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

John Constantine is released from Ravenscar Secure Facility for the Dangerously Deranged after a two-year stint for the murder of Astra Logue. However, he suffers a relapse within six months and is re-admitted for more treatment. This happens repeatedly over the next two years, for a total of four stays at the asylum. Upon each release, he contemplates suicide at the edge of a mountain cliff near Ravenscar, but ultimately decides against it and returns to London, which is always in worse condition than the last time he was there.

John Constantine, Hellblazer Annual #1: "The Bloody Saint"

early April 1980 A.D.

John Constantine hires Patrick McDonell, a shady businessman also known as "Martin Peters" and "Destructo Vermi," to promote one of Muccus Membrane's music videos. However, McDonell takes the money without giving the band a share of the profits. Furious, Constantine keeps hounding his friend for the money, but to no avail.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #33: "Sundays Are Different"

Depressed and lonely after years of living horror, Alec treks to Bayou LaFourche in Louisiana, where he lies down to take root and die. In Gotham, Batman investigates the poisoning of Albert Cowper, a safe-cracker found dead at the Hotel Imperial. Heading home, he finds Selina "Catwoman" Kyle waiting for him, worried that her sister Felicia (an inmate at Atchafalaya State Prison) is in danger of being murdered. Batman discovers that Felicia and Cowper were both suspects in a diamond heist and flies to Louisiana to find that Felicia has escaped prison. Assassin Calvin Traller, hired to kill her, poses as a drifter working for Cajun fisherman Lubin Thibodaux. When Lubin's mother's clothing disappears, the men grab shotguns and spot Felicia, giving chase. When they disturb Alec's rest, he wrestles their guns away, a stray shot downing Batman's Whirly-Bat. Alec pushes Felicia out of the way but is struck down in the crash. Before falling unconscious, he sees her face and hallucinates that she is Linda. Batman pushes the Whirly-Bat off him and finds Felicia's broken body nearby. Dazed, Alec thinks Batman has killed his wife until his head clears. As Batman buries Felicia, Alec sees a vision of her repeating the word "Delta." He and Batman journey to Lubin's home, where they reveal Calvin's plot. Calvin makes a run for it as they bust in, but Batman nets him and notices a fraternity ring-hence, the clue Felicia delivered from the grave. Taking him into custody, Batman learns that the mastermind behind the diamond heist had hired Calvin to kill his partners. The case solved, Batman thanks Alec for his help, but as the latter wanders back into the swamp, he sees Felicia's scarf on the ground and is again reminded of his loneliness.

The Brave and the Bold #176: "The Delta Connection"

NOTE: This story is outside current Catwoman continuity since Selina's background has been changed. For the sake of this timeline, however, it remains part of Alec's history.

Nazi Holocaust survivor Helmut Kripptmann, posing as a German agent named Harry Kay, develops a process to use empathic human "receptors" to cure severe injuries. This saves Sunderland Corp. nearly forty million dollars in employee disability benefits. What none at Sunderland realize at the time is that Kay is secretly working against Sunderland interests, not in favor of them.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #9: "Prelude to Holocaust"

Twelve-year-old orphan Damien Kane comes under the care of Miss Stafford when his previous guardian, Mrs. Valis, passes away. Unlike Valis, Stafford is uncaring and inattentive.

American Freak, A Tale of the Un-Men #2: Chapter Two-The Covenant of Freaks"

John Constantine procures the secret pouch of Morpheus the Sandman, who has gone missing from his realm in the Dreaming. His girlfriend at the time, a junkie named Rachel, is fascinated with the pouch and keeps urging him to open it, but its magic prevents him from doing so. The two of them live at a high-rise flat in East Croydon. While he spends sox months in Alaska to handle the so-called "Lupus affair," Rachel steals the pouch from Chas Chandler's storage lock-up, along with his stereo, his television, his Silver-Surfer comics, and anything else she can sell for drug money.

The Sandman, Master of Dreams #2: "Imperfect Hosts"

Summer 1981 A.D.

An evil-minded man named Clive Peters summons a shit-demon named Gout, inviting it to possess him. With Gout's resolution added to his own inclinations, Peters rapes and kills five children from a local housing estate, and is sentenced to the Whitechapel Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #60: "Guys & Dolls, Part Two—Nativity Infernal"

October 1981 A.D.

John Constantine is finally released from Ravenscar Secure Facility for the Dangerously Deranged for good after four stays in as many years. Pronounced cured, he is given medication to deal with his anger. The doctors sugget he keep a journal of his thoughts, writing them all down so he can make sense of his feelings and retain his grip on sanity.

John Constantine, Hellblazer Annual #1: "The Bloody Saint"

NOTE: I have placed his release in October 1981 since that is six months before the British navy left Portsmouth for the Falkland Islands in April 1982.

Some time between 1981 and 1983 A.D.

