Bernie Wrightson Alan Moore Steve Gerber Mike Ploog Len Wein Stephen R
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#6 presents Muck-Monsters and Their Makers! INTERVIEWS WITH: Bernie Wrightson Alan Moore Steve Gerber Mike Ploog Len Wein Stephen R. Bissette Rick Veitch John Totleben Val Mayerik Jim Mooney & CREATURE FEATURES! Swamp Thing TM & © DC Comics. Used with permission. Cover art & color by Frank Cho TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Love, Envy, and Bayou Beasts .......................................8 Born of the Bayou: What Is—and What Isn’t—a Swampman ......10 Sturgeon’s Monster: It All Began With “It” .......................................12 SWAMPMEN The Heap: From Monster to Villain to Hero at Hillman Comics ......18 Between That Heap and Those Things: ’50s Swamp Monsters ....24 Silver Sludge & Boggy Bronze: ’70s Muckman Chronology ..........26 Marvin, the Dead-Thing: Mr. Kanfer’s Short Life-After-Death* .....37 The Glob: Hillman’s Heap Done Marvel-style ...................................38 Return of the Heap: Skywald’s Grotesque Revisioning ...................40 Man-Thing: The Savage Beginnings of the Marvel Monster .........44 Swamp Thing: The Tragic Creature’s Roots ......................................52 Bog Beast: A Tar-Monster Rises at Atlas/Seaboard .......................60 Lurker in the Swamp: Gold Key’s Haunted Swamp Dweller ..........62 “It” by Theodore Sturgeon* .................................................................64 THE MUCK-MONSTER MAKERS Swamp Thing: Len Wein .............................................................................................74 Bernie Wrightson ..............................................................................90 The Man-Thing: Steve Gerber ....................................................................................112 Val Mayerik ......................................................................................124 Mike Ploog .......................................................................................126 Jim Mooney .....................................................................................130 The Swamp God: Alan Moore ......................................................................................132 Steve Bissette..................................................................................150 Rick Veitch .......................................................................................162 John Totleben ..................................................................................174 Swampmen Contributors ...................................................................183 Creator’s Creators: Ronn Sutton ........................................................190 Coming Attractions: Bernie Wrightson headlines CBC #7............190 A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words ............................................191 One Last Thing: The Thing of It Is…. ................................................192 * Alas, we had hoped to feature the short story “It” immediately following the essay on Mr. Sturgeon’s tale, but printing expenses prohibit the inclusion of a b-&-w signature amidst the color section, thus poor ol’ Marv had to shoehorned where he doesn’t fit chronologically. Instead “It” appears at the end of the color pages, where Marvin is supposed to be, on pg. 64. Oh, well…! THIS SPREAD: Previous page ghost image is pulp illustration master Edd Cartier’s macabre drawing of Theodore Sturgeon’s “It,” with Kimbo the hunting dog meeting his grim demise. From Unknown [Aug. 1940], courtesy of Will Murray. Cover details on the bottom tier of page previous, from left, “It!” by Jim Steranko, Supernatural Thrillers #1 [ Dec. ’72]; The Glob by Herb Trimpe, The Incredible Hulk #121 [Nov. ’69]; Frank Thorne’s Bog Beast, Tales of Evil #2 [Apr. ’75]. This page cover details from top: Marvin, the Dead-Thing, by Enrich Torres, Eerie #49 [July ’73]; Neal Adams’ Spectre of the Stalking Swamp, The Phantom Stranger #14 [July–Aug. ’71]; and Taboo by Jack Kirby, gracing Strange Tales # 75 [June ’60]. “It” ©1994 Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust. Illustration © the respective copyright holder. “It” ©1994 Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust. Inset right: The illustrations of the Just what makes a Swampman? because it resembles the Gillman) the late Joan Hanke-Woods, winner of Early on, we pretty much decided Manphibian from Legion of Monsters the 1986 Hugo Award for “Best Fan to focus more on the so-called #1 [Marvel, Sept. ’75]. We say they’re Artist,” graced the cover and interi- descendants of Theodore more related to reptilian bi-peds or of a limited edition reprinting of Sturgeon’s “It” and less on the — think the Gorn from Star Trek or Theodore Sturgeon’s classic short Frankenstein monster-inspired API’s The Alligator