FutureFlash

Hey Brando, thanks for stopping by the 'ole blog. Yeah the Pasko issues have been decent, issue 3 was the weakest one so far.

Swamp Thing #3 Issue #3 Cover Impressions: Decent cover, looks like Swamp Thing is fighting vampire hobos on a train? Swamp Thing #3 (July, 1982) Title: A Town Has Turned To Blood Credits: Writer-Martin Pasko Art-Tom Yeates Editor-Len Wein Colorist-Tatjana Wood Letterer-John Costanza Still the same crew as last issue. Plot: Swamp Thing and Casey are on a westbound train in Illinois, when they are attacked by a group of vampires [Vampire Hobos, yes! No, they are just punk emo town kid vampires.]. During the struggle Swamp thing is thrown from train without Casey. Later Swamp Thing joins forces with the only four remaining people ( a man named Larry, his son Steven, Larry's sister Hillary and her son Bob) in town to fight the vampires. The group splits up, Larry takes his son to blow the dam which will flood the town killing the vampires by immersing them in running water. Meanwhile Swamp Thing, Hillary and her son fight the vampires in town and tragically Hillary is turned into a vampire. Swamp Thing later stakes her through the heart to save Bob. Swampy then rescues Bob from the flooding and then continues on his way (without Bob) to find Casey. This issue also introduces Liz Treymane who is an investigative reporter and the author of the book about Swamp Thing (which was shown in issue #1) in Pineboro, Arkansas investigating a child murder on the loose in the area. Remarks: The vampires felt more like scary monster of the week rather than any real usefulness of the overall ongoing plot of the series. However it was a pretty gruesome issue, Larry sacrificing himself and his son to destroy the dam. Bob's mother was turned into a vampire and of course Swamp Thing killed her right in front of her son. Also to add insult to the pain of losing his family, Swamp Thing leaves Bob behind in the now destroyed town. Kind of a jerk move Swampy, leaving a kid all alone to fend for himself. Sure maybe he just assumed the other town folk would come back and take care of Bob. Would you move back to a destroyed town that may be infested with vampires? Grade: C+

That map of Krypton is cool. Superman is one of my favorite characters and I've been working on a Silver run since getting back into collecting a few years ago, but pretty much nixed the idea of collecting Superboy. However this thread has me rethinking that position.

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

Issue #2 Cover Impressions: Ugh...my eyes are burning. Seriously this has to be one of the worst comic book covers of all time. Swamp Thing #2 (June, 1982) Title: Something to Live For Credits: Writer-Martin Pasko Art-Tom Yeates Editor-Len Wein Colorist-Tatjana Wood Letterer-John Costanza Same crew as last issue. Plot: This issue continues from the last issue with Swamp Thing fighting the town mob protecting Casey. Meanwhile Doctor Kay and Mr.G plot to get Swamp Thing by kidnapping Casey, which Kay is able to do while Swampy is busy fighting the mob. Afterwards Swamp Thing is captured by Kay spraying a defoliant from a crop dusting airplane. Swamp Thing wakes up a prisoner of Mr G who identifies himself as Grasp (he says that is not his real name of course!) who wants the Biorestorative formula. Grasp threatens to run Swampy through a saw blade if he does not give up the formula. Swamp Thing escapes the saw and knocks out Grasp then quickly leaves to rescue Casey, who in the meantime has managed to disable the German Dr. Kay. As the pair flees into a cave system, they are pursed by Grasp wielding a laser gun, who then falls to his presumable death. Swamp Thing and Casey hitch a ride on a train and head west. Remarks: Another solid issue (minus the cover). We find out that Kay and Grasp are the villains, they want to use the Biorestorative formula to enrich the Sunderland Corporation and will employ any means necessary to get it. More horror elements in this issue such as threatening to kill Casey (again), almost cutting Swamp Thing in half with a saw, Grasp having robotic hands under his gloves, and Doctor Kay burning up in an inferno only to walk out at the end of the issue with his skin melting off. So Kay isn't dead does that mean Grasp survived the fall? After all he does have some robotic parts, maybe he is cyborg? Grade: B-

Thanks for reading. I do plan on reading Veitch, I've heard good things about his run as well. I agree about most writers struggling with Swamp Thing with his guest appearances, every time he has shown up it was pretty much meh. I did like his most recent appearance in Batman 23, perhaps King should give Swamp Thing a go at some point.