John Constantine and his friend Brendan Finn track down Polaroids of Sir Peter Marston, a member of the House of Lords and a former teacher at Eton College, tied to a bed with a dominatrix in a nurse's outfit whipping him. Using the photos as leverage, they blackmail Marston for �5,000, earning his eternal dislike.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #52: "Royal Blood, Part One—The Players"

Mary Conway (future vessel for the spirit of Tef�) is born to Jenny and Donald Conway. Her friends Catherine and David are presumably born during the same year.

Swamp Thing (Series 3) #1: "In Lieu of Flowers"

A film entitled Swamp Thing hits theaters, based on the story of Alec Holland. However, the film alters many established facts surrounding Alec's exploits, including Cable's name and gender, Arcane's age and background, and the very nature of Alec's accident. DC Comics adapts the film as a comic book, much to Alec's annoyance.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) Annual #1: "Swamp Thing, The Movie"

NOTE: This film is available on DVD. Since these "fictional" events are outside Alec's reality, they are not detailed here. A sequel followed the film in 1989, entitled The Return of Swamp Thing, with a 72-episode spin-off television series airing from 1990 to 1993, and a five-episode animated series in 1990 that is soon to be released on DVD. Rumor has it that a new film will be produced in 2005.

Barnard Stryker, weak-minded star of the children's show Good Neighbor Hour, grows tired of others pushing him around. When Programming Director Fields berates him for airing violent Patsy Pig cartoons, Stryker snaps. Dabbling in mysticism, he summons a demon, gaining courage and charisma in return for being its host. He begins molesting and killing children in Pineboro, Akransas, and is dubbed the Pineboro Child-Stalker. Twelve children die in the ensuing months.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #4: "In the White Room"

11-year-old Pilate witnesses his dog being hit by a car. Horrified at the sight of the animal's intestines steaming in the afternoon sun, he begins a life of vegetarianism.

Swamp Thing (Series 3) #4: "Killing Time, Part One-The Pride"

Sarah "Lucy" Lucas is born to Peter and June Lucas of Dogthorpe, Peterborough.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #24: "The Family Man"

John Constantine runs into his old friend and business partner, Patrick McDonell, also known as "Martin Peters" and "Destructo Vermi," who'd promised to promote one of Muccus Membrane's music videos. However, McDonell had teken the money without giving the band a share of the profits, and Constantine has been hounding him for the money ever since. Now, with the Falklands War starting, McDonell is selling "Nuke Buenos Aires" sweatshirts on the street. Again, Constantine fails to get his money. The two do not meet again until 1990, and Constantine holds a grudge the whole time.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #33: "Sundays Are Different"

John Constantine and an acquaintance named Kipling pull a con in Bangkok, earning them the enmity of a group Constantine refers to as the "lapsed martyrs."

John Constantine, Hellblazer #51: "Counting to Ten"

NOTE: It's likely that "Kipling" refers to Willoughby Kipling, a Constantine-esque character Grant Morrison created around the same time this issue hit stores, after being denied permission to use John Constantine in Doom Patrol. The nature of the "lapsed martyrs"—a cult, a gang or actual martyrs that have lapsed in some literal manner—is unclear.

April 5, 1982 A.D.

Six months after his release from Ravenscar Secure Facility for the Dangerously Deranged, neither medication nor journal-writing have made John Constantine feel cured. As he watches television one night, the news reports that the British Royal Navy Taskforce has set sail for the Falkland Islands to battle Argentina. Enraged at Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's thirst for war, he kicks the TV in disgust, then surveys the damage and realizes he's still not in control. Downing more pills, he pulls out his journal and records his thoughts about life post-Ravenscar. Later, he takes the train from Cornwall to london, where he runs into Martin Peters, once known as punk rocker Destructo Vermin Gobsmack of the Hopeless Heroins. Most of his band has either died or burned out, and he has become a capitalist sell-out, hawking tee-shirts for a living. Giving Constantine a ride, he asks if the mage still has copies of his old Mucous Membrane video for "Venus of the Hardsell," which he thinks could make them a lot of money from nostalgic fans. Disillusioned to see his friend a sell-out, he goes on a drinking binge and meets a mysterious woman who vanishes after a night of love-making, making him wonder if she were ever really there. Drifting off to sleep, he dreams of his ancestor, Kon-sten-tyn, an evil king who succeded Arthur to the throne and was known as "the Bloody Saint."

John Constantine, Hellblazer Annual #1: "The Bloody Saint"

NOTE: This date is based on the actual historial date the British navy left Portsmouth.

April 6, 1982 A.D.

The next day, John Constantine visits a storage depot owned by F.W. Chandler, a relative of Constantine's friend, Chas. Going through his personal belongings, they find the video he and Mucous Membrane made in 1978 for the song "Venus of the Hardsell." As they watch the video at Chas's flat, Constantine considers letting Martin Peters distribute the video for him. He needs the money, but worries about becoming a sell-out.

John Constantine, Hellblazer Annual #1: "The Bloody Saint"

June 8, 1982 A.D.

