Swamp Thing Vs. Hawkman--the Mythical Issue 25 Surfaces From the Muck!

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Soaring the Sky Above...
Swamp Thing Vs. Hawkman—the Mythical
"Lost" Issue #25 Surfaces From the Muck!
by Rich Handley
Jan. 27, 2012

It's the mother of all lost Swamp Thing lore. More sought after than Rick Veitch's infamous unpublished "Swamp Thing Meets Jesus" tale from Swamp Thing issue #88, "Morning of the Magician." More well-known than the lost Patchwork Man story, "Night of the Rat," slated to appear in The House of Secrets #141, but published only in Swedish comic Gigant #3/1983. More yearned-for than the never-produced issue of DC Comics Presents that would have revealed more about the Sunderland Corporation signal device that Swamp Thing found in series #2, issue #16, designed to keep people away from the cemetary containing his and Linda Holland's graves.

It's issue #25 of the very first Swamp Thing series: "The Sky Above," written by David Anthony Kraft and illustrated by Ernie Chua and Fred Carrillo. And part of it has now been found.

A promotional blurb at the end of issue #24—the final issue of the classic first run—announced that the next issue would feature a meeting between Alec Holland (who'd been restored to human form) and Hawkman. That story never surfaced, however, since the title was canceled, leaving many plot threads from #24 (Alec's rivalry with his brother Edward, the fates of Sabre and Solomon Smith, the status of Alec's and Ruth's relationship, the whereabouts of Colossus and so forth) dangling. On July 5, 1976, the following Daily Planet solicitation was published in Metal Men #48, Starfire #2, Star-Spangled War Stories #202 and possibly other issues:

"HAWKMAN BATTLES SWAMP THING IN PORTLAND—Reports come in that Swamp Thing has been sighted in Portland, Oregon, and Carter (Hawkman) Hall is off to investigate. And before the creature of the murk can explain himself, he's in the middle of a battle royal with the Winged Wonder! What will be the outcome? Ask David Kraft, Ernie Chua and Fred Carrillo! They'll tell you to check out the answers in 'The Sky Above' in Swamp Thing #25, on sale the week of July 5th."

For the past 36 years, "The Sky Above" has remained among the Holy Grails of Swamp Thing history, with fans trying in vain to find any pages from this story, which was fully written and illustrated. This Web site has reached out to the creative team on a couple of occasions over the years, as well as to Gerry Conway and others in the industry, but to date, nothing has ever come of it.

And so it was to my amazement when Heritage Auctions' Mark Stokes wrote to me in October 2011, saying, "I'm an original art cataloger with Heritage Auctions, and I'm holding in my hands pages 9-14, 16 and 17 from 'The Sky Above,' a tale from the unpublished Swamp Thing #25 (Vol. 1). I came across your site doing research and I thought I'd let you know. We will be scanning these pages onto our site, and I'd be happy to send you a link if you're interested in seeing them for your research. Just an FYI. You've got a great site, I'm a big ST fan myself."

First, obviously, I just want to say that I appreciated Mark's closing comments, though this site has remained dormant for a long time, so I feel a little sheepish accepting the praise (though accept it, I shall). Second... woah! I couldn't believe what I was reading! Lost pages from Swamp Thing #25? The fabled "Swamp Thing Meets Hawkman" issue?? Yes, please.

Well... it's been three months to the day, and folks have been writing to me, asking what's going on with this. Finally, I'm happy to be able to report Mark's latest update: "Just wanted to let you know that the Swamp Thing #25 pages will be in our upcoming Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, February 22-23, 2012. I'll send you a link when the art has been processed." Apparently, they've been processed, because he sent a follow-up, indicating the link: http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7054&lotIdNo=51001 . Having looked them over, all I can say is, "Wow!" (Well, that's certainly not true. I can say other things as well, like "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou" and "Holy crap, where's the rest of the issue?!?" But you get the picture.)

Although we don't yet have all of the pages, we have enough now to at least piece together a partial outline of the story: Sabre and Solomon Smith pursue Alec Holland, and enlist the help of Hawkman, telling him lies about the creature's origin, and about how Sabre lost his arm. Misled into seeing them as the good guys, Hawkman attacks Swamp Thing, resulting in both being badly beaten, and Swamp Thing plummeting into the Williamette River (Swamp Thing had a tendency to do a lot of plummeting in those days). Returning to human form, he later awakens to find Ruth watching over him, warning him that he's now a wanted man. Sabre, meanwhile, vows to find him for his organization, Colossus, and tells Smith that at dawn, he shall unlease the Fire Master.

The most maddening part of this story, of course, is the last page, which says �Next issue� on it, and reveals the looming threat of the Fire Master. So now we know something about a planned issue ***26*** as well. Aaaahhhh—it never ends! The question is this: Is there an existing creature in DC Comics lore called the Fire Master, or would this have been a new hero/villain? If anyone knows, please drop me a line.

Thank you, Mark, for bringing at least part of this lost tale to light. I hope the auction brings in loads of swamp-bucks, and that the remaining pages eventually make their way back to the surface. (Mark is already hard at work looking to find additional pages. Digits crossed.)

Presented below are the newly found pages. Click on the images below to view larger versions, and visit the auction site to place your bids.

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