Okay here we go, Issue #1. Cover Impressions: Striking blue background. Swamp Thing (and a little girl) surrounded by a literal torch bearing mob...looks promising. And as a bonus it is a Collector's Issue, how could one go wrong buying this off the rack. Swamp Thing #1 (May, 1982) Title: What Peace There May Be In Silence Credits: Writer-Martin Pasko Never read much of Pasko's work other than a few issues of his late 70s Superman books, which he has several to his credit. I did look up Pasko on the Web, he has been around along time, got his start in comics by being a frequent letter writer and then later hired by DC. After Swamp Thing he mostly worked in television and animation. Art-Tom Yeates I know Yates from his work on the Dark Horse Busiek Conan run, solid stuff. So I imagine the art for Swamp Thing will be good as well. Editor-Len Wein Yep I have heard of him Colorist-Tatjana Wood Not overly familiar with Wood other than she was the colorist for Camelot 3000 and Wally Wood's wife. She also was the colorist for many DC titles from the 70s into the 80s. Letterer-John Costanza I know his work from DC War Titles, Conan, Kirby New Gods, Dark Knight Returns, Camelot 3000, LoSH, Wonder Woman, Sandman Mystery Theater and many others. Pretty impressive resume. Overall the initial creators on Swamp Thing are a pretty solid crew. This bodes well for Swampy and me! Thoughts on the issue: Pretty solid first issue. Starts with a good recap of Swamp Thing's origin. I assume all of this happened in Vol 1 and House of Secrets. I was bit surprised to find the story set in the swamps of North Carolina, I thought Swamp Thing was set the bayou of Louisiana? Also in this issue, Swampy rescues a mute girl named Casey, from her crazy Father who just killed her Mother and is about to kill her. By the end of the issue the whole town gets whipped into angry mob and introduces the reader to mysterious men named Mr. Kay and Mr. G. Both villains I assume...no capes to be found however. Certainly not a traditional super hero comic right out of the gate. And of course we learn at the very end that Swamp Thing may be dying...all that in 17 pages. That would be about 6 issues in today's comics. Also I find it pretty gruesome for 1982, Swamp Thing gets blasted with a shot gun and gets his hand severed. Also a little girl is almost murdered by her Father for being a witch. Dark stuff indeed. Grade: B

Hey all, I've enjoyed many fellow boardie's journals and I thought I would share my experience reading Swamp Thing (1982) for the first time. I plan to start at #1 and read up to at least #87. Basically the Pasko, Moore and Veitch runs. I've heard nothing but praise (obviously) for Moore's Swamp Thing, but I figured I would start with Pasko, because it is the beginning of the series. Oddly I have found very little reviews of the Pasko issues, so not sure how it will be. I could have started with House of Secrets #92 and the first Swamp Thing volume by Wein and Wrightson, however I own none of those issues at this time. Though I think there is a trade available, so perhaps a detour down the road a bit. A bit of background on me as a comic collector. I started seriously collecting comics in1985 with Transformers #1, from there I started to collect GI Joe. It didn't take to long and I was collecting a lot of superhero comics mostly of the Marvel variety. I did dabble here and there with DC Comics, mostly Batman and Justice League. Of course by that time Moore was already working on his landmark run on Swamp Thing, but to my 12 year-old self, It was a bit and ignored it. Oddly I did read Watchmen as it was being released, I found it fascinating, literally the best series I had ever read and still is today. But I still never bothered reading his Swamp Thing. As the 90s started, I found myself getting more into DC comics with Death of Superman, Emerald Twilight, Terminal Velocity and Knightfall. I continued collecting comics (mostly DC) up until the end 1999. At that point I was out and was focused on other things. I returned to comic collecting in 2014 after being lured back into the hobby by the various superhero movies and of course The Walking Dead. Today I've been reading new stuff and old classic runs that I missed all those years ago. Lately I've been reading Superman from 1999-up to the new 52 (including Flash, JSA, JLA, LoSH and few others). I've also been reading the Sliver Age LoSH archive editions, Savage Sword of Conan, Byrne's Superman, Ostrander's Suicide Squad, DC War comics, Stormwatch/Authority/Planetary, Hellblazer and a bunch of Marvel stuff though Marvel Unlimited. As for why I want to start reading Swamp Thing, not really sure just a combination of things. I have just recently finished up Moore's Providence and had been deciding on reading another one of his other works that I missed like From Hell. But then a few weeks ago I read Batman #23 "The Brave and the Mold" by King. That I got me to thinking hey maybe I should read Moore's Swamp Thing...which of course were John Constantine gets his start. So on to the reading of Swamp Thing! Hope you all enjoy a Swamp Thing newbie's thoughts on the series.