A sergeant named Bill aboard the British landing craft Sir Galahad is burned to death during an Argentine air attack in the Falklands War. Bill's gay lover, Ray Monde, is devestated by the loss.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #7: "Ghosts in the Machine"

Twenty-year-old Corporal Colin Morgan fights in the Falklands War. After the war, he will be treated for post-trauma syndrome at a military psychiatric hospital. Possessing psychic abilities, Morgan is recruited by Geotroniks Research & Development to take part in a top-secret ESP-related experiment called the Fear Machine. Morgan's role is as a psychic tracker and fear inducer.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #18: "The Fear Machine, Part V-Hate Mail and Love Letters"

Summer 1982 A.D.

Steve Galen, son of Janey and Luther Galen, builds a tree-house in a large magnolia tree in his yard.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #23: "Another Green World"

Journalist Lizabeth Tremayne finds evidence that the D.D.I. and Sunderland Corp. arranged Alec and Linda Holland's deaths. This is tied to reports of a swamp creature roaming Louisiana. She details her findings in her book, Swamp-Man: Fact or Myth?, which most reject as tabloid sensationalism.

DC Heroes Role-Playing Game-Swamp Thing Sourcebook

NOTE: Tremayne must be a very good journalist, as the D.D.I. is supposed to be a top-secret government organization.

Tremayne is already famous as the hostess of a TV tabloid news program called In-Depth Magazine.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #1: "What Peace There May Be in Silence"

August 31, 1982 A.D.

Danny Drake, a young man fascinated with magic and forbidden secrets, uses spells contained within the Grimorium Verum, a 17th-century book of dark arts, to summon the demon Triskele, Wyrm Queen of Sucubae. In return for his soul, Triskele grants him five years of luck at trade and finance.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #56: "This Is the Diary of Danny Drake"

August 31, 1982, to August 31, 1987 A.D.

Danny Drake spends five years making money on the stock market, relying on the luck granted him by Triskele to attain his success. Eventually, however, the time comes to pay his soul-debt.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #56: "This Is the Diary of Danny Drake"

Mid to late 1982 A.D.

A teenage punk in Rosewood, Illinois, named Stiv Slashers is bitten by a female hitchiker, who turns out to be a vampire. Stiv becomes a vampire himself and infects his friend X-Head, who works at a blood bank and infects much of Rosewodd's population by replacing donated blood with his own tainted fluid. The vampires quickly take over Rosewood and kill most of the human population in the course of mere months. Some are lucky enough to escape the town, but many die in the culling.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #3: "A Town Has Turned to Blood"

October 9, 1982 A.D.

In a North Carolina Swamp, Alec comes across drunken hunters named Gully and Clete. He stops them from killing a bear, but they cut off his arm in the struggle. This time, it does not grow back.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #1: "What Peace There May Be in Silence"

Sunderland Corp. interrogator Walter Ellenbeck, also called "Grasp" (or simply "Mr. G") because of his robotic hands, sends an elderly German agent named Harry Kay to North Carolina to locate Alec Holland. He meets Gully and Clete, who lead him to Alec's severed arm. Kay begins testing the arm to learn more about the Swamp Thing.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #2: "Something to Live For"

October 11, 1982 A.D.

Two days later, Alec awakens in the tidewaters of North Carolina, the events that triggered his transformation still replaying in his mind. He wanders U.S. Route 264 to Albemarle, NC, worried that the arm has not grown back and that the chemicals in his body may be killing him. He hears a gunshot and finds Patrick Clancy standing over his wife's dead body, about to shoot his 12-year-old daughter. Alec wrestles the gun from him, but it goes off and kills the man. The girl takes his hand and walks him from the scene. In the nearby town of Limbo, Harry Kay books a room at the Hotel Parsons, calls Mr. G to report finding their quarry and visits Heever's General Store to hire local help in tracking the Swamp Thing. The locals debate his existence, citing Liz Tremayne's book. Alec forms a telepathic bond with the girl, meanwhile, whose name is Casey. Suddenly, a local named Hank Henderson Jr. drives into them. Thinking Alec has killed the boy, the locals attack him with torches. Harry calls Mr. G to say that tissue-samples he's found prove Alec is dying.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #1: "What Peace There May Be in Silence"

Thinking Alec a demon summoned by the "witch-child" Casey, Clete starts a brawl, causing a city-wide torch-fire. Kay kidnaps Casey to lure Alec to the swamp, where a crop-duster plane souses Alec with anaesthetic. He awakens at Great Eastern Mining & Harvesting, a Sunderland company. His captor is Walter "Grasp" Ellenbeck, who plans to extract the bio-restorative formula to grow himself new hands, and so Sunderland can corner the timberland market. When Alec refuses to provide the formula, Grasp orders Casey's death and starts to vivisect Alec with the same buzzsaw that took his hands. Casey knocks Kay out and slackens Alec's bonds, and he overpowers Grasp. An axe knocked from Grasp's hand lands on the saw, igniting the room in a sea of sparks. As Alec and Casey run for the hills, Grasp grabs a laser rifle and follows them to a cavern, where he nearly succeeds in killing them before falling from a cliff. Alec and Casey hop a freight train, unaware Kay has survived the fire. Alec wonders about Casey's power but vows to stay by her side. Happy that his arm has grown back due to Grasp's chemicals, Alec travels to Rosewood, Illinois. There, vampire Stiv Slashers has just killed both his girlfriend, Rosewood High School junior Cathy Newquist, and her mother.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #2: "Something to Live For"

October 12, 1982 A.D.

