Ooooh, VHS - weird cover of the week #8

I always enjoy the subtle cutural changes to movie posters and box art ...this is a fun one.

That weedy-red-eyed graphic along the top is exactly what I mean, and man - Swampy's looking pretty feisty - I suspect it's the RED dress getting him all worked up..

I watched this again the other night - it's such an earnest little movie.
Good memories, that's for sure(and it was the nudity-laced "Adrienne Barbeau is awesome" edition).

A.

Weird Cover of the Week #7

Late again..
..tsk tsk..

Here's a nice John Tottleben cover from later in the second series - feels like Lovecraft meets Giger meets Cronenberg a la DC comics - Beautiful work.

The Bissette/Tottleben team excelled at emotional faces, and Swamp Thing's is a weird one for sure, but they imbued so much humanity in a character who'd recently lost his - I think their attention to detail was a huge part of the success of the book in the 80's - Like a good film, you can "read" just the pictures and still "get it".








This being said, I'd lost my connection to the book by #98, but I suspect I'll ultimately pick up everything from both the 1st and 2nd series - then weed through for the worthwhile stuff, like this cover.

ST + AA = ♥

Abigail Arcane - Swampy's true love..
Annnd interesting that his Big Baddie starts out in the same issue as his Lois Lane - #2 of the first series. We'll see a lot of them over the years - all the way up 'til now, and those, kiddies, are the classic tenets of the superhero - of just about any hero..

The good, the true love ..and the truly bad - Perfecto, I says.

I did not know Swampy was Spanish..

http://dearunclecreepy.blogspot.com/2009/03/kick-ass-spanish-bootleg-swamp-thing.html
Check this out...

WEIRD Cover of the Week #6

Hmmm...
Is it just me or does Swampy seem a little out of place on this cover?

This is from a rather surreal period in ol' Swampy's history - his time with the Challengers of the Unknown.

I'm a DC guy - it's true, and a very big fan of the silver age, but even my insane Swamp Thing obsession has never led me to read these..
They just struck me as soo wrong..
buuut that being said, I'm going to try to track 'em down.

Guess I'm finally curious enough to investigate the
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? side of the story - good drugs? ..a licensing issue? Who can say, really..

Sooo, the moral of the story is that Alan Moore was the second writer to send Swamp Thing to Space. Crazy.

A.

Meeting Len Wein

NY Comic-Con was one of the best adventures of my life.
..and it had one huge highlight..
Meeting Len Wein. I turned into an 11 year old..
now, I've met quite a number of moviestars, but this..

This was the guy who CREATED Swamp Thing..
Polite, chatty, jokey, cool - I instantly liked him, and he had the time for me and my questions about the Swamp Thing screenplay he'd written - where that currently stands and some little stories too. EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE. What a guy.

That's not my #1 sadly..
..but I did get #8 signed - I ♥ M'Nagalah.

A.

Weird Cover of the Week #5

Day late..
Oops ..damn you, Arcane..

This is the only original issue I've never owned, and weird for that reason buuuut...

It's that bat on the cover - why is it there? I love it, don't get me wrong, but it's odd - Tales from the Crypt-ish, and only on this one issue.

Weirdness aside, the story is just excellent, with Swampy over to Europe for his first encounter with Anton Arcane.
It really is an early '70's comic book combo of Mary Shelley meets Gaines' EC genius.
And like the work of Moore, Bissette, and Tottleben, the quality of the artwork versus the strength of the writing is always Even Steven.

These issues are just a blast to read, though I must confess to not having read the original 10 in quite some time. To be honest, I've been waiting to read the whole series through, as an "adult" - new perspective and all..
So this year is the year to get Swamp Thing #2, and ohhh, I will get it.

And for more on Anton, just go below..
↓ ↓ ↓ 

A R C A N E

Every Super-hero needs a foil, if you will..
Superman has Lex, Batman has the Joker, and by #2 of his original series, Swamp Thing had acquired his own brilliant evil nemesis in Dr. Anton Arcane.

Peter Cushing would have played ARCANE.

His first incarnation is like something out of a Hammer film ...ancient, gothic ...almost Victorian.
Swampy kicks his ass, just barely..
..but #10 see's the resurrection of Uncle Anton, and it aint pretty.

This, I do believe, was the first time I encountered a "bad guy"'s introduction, then his first "return appearance" as an honest surprise - AWESOME.
I can still hear Eye in the Sky by Alan Parsons Project - I was young..

Arcane's monstrous evil is now reflected in the hideous visage of his new face - new body - one better equipped per se..

A beautiful issue, with Wrightson at his macabre best - Gothic Arcane, having hunted Swampy all the way to the Southern States of America, with his FREAKS-inspired Un-Men ...and the ghosts of America's past.
Brilliant work and the final of the 10 issues W&W did together.
Wow, talk about going out with a bang. Very good Story.

It would be almost 10 years later before we'd see ol' Arcane again, and more monstrous than ever..

Arcane would keep returning, and evolving - his meeting with Swamp Thing in Hell is fantastic..

and the new 52 Swampy get's it own Arcane with William - the son of ___ 

...pretty fun so far.
Nice to have Swampy back in the DCU, and fighting an Arcane - Proper.

Cheers, A.