So all of the first DC 12 centers all have a box and use a bit smaller font and don't have a line through the ₵, compared to the following issues?

So many cool covers!

Great thread Sliver! Enjoying your books and your recollections of collecting the run.

Agreed, issue #3 was my first read of this weeks batch of comics. Sweet Lee cover to boot.

Finished Savage Sword of Conan vol 1. Never read any of the Savage Sword stuff due to the magazine format. Overall pretty solid. Now on to Showcase: The Losers vol 1 (OFF 123-150, GIC 138), Superman Man of Steel vol 3, and Hellblazer Vol 1.

Nice to see some life in this thread. I haven't picked up any rare covers myself of late, been focused on other things. But I am enjoying all 3 of the titles, thankfully Revolution didn't ruin them.

Picked up issue 1 (surprising there were still a few around) and 2. Read both issues, great start to the series. Didn't love the water colors at first, but by the end of the first issue, I was digging them.

Good Stuff!

I'll take: Unknown Soldier 206 Unknown Soldier 207

Yeah they may have just ordered the normal cover.

I liked it a lot...my LCS didn't have any of the Lee covers for some odd reason. I need to track one down. Also I need to get in gear and read Vol2 of Stormwatch (and Authority).

I am liking both Lost Light and Optimus so far. It is good to see Revolution did not have to big of an impact to either series.

Thats a nice price for the book. I would've thought they were plentiful but it must not be the case. I pick up Bolland WW's any time I see them in nice shape, which isn't very often anymore. 5-10 years ago you could still scoop them out of 50 cent and dollar bins, but these days not so much. But of the many I've dug up, this is the one (along with 72) that I almost never find. I don't think WW was exactly a blockbuster title at the time, although that is admittedly just my personal anecdotal remembrance, and definitely not based on any real numbers. The hardcore WW and Bolland people got theirs years ago, and have held onto them. Since then, the run has gained in popularity, and people are picking them up more and more. Same goes for the AH run. See them, buy them. Your going to be finding them less and less. I'd go so far as to say any Bolland cover is worth picking up - love 'em! Especially since most of his runs are great comics regardless of his covers. This is definitely true as well. Animal Man, Invisibles, Camelot 3000, Gotham Knights, Wonder Woman, etc. All winners all the way around! Camelot 3000, now that is an underrated series.

Thats a nice price for the book. I would've thought they were plentiful but it must not be the case. I pick up Bolland WW's any time I see them in nice shape, which isn't very often anymore. 5-10 years ago you could still scoop them out of 50 cent and dollar bins, but these days not so much. But of the many I've dug up, this is the one (along with 72) that I almost never find. I don't think WW was exactly a blockbuster title at the time, although that is admittedly just my personal anecdotal remembrance, and definitely not based on any real numbers. The hardcore WW and Bolland people got theirs years ago, and have held onto them. Since then, the run has gained in popularity, and people are picking them up more and more. Same goes for the AH run. See them, buy them. Your going to be finding them less and less. I agree the Bolland and AH covers seem to be getting hard to find. I don't run across them to often. I found a 63 buried in a cheap lot on eBay last summer. It was a nice find until I looked at the back cover with almost a page long cover crease, argh. So maybe there is some truth to ithe Bolland issues that there may not be a lot of high grade copies around. To much floating around in dollar bins for almost 30 years. I also don't see Bolland Shadow of The Bat covers very often either.

I haven't started the new books yet. Still have Revolution #5 and Transformers MTMTE Revolution to read. I was dreading reading Revolution, but I ended up liking it, much stronger story line than Titans Return or Combiners. Hopefully they won't overdo the shared universe in the main Transformers books.

Great seller a pleasure to do business with. Even added a few freebies, much appreciated.

Those Heroic Comics covers are nice.