Roots Of The Swamp Thing: Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, The Un-Men And More—In the Swamplight: Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #10

Roots of the Swamp Thing: Your Portal to the Universe of Swamp Thing, The Un-Men and John Constantine: Hellblazer

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In the Swamplight
Forbidden Tales of
Dark Mansion #10

Story Title	Pub. Date
"The Monster"	Mar.-Apr. 1973

Writer	Artist
Jack Oleck	Alfredo Alcala

Cover	Editor
Nick Cardy	Murray Boltinoff and E. Nelson Bridwell


Chronological Breakdown
• Before 1973: A man named David Congreve builds a summer place in the Okefenokee Swamp of southeast Georgia, as a vacation home for himself, his wife Myra and their daughter Janet.

• Summer 1973: David Congreve takes Myra and Janet to their summer place in the swamp. Myra hates him, however, and is cheating with his friend and business partner, Carl Holt. Together, the two plot to kill Congreve, bashing his skull in whie he sleeps, then rowing him out to the bog and tossing his body overboard. Janet awakens in terror that night, but Myra lies that her father has gone fishing. The sheriff searches the swamp for a week, then informs Myra her husband is likely dead. Myra returns to her home in the city and tells Janet her father has abandoned them. Janet is unconvinced, showing her a book he'd bought his daughter—Wildflowers and How They Grow, by John Noelo. Annoyed and hate-filled, Myra forbids Janet from ever mentioning him again. As her hate continues over the next year, Congreve's body transforms into a mossy creature of the swamp.

• Summer 1974: One year after David's death, Myra visits the summer place in the swamp once more, this time with Carl and Janet. She's uncomfortable revisiting the crime scene and feels as though he's watching them, but Holt assures her they'll have a good time. As they take a boat to pick wildflowers with Janet, David—reanimated as a mossy monster—flips the boat, grabs Janet and wanders off into the swamp. Myra and Holt alert the sheriff, who orders a search party. Three days later, they find the creature and scare him off with gunfire, rescuing Janet, who utters "Daddy" before passing out. In horror, Myra realizes the creature's identity. When David returns, the police set him aflame. His burning body dies, leaving behind a human skeleton wearing a ring bearing the initials "D.C." and holding a handful of wildflowers. Horrified, Myra blurts out a confession. Arresting her and Holt, the sheriff tells her hate may have killed her husband, but it was love that brought him back.

Trivia
• This classic tale is not directly connected to the Swamp Thing mythos. Still, the similarities in storyline and theme—and the fact that famed Swamp Thing artist Alfredo Alcala provided illustrations—are enough for me to consider them part of the saga.


Cover Variations
None

Other Collections
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