Grasp's employees find him barely alive in an underground pool and ship him to a clinic at Sunderland HQ in Washington, where empathic "receptors" developed by Harry Kay cure his injuries.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #10: "Number of the Beast"

October 14, 1982 A.D.

The last surviving pockets of humanity flee Rosewood, Illinois, leaving only Larry Childress and his family to battle the evil that has swept their town.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #3: "A Town Has Turned to Blood"

October 16, 1982 A.D.

Timmy Chung becomes the eleventh victim of the Pineboro Child-Stalker.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #4: "In the White Room"

After wandering the Smokey Mountains aimlessly for five days, Harry Kay finds a cabin in the woods and steals a robe from a clothes line to cover his burnt body.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #5: "The Screams of Hungry Flesh"

October 17, 1982 A.D.

Harry Kay spends a day scouring the roadside for a dime and payphone, then contacts Sunderland's Special Services Central office to report his survival and arrange for pick-up.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #5: "The Screams of Hungry Flesh"

Teenage vampires swarm the train carrying Alec and Casey. Alec fights them, impaling one on a splintered crate. He and a vampire fall from the car, and Casey elevates two pieces of wood under a spotlight to kill the vampire with the shadow of a cross. The train carries her out of view, so Alec walks to Rosewood. He enters a deserted library, where all texts on vampires have been removed. Before he can look further, a crossbow to his chest knocks him out. He awakens to find Larry Childress, his son Steven, his sister Hillary Downs and her son Bobby watching him. Bobby recognizes him from Liz Tremayne's Swamp-Man book. Larry tells Alec that the vampires took over Rosewood months ago and killed the human population. His goal is to blow the town damn and flood the town, for flowing water is deadly to vampires. Alec offers to help, hoping they might find Casey. Larry brings him to a limestone quarry to steal dynamite and blasting caps. Fighting adult vampires, they return to find Hillary and Bobby missing. Liz, meanwhile, boards a train with Associate Producer Paul Feldner to investigate the child murders in Pineboro, Arkansas. Casey's train also pulls into Pineboro, where cargo-workers find her asleep and bring her to a children's shelter.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #3: "A Town Has Turned to Blood"

October 18, 1982 A.D.

The next day, Larry and Steve Childress set up charges at a damn north of town. Alec spots Bobby in the Front Street Arcade, chained to the ceiling; he frees the boy but Stiv and others awaken from their pinball machine coffins. Bobby's mother, Hillary Downs, is now a vampire. She tries to kill her son, leaving Alec no choice but to kill her. The damn blows, taking Larry and Steve with it as it floods the town. The vampires die, but Alec and Bobby survive atop the arcade roof. Hours later, as the flood subsides, Alec leaves Bobby to rebuild the town, following train tracks north to find Casey. Passing a TV, he sees Liz Tremayne's broadcast about Casey and begins the long trek to Pineboro, Arkansas.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #3: "A Town Has Turned to Blood"

Several vampires survive the flood by hiding in a supermarket freezer unit. Once the waters have stilled, they emerge and spend the next two years building their own underwater society, free from human prejudice. In time, they begin breeding.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #38: "An American Gothic-Still Waters"

October 20, 1982 A.D.

8-year-old Raoul Hernandez is found mutilated in an abandoned house, victim #12 of the Pineboro Child-Stalker. Actor Barnard Stryker, better known as Uncle Barney on the kids' show Good Neighbor Hour, is arrested for the crimes. Liz Tremayne interviews Raoul's mother, Rosita, who feels Stryker should be locked up in a white room decorated with picutres of his victims. Liz and Paul show the interview to Sheriff Bingham at WPIN-TV before airing it; he dislikes the press but does as Rosita suggests, ignoring the un-Constituionality of such a tactic. As he leaves, Liz and Paul head for the courthouse to cover the arraignment. Elsewhere, Alec arrives on the back of a watermelon truck. Exhausted by his affliction, he passes out and falls from the truck. At the Izard County Abandoned Child Center, Casey grows bored watching Uncle Barney and returns to her room, where she bends the iron bars and escapes. In the white room, Stryker mourns what he's done to the children. Inside him is a demon who fed off his dark side but now has no use for him and burns his body from within. Bingham holds a conference to announce the trial's cancellation, offering no details. Liz meets with WPIN's Program Director, Mr. Fields, to discuss replacing Stryker's slot with In-Depth Magazine. She urges him not to use an Uncle Barney-type show, for the na�vet� of children's programming has blinded kids to the dangers of the real world. Fields ignores her plea, replacing Barney with a similar character named Aunt Polly. Stryker's demon inhabits Paul and hunts down Casey as its next victim. Drawn to her side through means he doesn't fathom, Alec fights to protect her but is knocked from a bridge. He pursues them to Farm Bill's Fine Meats and stops Paul from slaughtering her by offering his own body as host. The demon abandons Paul, but as it enters Alec, he locks himself in a freezer. The extreme cold, a contrast to the fires of Hell, destroys the demon. Liz and Bingham arrive to find Paul dazed, Alec burnt and frostbitten and Casey gone. As Paul regains his senses, Liz arranges for Alec to be sent to a lab in South Dakota run by her employers... Sunderland Corp.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #4: "In the White Room"

