The Saga of Swamp Thing #1

History

DC had actually attempted a Swamp Thing revival as early as 1978, but that effort was killed by the DC Implosion before it could launch. The 1982 series was driven by a clear commercial motive: Wes Craven's live-action Swamp Thing film was headed to theaters that summer, and DC wanted a monthly title on stands to capitalize on the publicity. The character's co-creator Len Wein took the editorial chair — a fitting homecoming — while Martin Pasko was hired as writer and Tom Yeates as penciller; the backup Phantom Stranger story in this debut issue was written by Bruce Jones with art by Dan Spiegle. Pasko would eventually step away from the book due to growing television commitments, at which point Wein's final editorial act was recruiting Alan Moore, whose subsequent takeover with issue #20 made the series' larger history.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First issue of DC's second Swamp Thing ongoing series (volume 2), cover-dated May 1982 and with a registered on-sale date of January 19, 1982.
• Written by Martin Pasko with pencils by Tom Yeates and a cover also by Yeates; edited by Len Wein (the character's co-creator) with Dick Giordano as managing editor.
• The lead story, titled 'What Peace There May Be in Silence!', opens with an origin recap and introduces Casey Clancy — a young, apparently mute girl accused of being demonic — who becomes Swamp Thing's ward and the linchpin of Pasko's overarching plot. Her real name is later revealed to be Karen Clancy.
• Harry Kay, an operative spying on Swamp Thing for an unseen employer (the Sunderland Corporation), appears in this issue; tissue analysis of Swamp Thing's severed hand is a plot thread driving early tension.
• Characters Alec Holland, Linda Holland, Matt Cable, Abigail Arcane, and the Ferrett all appear in flashback as part of the origin recap rather than as active participants in the present-day story.
• The issue includes a Phantom Stranger backup story titled '...In Shadowed Depths!', written by Bruce Jones and drawn by Dan Spiegle; Phantom Stranger backup features ran through the first 13 issues of this series.
• The series was launched partly to tie in with Wes Craven's 1982 Swamp Thing theatrical film; the first Annual (published August 1982) served as the official comic-book adaptation of that movie.
• The entire Pasko/Yeates run of issues #1–19, plus Annual #1, has been collected in the Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Omnibus hardcover, giving this issue a clear collected-edition home for modern readers.

Cast · 10 characters

Full credits

Variants (1)