Editing Swamp Thing (section)

==Publication history==
{{Main|Swamp Thing (comic book){{!}}''Swamp Thing'' (comic book)}}

===Volume 1===
[[File:Swthing01.jpg|thumb|200px|Cover of ''Swamp Thing'' #1 (October–November 1972), art by [[Bernie Wrightson]]|left]]Len Wein was the writer for the first 13 issues, before [[David Michelinie]] and [[Gerry Conway]] finished up the series. Burgeoning horror artist [[Bernie Wrightson]] drew the first 10 issues of the series, while [[Nestor Redondo]] drew a further 13 issues, the last issue being drawn by [[Fred Carrillo]]. The original creative team worked closely together; Wrightson recalled that during story conferences, Wein would walk around the office acting out all of the parts.<ref name="WeinDaddy">{{cite journal |last1=Ho |first1=Richard |date=November 2004 |title=Who's Your Daddy?? |journal=Wizard |issue=#140 |pages=68–74 |publisher=[[Wizard Entertainment]] }}</ref> The Swamp Thing fought against evil as he sought the men who murdered his wife and caused his monstrous transformation, as well as searching for a means to transform back into his human form.

The Swamp Thing has since fought many villains. Though they only met twice during the first series, the mad scientist [[Anton Arcane]] (with his obsession with gaining immortality) became the Swamp Thing's nemesis, even as the Swamp Thing developed a close bond with Arcane's niece [[Abby Holland (comics)|Abigail Arcane]]. Arcane was aided by his nightmarish army of [[Un-Men]] and the Patchwork Man, alias Arcane's brother Gregori Arcane who, after a land mine explosion, was rebuilt as a Frankenstein Monster-type creature by his brother. Also involved in the conflict was the Swamp Thing's close friend-turned-enemy Lt. [[Matthew (DC Comics)|Matthew Joseph Cable]], a federal agent who
originally mistakenly believed the Swamp Thing to be responsible for the deaths of Alec and Linda Holland.

As sales figures plummeted towards the end of the series, the writers attempted to revive interest by introducing fantastical creatures, aliens, and even Alec Holland's brother, Edward (a character that was never referred to again by later writers) into the picture.

The last two issues saw the Swamp Thing transformed back into Alec Holland and having to fight one last menace as an ordinary human. The series was cancelled with issue #24 and a blurb for a 25th issue containing an upcoming encounter with [[Hawkman]] led nowhere. Alec Holland's transformation back into the Swamp Thing was covered in ''Challengers of the Unknown'' #81-87, within which the Swamp Thing is enlisted by the titular team to fight the [[Lovecraftian]] cosmic threat M'nagalah, whom the Swamp Thing had encountered during Wein's run.

===''The Saga of the Swamp Thing'' and Volume 2===
[[File:Swampthingmoore21.jpg|thumb|left|Cover of ''The Saga of the Swamp Thing'' (vol. 2) #21 (February 1984), art by [[Tom Yeates]]]]
In 1982, DC Comics revived the ''Swamp Thing'' series,<ref>Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 197: "Swamp Thing returned to the pages of a new ongoing series, written by Martin Pasko and drawn by artist Tom Yeates".</ref> attempting to capitalize on the summer 1982 release of the [[Wes Craven]] [[Swamp Thing (1982 film)|film of the same name]]. A revival had been planned for 1978, but was a victim of the [[DC Implosion]]. The new series, called ''The Saga of the Swamp Thing'', featured an adaptation of the Craven film in its first annual. Now written by [[Martin Pasko]], the book loosely picked up after the Swamp Thing's guest appearances in ''Challengers of the Unknown'' #81-87, ''DC Comics Presents'' #8, and ''The Brave and the Bold'' #172, with the character wandering around the swamps of Louisiana seen as an urban legend and feared by locals. Pasko's main arc depicted the Swamp Thing roaming the globe, trying to stop a young girl (and the possible [[Anti-Christ]]) named Karen Clancy from destroying the world.