October 22, 1982 A.D.

Two days later, Alec awakens in an ambulance driven by Sunderland employees Murchison and Tess. Realizing he's in danger, he kicks the door open at Checkpoint One of the Barclay Clinic, but guards subdue him and Dr. Dennis Barclay drugs him. Liz learns Paul has checked out of the Pineboro Sheridan and not been seen since. Harry Kay, his body miraculously healed, leaves to retrieve Alec. Dennis runs a hand over Alec's wounds, causing each to vanish. A psychic healer discovered by Kay in Switzerland, he was offered directorship of the clinc. When Alec tells Dennis what Kay and Grasp did to him and Casey, Dennis is stunned, for he considers Kay a humanitarian. He puts Alec to sleep, then goes outside to speak with Liz, who is shocked to learn the Swamp-Man she's been hunting is really Alec Holland.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #5: "The Screams of Hungry Flesh"

October 23, 1982 A.D.

Alec hears moaning in the night and breaks out to investigate. In a room on Sub-Level One, he finds a mis-shapen human with wounds matching those Dennis healed; apparently, Dennis transfers injuries from his patients to those in this room. Guards spot him and a fight ensues until Liz and Dennis arrive to calm Alec. They bring him to Sub-One to disconnect the injured humans. Kay shows up and says the empathic "receptors" are linked psionically to him and other Sunderland employees, absorbing wounds to make their hosts impervious to injury. Furious, the empaths turn on Kay's guards, leaving Liz, Dennis and Alec free to escape. The empaths reverse the process, causing the guards to writhe in pain as the empaths are freed of their wounds. Escaping via helicopter, Kay calls for a meeting of the Executive Committee aboard the S.S. Haven to discuss the situation. Meanwhile, Alec and company wonder how they'll find Paul and Casey.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #5: "The Screams of Hungry Flesh"

October 25, 1982 A.D.

Alec's group ditches the ambulance for a van and drives to Gates County Hospital in North Carolina. Barclay sneaks into Mrs. Clancy's room. She has been in a coma for two weeks but is now awake. She agrees with her husband's attempt to kill the child and hands Dennis their daughter's locket, urging him to kill her. After she dies, Dennis runs to the van and they depart. On the locket are the initials "K.C." for Karen Clancy. Alec realizes he mis-interpreted her initials for her name. A roadblock on Route 264 halts their retreat. Police arrest Dennis and Liz, but Alec recognizes Kay's voice from a hovering helicopter and attacks the cops, who are really Sunderland guards. He rescues Dennis, but Liz is snared by the chopper. Kay drugs her and takes her to see General Sunderland and his top executives aboard the Haven. Kay's companion, Milton Grossman, is upset at the delay in finding Casey. Dennis and Alec camp out in the Everglades, where Dennis admits he's fond of Liz and wants to help her. The locket gives Alec psychometric powers, enabling him to home in on Casey's location. Milton finds the girl hiding in Providence Canyons with a cowering Paul Feldner. He begs Milton's guards for help, but Casey kills them with her mind. Alec and Denis stow away aboard the Haven to search for Liz. Wormish creatures attack Alec on H-Deck. Dennis finds Liz drugged, takes her to her state room and knocks out her bodyguard, Maitland. He and Liz attend a masquerade ball, Dennis in Maitland's donkey costume, Liz pretending still to be drugged. The partiers un-mask at midnight, and all are stunned to find that some of the attendees have transformed into cycloptic monsters.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #6: "Sins on the Water"

October 26, 1982 A.D.

