Roots Of The Swamp Thing: Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, The Un-Men And More

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

• Part 1: Before Year 1
• Part 2: Year 1 to 1899
• Part 3: 1900 to 1969
• Part 4: 1970 to 1979
• Part 5: 1980 to 1984
• Part 6: 1985 to 1988
• Part 7: 1989 to 1991
• Part 8: 1992 to 1994
• Part 9: 1995 to 1999
• Part 10: 2000 to Present

Born on the Bayou
A history and introduction

Creature Features
Articles and feature stories

Cover Gallery
Judge the books by the covers

In the Swamplight
Issue-by-issue breakdowns

Elemental Lineage
Past lives and other entities

Upcoming Releases
Coming to a bog near you

What's New Bayou?
Archived news updates

About Me
Portrait of a swamp-nerd

Homepage
Go back to the roots

Contact Me
Comments, corrections & tubers

Thanks to Joe Bongiorno, who first dragged me kicking and screaming into the mucky mythos of Swamp Thing, and to Paul Giachetti, who created the amazing header banner.

Thanks also to reader 'Alec Holland,' whose support has been invaluable; Mike Sterling, for promoting Swamp Thing and this site; and Kevin Church, for his excellent optimization advice.

And thanks to Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, Alan Moore, John Totelben, Stephen Bissette, Jamie Delano, Garth Ennis and all the other creators whose work inspired this site.

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In the Swamplight
More Fun Comics #67

Story Title	Pub. Date
"The Origin of Doctor Fate"	May 1941

Writer	Artist
Gardner Fox	Howard Sherman

Cover	Editor
Bernard Baily	Whitney Ellsworth


Chronological Breakdown
• 1941: Kent Nelson (a.k.a. Dr. Fate) meets a woman named Inza in Alexandria, and the two begin roaming the world together, fighting those who would practice sorcery. One night, at a party, they meet a man who says shadows are stalking him, trying to steal his lfie essence. With Inza at his side, Dr. Fate descends into the Netherworld to confront a demon named Black Nergal, who has been sending the shadowy spirits to the world of the living. Threatening to destroy Nergal if he doesn't stop this practice, Dr. Fate prevents the demon's shadows from overrunning the world. (There are other events in the story, but they are irrelevant to Swamp Thing/Hellblazer history.)

Trivia
• This brief story, published four decades before the debut issue of Hellblazer, features the first (and only pre-Hellblazer) appearance by John Constantine's recurring nemesis, Nergal (an actual deity of Babylonian myth). This incarnation of Nergal is not very similar in either appearance or personality to Hellblazer's Nergal, but is considered among many fans to be the same demon.

• The Weird Secret Origins reprint edition incorrectly lists this story as appearing in More Fun Comics issue #55 instead of #67.


Reprints

DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #9: Secret Origins of Super-Heroes		Justice League of America #95


Golden Age Doctor Fate: Archives, Volume 1		Weird Secret Origins

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