When Pasko had to give up work on the title due to increasing television commitments, editor Len Wein assigned the title to British writer [[Alan Moore]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=Dan |date=December 1986 |title=Alan Moore Adds Sin and Drugs to Swamp Thing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FL-rqqrDxb8C&pg=PA10 |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|SPIN]] |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=10 |via=Google Books}}</ref> When Karen Berger took over as editor, she gave Moore free rein to revamp the title and the character as he saw fit. Moore reconfigured the Swamp Thing's origin to make him a true monster, as opposed to a human transformed into a monster. In his first issue, he swept aside most of the supporting cast that Pasko had introduced in his year-and-a-half run as writer and brought the Sunderland Corporation to the forefront, as they hunted the Swamp Thing down and "killed" him in a hail of bullets. The subsequent investigation revealed that the Swamp Thing was not Alec Holland transformed into a plant, but actually a wholly plant-based entity created upon the death of Alec Holland, having somehow absorbed duplicates of Holland's consciousness and memories into himself. He is described as "a plant that thought it was Alec Holland, a plant that was trying its level best to ''be'' Alec Holland". This is explained as a result of the plant matter of the swamp absorbing Holland's bio-restorative formula, with the Swamp Thing's appearance being the plants' attempt to duplicate Holland's human form. This revelation resulted in the Swamp Thing suffering a temporary mental breakdown and identity crisis, but he eventually re-asserted himself in time to stop the latest scheme of the [[Floronic Man]].

Issue #32 was a strange twist of comedy and tragedy, as the Swamp Thing encounters an alien version of [[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]], [[Walt Kelly]]'s character.

Moore would later reveal, in an attempt to connect the original one-off Swamp Thing story from ''[[House of Secrets (DC Comics)|House of Secrets]]'' #92 to the main ''Swamp Thing'' canon, that there had been dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Swamp Things since the dawn of humanity, and that all versions of the creature were designated defenders of the '''Parliament of Trees''', an elemental community which rules a dimension known as "the Green" that connects all plant life on Earth. Moore's ''Swamp Thing'' broadened the scope of the series to include ecological and spiritual concerns while retaining its horror-fantasy roots. In issue #37, Moore formally introduced the character of [[John Constantine|John Constantine the Hellblazer]] as a magician/con artist who would lead the Swamp Thing on the "American Gothic" storyline. Alan Moore also introduced the concept of the DC characters Cain and Abel being the mystical reincarnations of the Biblical Cain and Abel caught in an endless cycle of murder and resurrection.

''The Saga of the Swamp Thing'' was the first mainstream comic book series to completely abandon the [[Comics Code Authority]]'s approval.<ref>"Comics Code Rejects ''Saga of Swamp Thing'' Story; ''Swamp Thing'' Rejects Code", ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' #93 (September 1984), pp. 12/13.</ref>

With issue #65, regular penciler [[Rick Veitch]] took over from Moore and began scripting the series, continuing the story in a roughly similar vein for 24 more issues. Veitch's term ended in 1989 due to a widely publicized creative dispute, when DC refused to publish issue #88 because of the use of [[Jesus Christ]] as a character, despite having previously approved the script in which the Swamp Thing is a cupbearer who offers Jesus water when he calls for it from the cross.<ref>"''Swamp Thing'' Cancellation Begets Protest, Media Attention", ''The Comics Journal'' #130 (July 1989), pp. 28–29.</ref><ref>"Rick Veitch Quits ''Swamp Thing''", ''The Comics Journal'' #129 (May 1989), pp. 7–11.</ref> The series was handed to Doug Wheeler, who made the cup that the [[Shining Knight]] believed to be the [[Holy Grail]] to be a cup used in a religious ceremony by a [[Neanderthal]] tribe that was about to be wiped out by [[Cro-Magnon]]s, in the published version of issue #88. In issue #90, Wheeler not only reintroduced Matango, a character that Stephen Bissette had introduced in ''Swamp Thing Annual'' #4, but he also completed Veitch's story arc that intended to have Abby Holland give birth to the human-plant hybrid elemental [[Tefé Holland|Tefe Holland]] . 