As midnight strikes, the cyclopses attack. Sunderland and Kay watch in horror as they change into giant eye-stalks. Sunderland leads the Executive Committee to a private hydrofoil on G-Deck. Kay, realizing Dennis and Liz's subterfuge, stays behind to give them a gun to protect themselves. They are confused at his turnabout, but with no time to explain, he tells Dennis to pistol-whip him to cover their escape. They run for a life-boat, and Kay rejoins Sunderland to say all aboard have been killed by a plague. Alec follows the creatures' trails to the shipboard pool, where a giant alien reveals itself to be the mutated result of contact with experimental Herpes viruses that sank in a Sunderland freighter six years prior. The alien and its mutated servants have been stealing ships and mutating the human crews to build a transport so they can return to their homeworld. It attacks Alec, but his sap-like blood proves toxic and it hurls him across the room. As he makes his way to the dispensery, Liz and Dennis head in that direction as well, having been splattered with alien slime while evading the mutants. Sunderland's hydrofoil docks at Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, to arrange transportation to the U.S. Sunderland knows Kay is hiding something but lets it pass for now. Milton's guards meet a grisly end while trying to kill Casey. She now thinks Paul her chosen Catalyst, just as she'd thought Alec was before. Paul understands what she is and why Kay and Milton want her dead, but says she's too powerful to be stopped. They steal Milton's car, leaving him behind. Dennis and Liz find Alec in the dispensery and test his blood, determining that the bacteria killing Alec is what hurt the aliens. Fearing the spread of the virus, Alec descends to the ocean floor with an explosive to destroy the aliens' "building place." He nearly dies in the explosion. Dennis sets explosives on the boat, timed to release an antigen of Alec's blood into the water as it blows. Hours later, Alec washes ashore a nearby island, astonished to see a dinosaur before passing out cold.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #7: "I Have Seen the Splintered Timbers of a Hundred Shattered Hulls"

October 27, 1982 A.D.

Alec impales the Tyrannosaurus Rex with a log and it disintegrates into a human skeleton. Liz and Dennis are attacked by primitives on the other side of the island, but Dennis is puzzled by the "B-move" look to this place. He kills a native, who turns into a skeleton, and is teleported to a mansion resembling that seen in Citizen Kane. Alec finds Liz chained up like Faye Rae in King Kong, the giant ape not too far behind. As he fights natives, reducnig them to skeletons, Dennis finds a dog-tag around the neck of the deceased Citizen Kane, recognizing the name Jerry Haggerty from his days as a medic in the Viet Nam War. Three natives, watching from afar, are puzzled by their existence, for the cinematic illusions they play out have never included large green monsters. Intrigued, they decide to have fun with their visitors. Alec finds himself piloting a 1930s bi-plane, forced to battle Kong in the film's climactic conclusion. His bi-plane disappears to be replaced by a helicopter with a rope-ladder, which Liz climbs to safety. They find Dennis in front of Rick's Caf� Americana from Casablanca. Inside are Cheeto, Juice, Reef, DiCenzo, Gitlin and Fox, survivors of the U.S. Army troop-carrier New Hampshire, which sank some three years prior. Exposed to Agent Blue in Viet Nam, they survived and found they could form illusions from thin air. To that end, they built an island from the wreckage of the boat and survived by recreating scenes from classic movies, using the bodies of the crew as raw materials for their games. Liz is disgusted, likening their reclusiveness to those who fled to Canada during the war. Cheeto is furious and pulls a gun on her, but Alec deflects his shot, shooting Reef. The gunshot shatters the illusion, andZ the scene reverts to a room full of skeletons, which quickly begins to break apart. The dying Reef creates a chopper for Alec's group to escape, while the others remain behind to die at sea as they were meant to years ago

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #8: "Here's Lookin' at You, Kid"

October 28, 1982 A.D.

Following his psi-link with Casey, Milton Grossman leads Harry Kay and three psychics to the Trans-Oceanic Charter Service, a Sunderland-owned airport in northern New Jersey. They arrive at about the same time as Paul Feldner and Casey. Casey is now teenage in appearance but still a mute. Paul refuses to help her, running outside at the sight of Kay and Milton. Before he can warn them of what he's learned, however, she uses pyrotic powers to envelop him in fire.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #8: "Here's Lookin' at You, Kid"

Harry Kay wraps Paul Feldner in a blanket to extinguish the fire. Casey uses Milton's link to broadcast her thoughts to the group. Born mute due a birth injury to her larynx, she is developing and maturing rapidly. Before their eyes, she grows to adulthood and releases her hold on Milton and Feldner in exchange for Kay's strongest telepath, David Marx, who is the prophesied Catalyst. Kay protests the exchange, but Marx goes willingly to save the others.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #9: "Prelude to Holocaust"

October 30, 1982 A.D.

