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
Swamp Thing Series 1 #2

Story Title	Pub. Date
"The Man Who Wanted Forever"	Dec.-Jan. 1972-73

Writer	Artist
Len Wein	Bernie Wrightson

Cover	Editor
Bernie Wrightson	Joe Orlando


Chronological Breakdown
• 1973: Hidden in the trees, Swamp Thing watches as Ferrett and Bruno's bodies are recovered from the woods. A horde of Un-Men (creatures surgically distorted and rebuilt by Dr. Anton Arcane) attack, and an Un-Man named Ophidian hypnotically puts Swamp Thing to sleep. The lead Un-Man, Cranius, orders him strapped to a sea-plane and flown to Arcane's castle. Matt Cable and an Interpol agent named Mike watch in surprise as Swamp Thing flies overhead, tethered to a plane. Mister E monitors them via Mutt's transmitter, furious over Ferrett's death. Awakening at the Castle Arcane, Swamp Thing tries to break free but Anton Arcane calms him down. Anton Arcane tells Swamp Thing that he has studied the occult and discovered immortality, but that his attempts to build himself a new body have resulted in tthe Un-Men's grotesque creation. His plan: to use a mystic soul jar to restore Swamp Thing's human body in exchange for his creature form. Swamp Thing accepts, and Arcane begins his tests immediately. Once the transfer is complete, Alec Holland awakens in human form, but upon learning Arcane's true desire—to destroy the local town for mocking him—he breaks the soul jar, reversing the transfer. Enraged, Arcane orders the Un-Men to attack, and when Swamp Thing knocks him out a tower window, they blindly jump to their deaths after him. Sadly, Swamp Thing ambles away, unaware of a mutated form watching from above: the Patchwork Man, once known as Gregori Arcane—Anton's brother.

Trivia
• The Un-Men returned several more times throughout both the first and second Swamp Thing titles. In 1994, a group of Un-Men starred in a miniseries entitled American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men, which was followed up with 2007's The Un-Men monthly.

• Anton Arcane, or course, became the Swamp Thing's greatest enemy, disrupting his life and his family for decades to come. The evil scientist would undergo a string of mutations and transformations that would be considered bizarre even from a comic-book standpoint—from reanimated corpse to giant insect to unrepentent soul in Hell to cackling demon to Christian convert to parent.


Reprints and Collections

DC Special Series #2— The Original Swamp Thing Saga	Roots of the Swamp Thing #1	The Award-Winning Saga of the Swamp Thing


Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis	Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis	The Secret the Swamp Thing

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Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and The Un-Men are
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