Editing Swamp Thing (section)

===''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.