This past week, Karen Berger made the announcement that we had lost Tatjana Wood. She was one of DC’s most prolific colourists through the ’70s & ’80s, working on everything from Sgt. Rock to House of Mystery, Animal Man to The Warlord, and being one of their primary cover colourists. She was on my radar as part of the inimitable team on Saga of the Swamp Thing with Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, and John Costanza, her colours an inseparable part of the overall look and feel for the series. It would not have been remotely the same without her work,
She crafted a colour scheme for Swamp Thing that revelled in the lush, bright colours of nature, yet also fostered a horror atmosphere that could be dark and unsettling without turning the artwork into unintentional mud. Swamp Thing #56, “My Blue Heaven”, is perhaps one of the first comics to highlight her work that comes to mind, casting the entire issue in tones of blue as colour becomes part of Swamp Thing’s descent into madness. Though I wanted to showcase another where colour became an integral part of the story.
“The soulless man was following the voices…”
Swamp Thing #67 by Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala, Tatjana Wood, and John Costanza is a confrontation of Solomon Grundy and Swamp Thing. Kind of. Because Grundy’s looking a little green and acting kind of weird. Forming complete sentences even. Also, some random bobbins from Constantine shortly before the launch of the Hellblazer series and relationship discussions with Abby.
A little before this issue, Solomon Grundy began appearing again in the pages of Infinity Inc., with a bit of a recap of his history and streamlined Post-Crisis origin in Infinity Inc. #39. Returning, essentially, as an unwanted protector for Jade, even while he was conflicted over his enmity with her father, the original Green Lantern Alan Scott. Then he inexplicably turned green and started a trek across America leading him here. The colour change also leading to a bit of humour in the pages there and in this issue with some Hulk affectations. There’s also at least one more familiar Marvel muck monster face among the Parliament of Trees. Though not as over-the-top of his superhero satire work, it definitely feels like Veitch was having a bit of a laugh with some of this.
While there is more to it, it’s kind of funny that a colour change is indicative of a personality change. That an external change in appearance underlines that there’s something wrong, something abnormal about the character. Part of it is certainly the unnatural, almost sickly green that Wood uses for Grundy, setting him apart from the more lush greens and other colours of Swamp Thing and the Louisiana swamps. Or even the dreary purples of the tainted, clear cut industry of Slaughter Swamp. Colour overall being an important part of the whole storytelling this issue.
“There are many dangerous things…lurking beneath the surface…of the swamp.”
Though it does feed in to broader ongoing storylines, it’s interesting to see Swamp Thing #67 from Veitch, Alcala, Wood, and Costanza outside of context, merely as a collision of two of DC’s swamp monsters. After a fashion. Or even between a Marvel proxy, just in how colour comes in to play. There’s also a fascinating implication in Solomon Grundy’s place in the broader elemental spectrum, suggesting that he was a failed attempt at an earlier earth elemental incarnation. Something that I don’t think was really explored until a variation on it appeared again in the alternate Earth-2 of the New 52.
Swamp Thing #67 – “The Wisdom of Solomon”
Writer & Penciller: Rick Veitch
Inker: Alfredo Alcala
Colourist: Tatjana Wood
Letterer: John Costanza
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: August 25 1987
Available collected in Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch – Volume !: Wild Things
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