People movie [’59] story “It.” The stapled pamphlet, dead men who snap back to life. — lest we allow Howard the Duck originally selling for $2, was The general criteria — though not adversary Garko, the Man-Frog, into published in 1978 by Misfit Press rigid, mind you — are that they are the mud-drenched mix! for the Eastern Michigan University those reanimated corpses taking Some might also think there’s a SF Society. Small, low-resolution on the physical characteristics of slew of behemoths and shamblers repros of Hanke-Woods superb drawings can be found at http:// swampland. That is, creatures of from the pages of the horror comics www.collectorshowcase.fr/divers_ once living and breathing human and Atlas giant monster titles of the edit_amer_page_5.htm. flesh but, through whatever horrid 1950s warranting inclusion. Alas, most process, they are transformed of those gargantuans — whether from man into monster, now com- Monstrom, the Dweller in the Black Below: At the request of the posed of mud, debris, and muck ’n’ Swamp; the Thing from the Swamp; artist, Matt Kaufenberg photo- mire, and often great strength. Creature from the Black Bog; or manipulated Francis Tsai’s superb Some folks take exception to Thing from the Hidden Swamp — are Man-Thing illustration and created our rather arbitrary selections and actually alien invaders bent on world an entirely new edition of Man- decry, for instance, the omission domination. And because contributor Thing #11, complete with some of the Golden Age nemesis of the David A. Roach includes the Marvel/ cleverly made-up cover blurbs. Green Lantern and Justice Society Atlas critters in his survey, we’ll be of America tormentor, giving the nod to some of these fetid Solomon Grundy. Yes, the horror is “born on fellers, especially the now world-famous Groot, the walking Monday” in Gotham City’s Slaughter Swamp, tree creature (and Parliament of Trees member…?) and grown from the skeleton that “lay in a bog for breakout character (with pal Rocket Raccoon) from the 50 years and an incredible biological miracle 2014 summer movie blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy. took place! On his bones a pseudo-life was But enough about who is not a Swampmen and let’s built. Bits of rotten wood and leaves built introduce those we have selected for inclusion: themselves into the monster of Solomon Grundy.” Or so explains Alan Scott, a.k.a. • Swamp Thing: Say what you will about the seminal The- Green Lantern, at the end of “Fighters Nev- odore Sturgeon character “It,” but when most of us think er Quit,” the Solomon Grundy debut story of monsters rising from the morass of the sinister bayou, in All-American Comics #61 [Oct. ’44], by it’s the resilient DC character Swamp Thing who first writer Alfred Bester and drawn by Paul comes to mind. Maybe it’s the fact that the sympathetic Reinman. But we reckon, despite the creature became an instant fan favorite upon his debut in “It”-like origin and vivid description of 1971 due to the mastery of emerging comics artist Bernie a living corpse rising “out of the oozing Wrightson; or maybe it was the burgeoning and reso- slime,” Grundy (who was given his nant romance between Swampy and Abigail Arcane as moniker from the 19th century nursery developed by scripter Len Wein; or perhaps the two major rhyme*) is more inspired by Mary motion pictures that have been made — Swamp Thing Shelley and Boris Karloff, given his [1982] and The Return of Swamp Thing — plus a televi- Man-Thing © Marvel Characters, Inc. Illustration Francis Tsai. resemblance to the Universal Studio sion series [’90–’93] and a cartoon show [’91]. They all monster from the long-running Fran- bring Swampy to mind. (The NBC series Constantine, set kenstein motion picture franchise. to debut around the time this book is released, has teased There are also advocates who that the Plant Formerly Known as Alec Holland might be say we should include swamp appearing in that occult drama series. NBC tweeted a monsters such as The Creature of picture of Constantine holding a business card plus the the Black Lagoon and (perhaps message “Experiencing a demon problem? Call John #Constantine, Master of the Dark Arts at 404-248-7182.” * “Solomon Grundy, born on a Mon- When you call, a recording says, “Hello, you’ve reached day/Christened on Tuesday/Married John Constantine. And that’s John Constantine. If you’re on Wednesday/Took ill on Thursday/ looking for Alec Holland, try the bloody swamp.” [http:// Grew worse on Friday/Died on Sat- tinyurl.com/q3ka2cy].) Whether, courtesy of an bio-restor- urday/Buried on Sunday/That was ative formula, a reanimated corpse made into a muscular the end of Solomon Grundy.” giant composed of swamp debris or as redefined as a 10 10 Comic Book Creator #6 presents Swampmen: Muck-Monsters and Their Makers This page: The Atlas Age of by DAVID A. ROACH Monstrom, The Glob TM & ©