At 1:43 a.m., as their helicopter crosses the Atlantic, Dennis tells Alec what Casey's mother said at the hospital; until now, he'd dismissed the incident as irrelevant. Liz is miffed, and Alec realizes he's lived a lie for weeks. Reef dies and the chooper breaks up, dropping them into the ocean. Two hours later, Harry Kay brings Feldner to an underground Sundarland installation, his face wrapped in guaze to soothe his third-degree burns until a "receptor" can heal him. Milton sneaks into the installation, obsessed with completing their search for Casey. He chastises Kay for allowing the exchange, but Kay needs Feldner to find out what he learned from his link with Casey. He, too, wishes to complete their mission, so he can drop his Special Operative fa�ade and topple the Sunderland Corp. As he speaks, Grasp eavesdrops and reports them to General Sunderland. At 7:05 a.m., in a New Jersey hotel room, Liz changes her hair style to throw off pursuers. Dennis puts Alec in the shower to keep him moist; though hopeful of finding a cure, Dennis knows he's limited in what he can do. Alec realizes it, too, and regrets endangering them all. Grasp meets with Sunderland at the Washington HQ two hours later. Sunderland orders him to kill Alec, ruin Kay in the stockholders's eyes and learn Kay's connection to Milton Grossman. Milton mind-links with Casey's locket and learns that Alec is headed to the Barclay Clinic to find Feldner. Meanwhile, Casey and Marx board a plan for Germany.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #9: "Prelude to Holocaust"

October 31, 1982 A.D.

Alec's team arrives at the Barclay Clinic the next morning. It seems deserted, so Alec busts down the door to Kay's office. In a locked safe, they find a 1953 newspaper reporting that the State Dept. had smuggled Nazi war criminal Helmut Kripptmann into the U.S., against President Truman's orders, for his expertise in genetics, hoping to recruit a secret army acquainted with Eastern Europe to use against the Communist bloc. In the article, Senator Dreben dubs Kripptmann "second only to Joseph Mengele in his disregard for the sanctity of human life." The photo of Kripptmann is that of a young Harry Kay. Sunderland guards storm the room, but before they can act, Milton kills them with his mind. His unleashed power causes lesions to form on his face also and knocks Alec ouconscious. Hours pass, and when Alec awakens, Liz and Dennis are subdued by Kay and Milton. Since Feldner's accident has left him amnesiac, Kay requests their help, promising to explain everything when time permits. When Dennis tells him to go to Hell, Milton blasts Alec again, mutating his body into huge tendrils that ensnare and constrict the others.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #9: "Prelude to Holocaust"

Kay urges Alec to consider Casey a danger: born without the inhibiting factor Milton and other psychokinetics possess (their power mutates and damages them), she is limitless in power, a perfect weapon for world domination. She has taken Marx to M�nich to find the Pendulum of Ernst von Ruhnstedt, a magic talisman that will make her "the Herald of the Beast." Kay introduces four more psychics in his Cabala: Rachel, Samual, Alan and Karl, who will accompany him to Germany to destroy the girl. He requests their help, ordering Milton to kill them if they refuse. Alec breaks free of his control, but Kay says that at Sunderland, he learned of a secret conspiracy to destroy Alec, the roots of which go all the way up to the U.S. government itself, and that if Alec kills him or lets him die fighting Casey alone, he'll never know the details. The group all agree to join him.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #10: "Number of the Beast"

November 1, 1982 A.D.

At dawn, Kay and Alec's teams arrive at an airport in the Black Hills, where they assume new identities for the trip ahead. With little money left, Liz calls her parents, Lyle and Margaret Tremayne, interrupting her own funeral. They wire money from her savings account. General Sunderland meets with Grasp to view surveillance tapes from the Barclay Clinic that reveal Kay's duplicity and his plot. With death the price for failure, Grasp leaves to assassinate Alec and fulfill his role in the Holland Project. Twelve hours later, a Lufthansa 747 carrying Alec's group descends over the Bavarian Alps to M�nich's International Airport. Milton's powers make them look different to passersby; Milton, for instance, resembles Clark Gable. Alec hides in a cargo packing crate for delivery to their rooms at the Hotel Marienplatz. Liz and Dennis share a room, and Dennis makes the most of it with a kiss. Feldner regains his memory, explaining that Casey plans to re-enact the Holocaust, serving whomever rises to power, just as von Ruhnstedt served Hitler. This time, , the destruction will be complete. They head for a concentration camp in Dachau to stop Casey from looting von Ruhnstedt's grave for his pendulum. Alec questions what he knows of Kay, for if he were a Nazi doctor, why would he try to stop the Third Reich's resurrection? At Dachau, they find an adult Casey floating above David Marx's dead body. Rachel rushes to help him but is burnt to a crisp, and Alec nearly meets the same fate when he tries to stop her. Casey utters an incantation that brings Dachau back to life, filling the death-camp with the bodies of deceased Nazi soldiers and Jewish victims. She resurrects von Ruhnstedt himself, who says to seek the pendulum from a collector of Nazi mementos in Berchtesgaden. Kay wants to pursue her, but Dennis refuses to cooperate with a Nazi. Furious, Kay rips open a sleeve, revealing a tatooed row of numbers. Startled, the group realizes they have him all wrong. He was at the concentration camp, yes, but not as a Nazi soldier... rather, as a Jewish prisoner.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #10: "Number of the Beast"

November 2, 1982 A.D.