After a period of high creative turnover,<ref>"Swamp Thing Team Leaves", ''The Comics Journal'' #139 (December 1990), p. 16.</ref> in 1991 DC sought to revive interest in ''Swamp Thing'' by bringing horror writer [[Nancy A. Collins]] on board to write the series. Starting with ''Swamp Thing Annual'' #6, Collins moved on to write ''Swamp Thing'' (vol. 2) #110–138, dramatically overhauling the series by restoring the pre-Alan Moore tone and incorporating a new set of supporting cast members into the book.<ref>"Nancy Collins: ''Swamp Thing''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s New Scripter Speaks", ''David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview'' #102 (1991), pp. 4–13.</ref> Collins resurrected [[Anton Arcane]], along with the Sunderland Corporation, as foils for the Swamp Thing. Her stories tended to be ecologically based and at one point featured giant killer flowers.

With issue #140 (March 1994), the title was handed over to [[Grant Morrison]] for a four-issue story arc, co-written by the then-unknown [[Mark Millar]]. As Collins had destroyed the status quo of the series, Morrison sought to shake the book up with a four-part storyline which had the Swamp Thing plunged into a nightmarish dreamworld scenario where he was split into two separate beings: Alec Holland and the Swamp Thing, which was now a mindless being of pure destruction. Millar then took over from Morrison with issue #144, and launched what was initially conceived as an ambitious 25-part storyline where the Swamp Thing would be forced to go upon a series of trials against rival elemental forces. Millar brought the series to a close with issue #171 in a finale where the Swamp Thing becomes the master of all elemental forces, including the planet.

===Volume 3===
Written by [[Brian K. Vaughan]] and drawn by Roger Petersen and [[Giuseppe Camuncoli]] in 2001, the third ''Swamp Thing'' series focused on the daughter of the Swamp Thing, [[Tefé Holland]]. Even though she was chronologically 11–12, the series had Tefé aged into the body of an 18-year-old with a mindwipe orchestrated by the Swamp Thing. Constantine and Abby try to control her darker impulses, brought about by her exposure to the Parliament of Trees. Due to the circumstances under which she was conceived, the Swamp Thing, possessing [[John Constantine]], was not aware that he was given a blood transfusion by a demon. She held power over both plants and flesh.

Believing herself to be a normal human girl named Mary who had miraculously recovered from cancer three years prior, she rediscovers her powers and identity when she finds her boyfriend and best friend betraying her on prom night. In a moment of anger, her powers manifest and she kills them both. Tefé then fakes her own death and embarks on a series of misadventures that take her across the country, and ultimately to Africa, in search of a mythical "Tree of Knowledge".

During this series, it seems that the Swamp Thing and Abigail have reunited as lovers and are living in their old home in the Louisiana swamps outside Houma. The home in which they live more closely resembles the one that the Swamp Thing constructs for Abigail during the Moore run than the home in which they dwell during the Collins run. In a confrontation with Tefé, the Swamp Thing explains that he has cut himself off from the Green and there seems to be no trace of the god-like powers he acquired from the Parliaments of Air, Waves, Stone or Flames during the Millar run. Also, Vaughan's Swamp Thing does not seem to have been divorced from the humanity of his Alec Holland self. The disconnection between these two entities becomes a plot point in Volume 4.

===Volume 4===
A fourth series began in 2004, with writers [[Andy Diggle]] (#1–6), [[Will Pfeifer]] (#7–8) and [[Joshua Dysart]] (#9–29). In this latest series, the Swamp Thing is reverted to his plant-based Earth elemental status after the first story line, and he attempts to live an "eventless" life in the Louisiana swamps. Tefé, likewise, is rendered powerless and mortal. Issue #29 was intended to be the final issue of the fourth volume, which was cancelled due to low sales numbers.

