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
Swamp Thing: Roots
| Story Title | Pub. Date |
| "Roots" | Mar. 1998 |
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| Writer | Artist |
| Jon J. Muth | Jon J. Muth |
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| Cover | Editor |
| Jon J. Muth | Karen Berger |
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| Chronological Breakdown |
| • 1881: A child is born to the Burnetts, a Black family in Hedgegrow, a mid-western town in Posey County. The child's mother names him Take Me Home My Lord, but grows tired of saying that and shortens it to Te. |
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| • 1936: Ray Edwin Hayley is born to Aaron and Meg Hayley of Okalahoma. |
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| • 1940: Katie Hayley is born to Aaron and Meg Hayley of Okalahoma. |
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| • 1943: Meg Hayley leaves Oklahoma to escape the abuse of her husband Aaron, and takes their children, Ray Edwin and Katie, with her. Aaron joins the U.S. Air Force but is shot down over the East China Sea in World War II. He awakens to find a Chinese man watching over him. To his horror, he learns he is dead, and it is the other's duty to prepare him for life as the next plant elemental. Six months later, Aaron Hayley tries to find his family, who have now settled in Hegdegrow. Meg has become a teacher, and among her students are Russell and Payton Butchie, the bully sons of local racist Owen Butchie. Te Burnett, now a 62-year-old farmer, finds an injured man in his root cellar, among the roots of an old tree. He tends to the man's wounds, unaware it's the Devil come to corrupt his good nature. When Te befriends 7-year-old Ray Edwin, Butchie forms a posse to punish him for consorting with Whites. Evil takes hold of the town: a startled horse tramples Mr. Dalton, leaving his lover, Miss Pearson, heartbroken; lightning strikes the Gillam Barn; the Clayborns' handyman sets fire to their grain house; and the wind blows a church steeple clear off. Meanwhile, Hayley (now an elemental) arrives at Hedgegrow to confront the Devil. Assaulted with memories of his own sins, he takes strength from his love for his family and rushes through the Green to stop Te's hanging. The mob disperses and Te survives, but Aaron is cut down in the fight, his brief reign as Erl-King over but his soul redeemed. |
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| Trivia |
| • This painted one-shot was released a year following the conclusion of the second Swamp Thing series. |
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| • The Chinese man's purpose is unclear, for at no other time in Swamp Thing history has an Earth elemental been shown to require preparation prior to assuming the role. It's possible the scenes with him in it are merely in Hayley's mind, intended to be perceived as a dream or metaphor. |
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| • Albert Höllerer (Swamp Thing issue #47) still reigns as Erl-King at this point in time. Why the Green would require two champions at once, or take such interest in the affairs of mankind for that matter, is unclear. Complicating matters further is Swamp Thing issue #67, which has Cyrus Gold turning into Solomon Grundy (a failed Erl-King) the following year—again, during Höllerer's reign. |
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| Cover Variations |
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| None |
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| Other Collections |
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| None |
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