Out of deference to those who have yet to pick up and slip to the last page of BRIGHTEST DAY #23, we’ll put this in the jump.
DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS.
NOT KIDDING.
We haven’t been following along with the whole Lantern-verse for various reasons, but we’ve heard people speculating over the last few months that the White Lantern would be Swamp Thing and now that BRIGHTEST DAY #23 is out, it turns out it’s sort of true.
Swampy is back as the Dark Avatar, a corrupted being that has been threatening the Parliament of Trees that all the other Lanterns have to protect.
This has been getting lots of play across the internets this week for several reasons.
#1: Swamp Thing is a fantastic character who was created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson in the ’70s before becoming the first of the modern superheroes in the seminal run by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alacala and more; it was this run which showed America how great Moore the writer was, but it also inspired the entire “Vertigo Era” of thoughtful, genre-ish sf/fantasy/crime stories to come.
#2: For years, Swamp Thing was only allowed to appear in Vertigo books; but with the DC Entertainment reorg, Vertigo characters are back in the DCU and this is the clearest sign yet that what was once Vertigo-only is now part of the whole DCU multiverse.
Or as the Source had it:
With the ability to regenerate by turning any matter into his own body mass, Swamp Thing is a creature of monumental power and is quintessential to the DC Universe. After having been absent for so many years, what does his return signify?
Hm…
Along with the blog post, DC sent along a gallery of great Swampy images from over the years.
I do love that picture of Swampy on the demon seahorse-thing. It’s both awesome and silly as hell.
Um, and maybe the phrase “you-know-who” shouldn’t be accompanied by a picture of Swamp Thing if you’re serious about the spoiler warning?
In case there’s anyone out there who at this point doesn’t know who.
I had suspected it was Swamp Thing, but had avoided knowing for sure until your picture of Swamp Thing that was not behind a spoiler alert. Bummer yo.
I don’t really care, because I don’t read Brightest Day and this had already been spoiled for me on other sites anyway, but just so you know, when you post stuff like this with a spoiler warning and “do not click unless you want spoilers” it doesn’t really do anything to stop those of us who read the blog in RSS feeds.
In other words, in Google Reader, before I ever saw the spoiler warning, I could already see the first image, and if I’d been trying to avoid spoilers, it would have been in vain.
Like I said, no big deal for me in this case, but just letting you know for future posts. If you really want to avoid spoiling stuff for your readers, make sure not to have big spoilery images at the top of your post, even if it’s behind a cut.
Oh, actually, I just read Rob’s comment above and then checked the home page. I guess the spoiler warning was a joke or something. ‘Cause, yeah, posting that image of Swamp Thing was a bigger give-away than the RSS feed.
Oh well. Spoilers are pretty much unavoidable these days anyway. The only way to stay safe is to avoid the internet and all media until having read the issue.
Spoiled.
:(
Okay, how’s that?
“Swampy is back as the Dark Avatar, a corrupted being that has been threatening the Parliament of Trees that all the other lanterns have to protect.”
I know those words, but put together they make no sense.
I remember in the opening credits of the Movie Return of Swamp thing, there is clip of Swamp thing wearing a Green lantern Ring.
And so Geoff Johns basically undoes Alan Moore’s most renowned innovation.
Because Swamp Thing is NOT Alec Holland. He only THOUGHT he was. Remember?
So now, what, we turn him back into Hamlet covered in snot? Lovely.
“Swampy is back as the Dark Avatar, a corrupted being that has been threatening the Parliament of Trees that all the other lanterns have to protect.”
“I know those words, but put together they make no sense.”
I can not think of a better response to those words being strung together in a single sentence.
“And so Geoff Johns basically undoes Alan Moore’s most renowned innovation.”
Where did you pull this from? I’m going to assume you are misinterpreting the page that was shown. In the actual book, Swamp Thing and Alec Holland were both brought back as two separate beings.
Great to have Swampy back in the DCU it’s one of the many reason why i’m glad this whole Vertigo embargo stuff is done with.
Hey— I have a couple of those issues! (‘Reading copies’, true, but picked up at $.50 a pop.)
