Swamp Thing vol 1. What happened to this series?

[nocutename]

I don't post too often but I am interested if anyone has some background info about why ST vol1 ended so suddenly. I finished up the run with issue 24 and thought perhaps I forgot to get 25. The next issue was to have Hawkman in it and take a steer away from the horror and into more superhero genre. At least that was stated in the letter column. It looks like they lost the writer but was there more?

 

Thanks for the help.

[MisterX]

Pretty great article about the Swamp Thing V1 in Back Issue 36 ---

 

http://new.twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=843

 

However, if you're not interested in picking it up, here's the explanation in a nutshell: poor sales.

 

By the mid-70s, the Horror fad was on its last legs, and Swamp Thing suffered decreasing sales along with the other horror books. So DC tried to jazz up the Swamp Thing with superheroes.

 

The core readers keeping the book alive rejected the new direction, and that was that.

[Zonker]

I don't post too often but I am interested if anyone has some background info about why ST vol1 ended so suddenly. I finished up the run with issue 24 and thought perhaps I forgot to get 25. The next issue was to have Hawkman in it and take a steer away from the horror and into more superhero genre. At least that was stated in the letter column. It looks like they lost the writer but was there more?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

If you're interested, they did pick up the plot threads from #24 (no Hawkman though) in the late 1970s revival of Challengers of the Unknown. Starting with about issue #81. This was a nice little overlooked run, with early Keith Giffen artwork (plus inks by John Celardo that made Giffen look really really good), tons of guest stars including Deadman and Rip Hunter, and a sequel of sorts to the Wrightson Swamp Thing story from #8 of the original series.

 

Zonker says... check it out! (thumbs u

[TupennyConan]

I finished up the run with issue 24 .

 

On my list of things to read this year is the Swamp Thing Dark Genesis Trade (ST 1-10 & HoS 92).

 

I've looked over the art many times but never read these Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson stories.

 

I'm all fanboy for Wrightson.

 

Did you like these books? Or were they BA silliness?

 

[Schmakt]

I enjoyed that run... ST1 isn't a continuation of HoS92 - I don't think the two stories were really connected until Moore did it during his run. The 92 reads like just about any other HoS story... nice little horror short that could have just as easily been relegated to the recesses of memory.

 

1-10 are a lot of fun tho, but, as mentioned, the series REALLY took a dive toward the end...

 

 

At the end they try to turn Swampy back into Alec Holland by doing the experiment / explosion in reverse....

 

[nocutename]

I don't post too often but I am interested if anyone has some background info about why ST vol1 ended so suddenly. I finished up the run with issue 24 and thought perhaps I forgot to get 25. The next issue was to have Hawkman in it and take a steer away from the horror and into more superhero genre. At least that was stated in the letter column. It looks like they lost the writer but was there more?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

If you're interested, they did pick up the plot threads from #24 (no Hawkman though) in the late 1970s revival of Challengers of the Unknown. Starting with about issue #81. This was a nice little overlooked run, with early Keith Giffen artwork (plus inks by John Celardo that made Giffen look really really good), tons of guest stars including Deadman and Rip Hunter, and a sequel of sorts to the Wrightson Swamp Thing story from #8 of the original series.

 

Zonker says... check it out! (thumbs u

 

I had two issues from Challengers of the Unknown 83 and 85 (I believe). I hated the team not the Deadman or ST appearances which is why I tried out those issues. I was curious if they picked up the story though and how Alec became ST again.

[nocutename]

I finished up the run with issue 24 .

 

On my list of things to read this year is the Swamp Thing Dark Genesis Trade (ST 1-10 & HoS 92).

 

I've looked over the art many times but never read these Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson stories.

 

I'm all fanboy for Wrightson.

 

Did you like these books? Or were they BA silliness?

 

You changed your avatar, I almost didn't recogize you. I really enjoyed Wein run. I got the Classic Library which reprints his entire run 1-13 and HoS 92. It is a horror title but he throws everything at you...werewolf, witch, frankenstein, alien, etc but still has a continuity throughout all the stories.

 

I also liked the next team up Michelinie and Redondo. The stories were not as diverse as Wein's but has a nice underlying spiritual undertone to them. The Conway stories were just ok IMO.

[Jeffro.]

 

1-10 are a lot of fun tho, but, as mentioned, the series REALLY took a dive toward the end...

 

But the art by Nestor Redondo was pretty good. Highly underrated imo.

[nocutename]

Pretty great article about the Swamp Thing V1 in Back Issue 36 ---

 

http://new.twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=843

 

However, if you're not interested in picking it up, here's the explanation in a nutshell: poor sales.

 

By the mid-70s, the Horror fad was on its last legs, and Swamp Thing suffered decreasing sales along with the other horror books. So DC tried to jazz up the Swamp Thing with superheroes.

 

The core readers keeping the book alive rejected the new direction, and that was that.

 

Thanks for the link. It didn't feel like they gave the super-hero direction much of a chance but I do understand that horror titles were fizzing out.

[TupennyConan]

You changed your avatar, I almost didn't recogize you.

 

This is a classic, perennial Tupenny avatar to kick-off 2010.

 

But the art by Nestor Redondo was pretty good. Highly underrated imo.

 

[ComicConnoisseur]

I finished up the run with issue 24 .

 

On my list of things to read this year is the Swamp Thing Dark Genesis Trade (ST 1-10 & HoS 92).

 

I've looked over the art many times but never read these Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson stories.

 

I'm all fanboy for Wrightson.

 

Did you like these books? Or were they BA silliness?

I loved the first 6 issues, it took a dive when Swampthing went to Gotham in issue 7 to meet Batman. They took a good horror comicbook and tried to superhero it and it went down storywise dramatically.

[Zonker]

I finished up the run with issue 24 .

 

On my list of things to read this year is the Swamp Thing Dark Genesis Trade (ST 1-10 & HoS 92).

 

I've looked over the art many times but never read these Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson stories.

 

I'm all fanboy for Wrightson.

 

Did you like these books? Or were they BA silliness?

I loved the first 6 issues, it took a dive when Swampthing went to Gotham in issue 7 to meet Batman. They took a good horror comicbook and tried to superhero it and it went down storywise dramatically.

 

I thought #7 was just fine, and the Lovecraft issue #8 absolutely rocked! By #9 though it did seem the formula had run out of gas. The editors claimed that Wrightson drew #10 in a different style in order to try to avoid being bored with the ongoing assignment. (The artist's desire to do something different was the reason given for Wrightson's departure after #10).

[RockMyAmadeus]

I read the first 10 issues a couple of months ago, for the first time.

 

It was decent, if a bit of a stretch in the suspension of disbelief department (Swampy rides on the outside of a plane all the way from Eastern Europe to the US? Abby Arcane speaks perfect, unaccented English, even though she's from Eastern Europe?)

 

But the artwork was a treat to the eyes, and more than made up for the leaps in logic. I do like the early portrayal of Matt Cable as a capable agent of the US Gov't, rather than the simpering, quivering mass of jello he became by the time Moore got to him in the 80's.

 

So many ways they could have taken the character...and which Moore eventually did take the character...but I suppose hindsight is what it is...

[HouseofComics.Com]

You changed your avatar, I almost didn't recogize you.

 

This is a classic, perennial Tupenny avatar to kick-off 2010.

 

But the art by Nestor Redondo was pretty good. Highly underrated imo.

 

 

I agree and think Redondo's Sgt. Rock is also underrated.