===Return to the DC Universe===
====''Brightest Day''====
{{See also|Vertigo (DC Comics)#Relationship to DC Universe}}
The conclusion of the crossover event ''[[Brightest Day]]'' revealed that the Swamp Thing had become corrupted by the personality of the villain [[Nekron]] in the wake of the ''[[Blackest Night]]'' crossover event.<ref>{{cite comic|writer= [[Geoff Johns|Johns, Geoff]]; [[Peter Tomasi|Tomasi, Peter]]|penciller= [[Ivan Reis|Reis, Ivan]]; Prado, Joe|inker= [[Norm Rapmund|Rapmund, Norm]]; Albert, Oclair|story= Rise and Fall|title= [[Brightest Day]]|issue= 23|date= Early June 2011}}</ref> The Swamp Thing now believed himself to be Nekron, similar to how he had once believed himself to be Alec Holland. The Swamp Thing went on a rampage in Star City, ultimately seeking to destroy all life on Earth. The Entity within the [[White Lantern Corps|White Lantern]] used several heroes, including [[Hawkman (Carter Hall)|Hawkman]], [[Hawkgirl]], [[Firestorm (comics)|Firestorm]], the [[Martian Manhunter]], [[Aquaman]] and [[Deadman (DC Comics)|Deadman]] to slow the rampage and to construct a new Swamp Thing based on the body of Alec Holland. Instead of merely ''thinking'' that it was Holland, this version of the Swamp Thing would actually ''be'' him. The new Swamp Thing defeated and killed the corrupted and original Swamp Thing. The Swamp Thing then restored life to natural areas around the world and declared that those who hurt the Green would face his wrath. He also restored Aquaman, Firestorm, Hawkman, and the Martian Manhunter to normal. The book ended with the Swamp Thing killing several businessmen who engaged in deliberate, illegal polluting activities.<ref>{{cite comic|writer= Johns, Geoff; Tomasi, Peter|penciller= Reis, Ivan; Prado, Joe; [[Patrick Gleason (artist)|Gleason, Patrick]]; [[Ardian Syaf|Syaf, Ardian]]; Clark, Scott|inker= Rapmund, Norm; Cifuentes, Vicente; Albert, Oclair; Nguyen, Tom; Gray, Mick; Irwin, Mark; Beaty, David|story= Brightest Day|title= Brightest Day|issue= 24|date= Late June 2011}}</ref>

====''Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for the Swamp Thing''====
This three–issue miniseries follows immediately after the events of ''Brightest Day'', and follows the actions of [[John Constantine]] as he tries to work out what has changed with the Swamp Thing and track him down, with the assistance of [[Zatanna]], the [[Batman]], and [[Superman]].

===Volume 5===
DC Comics relaunched ''Swamp Thing'' with issue #1 in September 2011 as part of ''[[The New 52]]'',<ref>[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/06/07/dc-comics-dark-swamp-thing-animal-man DC Comics Announces "Justice League Dark", "Swamp Thing", "Animal Man" and More] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610110410/http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/06/07/dc-comics-dark-swamp-thing-animal-man |date=June 10, 2011 }}, ''Comics Alliance'', June 7, 2011</ref> with writer [[Scott Snyder]] (#1-18 and ''Annual''). Snyder's run concluded with "Rotworld", a crossover event between ''Swamp Thing'', ''Animal Man'' and ''Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.'' [[Charles Soule]] wrote issues #19-40.

===Volume 6===
A six–issue miniseries written by Len Wein, co-creator of the Swamp Thing, with art by [[Kelley Jones]] was released between March and August 2016. It follows Swamp Thing giving up his powers to Anton Arcane, who is disguised as Matt Cable.

This was followed by a critically acclaimed{{cn|date=December 2024}} Tom King winter special in 2018, also featuring Len Wein's last Swamp Thing issue.

===''The Swamp Thing''===
A 16-issue miniseries retitled with "''The''" written by Ram V with art by [[Mike Perkins]] began publication in March 2021. The book focuses on a new character named Levi Kami taking up the Swamp Thing mantle while the second Swamp Thing, Alec Holland, is off-world.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-02-22|title=THE SWAMP THING #1|url=https://www.dccomics.com/comics/the-swamp-thing-2021/the-swamp-thing-1|access-date=2021-03-30|website=DC|language=en}}</ref> Originally planned as a 10-issue miniseries, ''The Swamp Thing'' has been extended to 16 issues, with ''The Swamp Thing'' #10 followed by a short hiatus before returning in March 2022.