I actually read Moore’s re-visioning of SWAMP THING first… but find that I like Wein/Wrightson’s conception of the character better. Seems more groundedly human in this ORIGINAL version, as the creators intended?
I wonder what their thoughts are on how DC has handled “their” character over the years? Now if DC did a Wein/Wrightson ’70s RETROACTIVE SWAMP THING, I’ll gladly pick it up!
@John Roberson (and everyone else) –
I don’t think he undoes it yet. Remember the box identifies the being in the picture as Alec Holland, NOT Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing might be returning but that grumpy-looking gent is identified as “Alec Holland”. Maybe this is a setup for Swamp Thing and Alec Holland both showing up. It keeps Alan Moore’s setup this way. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I’ve been wrong plenty of times before…
Meanwhile, with Swamp Thing’s return, I look forward to the eventual return of Shade the Changing Man to the DCU!
Who came first, Swamp or Man-Thing?
Weren’t Len Wein and Steve Gerber sharing an apartment and Swamp Thing and Man-Thing created at roughly the same time?
To Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed!
Man-Thing came first – by a couple of months in ’71.
Though, Swamp Thing’s origin came a year or so after Man-Thing’s and they were virtually identical causing some issues.
Both Man-Thing and Swamp Thing were preceded by the character called “Heap” which appeared in 1942.
And I still have a copy of the Swamp Thing comic that featured Batman although I lost the cover years ago (in 1973 I knew nothing about collecting comics). Great story and even greater art and Swamp Thing dispatches Batman with ease…
The Heap was the first in 1942.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heap_(comics)
Bob beat me.
Killjoy: it was Wein and Gerry Conway who were sharing an apartment. Conway wrote the first Man-Thing story and is recognized as its creator (with editor Roy Thomas).
Not much of a surprise… Darkest Night mined the Green Lantern prophecy Moore introduced in “Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2”.
I was a bit disappointed that Rot Lop Fan had not made an appearance, given his lack of sight.
Actually, when I saw the first panel, my initial thought was “Abin Sur”.
Question #1) How can there be a Black Lantern Swamp Thing if “it” hasn’t died, but is a plant elemental?
Question #2) Neil Gaiman defined Brother Power the Geek as a doll elemental. Since Swamp Thing is a simulcrum of a human being, might BP have power over ST?
Question #3) I thought Red Tornado was the air elemental?
Question #4) Didn’t the Word destroy all five Parliaments? Ah… some trees survived, the rest are an eternal bonfire.
Question #5) Will Black Lantern ST join with the Grey?
We’ll always have “The Anatomy Lesson.”
Torsten, to your question # 2, Alec Holland died in the swamp when Swamp Thing was created, therefore bringing the human Holland back from the dead makes sense.
If you gave Alan Moore a penny for every idea he came up with which the DCU and Vertigo have built upon,
he wouldn’t accept a cent.
‘Cause he’s like that.
@Greg
Maybe Alan Moore wouldnt accept a cent because he likes his reputation as someone who’s been screwed over by publisher after publisher and a cash settlement would let them off the hook.
Second only to his reputation for having a sweet looking beard.
“Not much of a surprise… Darkest Night mined the Green Lantern prophecy Moore introduced in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2.”
No it didn’t actually, in reality like most things that was just in Moore’s deluded mind. While Gibbons re-introduced some of those concepts during his GLC issues in Sinestro Corps War. Blackest Night had nothing to do with Moore which he would know if he actually knew what he was talking about.
When your headline said “BRIGHTEST DAY 23 reintroduces you-know-who to Lantern mythos” I thought the “you-know-who” was girls.
Lester Girls? Man, he would be an awesome addition to the DCU!
Greg, “If you gave Alan Moore a penny for every idea he came up with which the DCU and Vertigo have built upon,
he wouldn’t accept a cent.”
More like, if you gave him a penny for every character idea he has stolen or character he has turned into a joke. Seriously, the man has built his career on recycled material. And, he complains about how everyone else is unoriginal.
I’d be more impressed if he actually made up his own original character, and then ACTUALLY stuck with a title.