Essential Vertigo: Swamp Thing #1
In "The Anatomy Lesson," Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, and John Totleben launch a chilling exploration of identity and memory, as General Sunderland commissions Jason Woodrue to dissect Swamp Thing’s origins—only for the scientist to uncover a disturbing truth: the creature’s sense of self may be built on a lie. Cover by Tom Yeates, this 1996 Vertigo classic blends psychological horror with ecological dread, setting the stage for a story where the line between man and monster blurs in ways no one expected.
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General Sunderland hires Jason Woodrue to examine Swamp Thing and determine how Alec Holland became the monster, but Woodrue discovers that Swamp Thing only thinks that he was Alec Holland. When Sunderland fires Woodrue, the scientist allows Swamp Thing to take revenge on Sunderland for the both of them.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).