantom Stranger piece by Rob Kelly.
Rob was kind enough to send me that BACK ISSUE. Great stuff on Swamp Thing, The Witching Hour, and of course Phantom Stranger.
I’m really into rediscovering the original run of Swamp Thing, including Wein’s Saga issues, because while these were simpler times, the comics are still worthy of the horror genre, I think. Recently read one of the 70s issues because it tied into our Swamp Thing Invasion coverage (look for it a couple of episodes of First Strike hence), and was amazed by Wrightson’s art there.
Veitch is also an era I have to discover, as my knowledge ends mid-Moore, then starts again with Collins (yes, I know, of all the runs to pick up Swamp Thing again…).
This story was my introduction to Swamp Thing. Like Mr. Franklin above I read it in DC special # 9. To this day the characters in that issue are some of my favorite parts of DC comics. Yes, that includes Swamp Thing. Yes, my favorite stories all come from Moores run. However i prefer the transformed man that the plat God that thinks it’s a Man. The latter was great when mad wizard Moore wrote it, but normal humans seem to have problems writing it well. (It may be the writer equivalent to NightWings disco coller that only Perez can draw)
Any who I’m only half way through the podcast as I write this. Loving it so far!
Rev. Null
I forgot to give my first encounter with Swamp Thing – it was in the Challengers of the Unknown series that also guest starred Deadman. Such fun!
I don’t have a ton to say about the proto-Swamp Thing story. The art and cover are nice, and the story’s okay. I’ve read this a couple or three times. Never had much use for Man-Thing, but I’ll admit to reading a few good stories centered around him. I believe The Heap got a fair amount of play in the Eclipse revival books for Airboy/Valkyrie/etc.
Yep, that’s all I’ve got.
Great episode! Loved the coverage and insights on this unusual start to the Swamp Thing! The background and history was fascinating (and I still believe my theory about the creators/roommates of Swamp Thing and Man-Thing getting high together and spit-balling the concept).
More importantly, Ben talked about his love of all muck monsters. Seriously, Ben? Not one mention of the Ultraverse “Sludge” character? I don’t even know you anymore. You are dead to me. You might as well be wearing a gold bracelet…