At dawn, Alec's team stands in the rubble of the Dachau crematorium, considering how to proceed. Alec receives a vision from the locket of Casey descending the slopes of Mount Untersberg in Berchtesgaden. An elderly man named Otto Mueller finds her in his home, searching for the pendant; once a member of Hitler's S.S., he narrowly eluded prosecution in the N�rnberg trials. His luck runs out, however, as Casey kills him. Alec breaks off contact, unable to endure the vision any longer. Harry Kay tries to convince Dennis not to judge him for having collaborated with the Nazis. Dennis' refusal to let it rest infuriates Kay, who brawls with the younger man until Alec and Feldner break it up. Feldner tells them what he's learned: all along, Casey was plotting the rebirth of Nazi Germany and a Holocaust on a much larger scale. He urges them to work together to stop her.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #11: "Heart of Stone, Feet of Clay"

November 3, 1982 A.D.

At midnight, Casey appears to Mueller's widow, who wears the pendant around her neck. Burning her to a crisp, Casey uses the pendant to destroy Mueller's house, calling forth the Fortress of the Beast. Twenty-five miles distant, at the base of Mount Kehlstein, Harry and his survving Cabala prepare a clay homunculus called a Golem, incscrbed with the Hebrew word "emet" ( "life") on its faec to bring it to life. The Golem sets out after Casey, using Alec's locket to track her. At 2:00 a.m., Liz and Dennis remain in their M�nich hotel room, hoping to find a cure to Alec's affliction. Dennis determines that Alec has a mutant strain of e-coli, artificially bred to kill him. Two hours later, the Golem crashes a meeting of Fourth Reich supporters at the Apres-Ski Lodge. Casey wards it off it with the pendulum, then burns Alec and destroys Harry's microbus. The Cabala barely survives, and Casey flees before Milton and the Golem can harm her. Drawn to Alec's locket, however, the Golem attacks him. Unfortunately, Alec's roots have grown around the locket, leaving him at the the beast's mercy.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #11: "Heart of Stone, Feet of Clay"

Alec and the Golem topple over the side of a snowy mountain cliff and crash onto a narrow ledge. Alec erases the letter Aleph from its face to spell the word "met" ("dead"), rendering it lifeless. As Alec climbs to safety, Casey's voice reaches the Cabala's minds, challenging them to confront her in a temple where Harry Kay worshipped as a youth. In M�nich, Dennis admits his attraction to Liz. Though tempted, she is unsure of her feelings and unwilling to take a chance. Grasp barges in at that moment, disguised as a German night clerk, and holds them at gunpoint. He reports in to Sunderland, who orders his secretary, Ms. Hammond, to pull the files of Alec and his comrades. Kay cuts the locket out of Alec's roots, then puts it around the neck of the Golem to prevent further trouble when they reactivate it. Dennis and Liz distract Grasp and leave him unconscious as they rush to rendezvous with the others. Kay instructs Milton, Karl and Alan to use their powers to the fullest to stop Casey, even if it costs them their lives. He regrets his past cooperation with the Nazis and has vowed not to let the Antichrist rise again. The Golem and the Cabala attack as one, and though Casey succeeds in killing the psychics, their powers weaken her enough for Alec to break her spine. Grasp contacts his M�nich partner, Trace, reporting that he let Dennis and Liz overpower him so Trace could track them to Alec and the others. Alec's group searches for the Golem, which has wandered off to a nearby town. The demon possessing Casey leaves her broken body and enters Liz, forcing her to grab the wheel of Harry's car and flip it over. Alec tries to stop her, but it transfers to his body instead. His strong mind hostilely casts out the demon, which abducts Liz and the locket, then broadcasts a bright light that transports everyone in the area (including Grasp) to a steel fortress in Berchtesgaden. There, it plans to deliver them to its master, the Antichrist. Casey's voice taunts them wih Biblical prophecy that the number of the Beast shall be 666. Meanwhile, Sunderland and Hammond access Grasp's file to see if he has reported in yet. Grasp's file code: 666.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #12: "And Yet it Lives"

Grasp regains his senses and tries to carry out his assassination orders, but Alec disarms him with a stone gargoyle. All the while, Casey's voice taunts them from Liz's floating body. Grasp disappears in a flash, and as Casey/Liz departs to prepare him for his part in bringing about the end of the world, Dennis, Kay and Alec search for a way to stop her. Alec is beseiged with visions of the fire that transformed him into the Swamp Thing, while Dennis relives his father's last moments before dying of cancer in Boston. Unlike Alec's personal Hell, Dennis's is of what might have been, for Dennis never made it home in time before his father died. Alec's illusion ends just as giant spikes are about to skewer him. He escapes them, narrowly saving Dennis from a similar fate. Dennis says Alec has two months to live unless they find a cure, and suggests that once finished, Alec should submerge himself in the swamp so the bio-restorative formula can regenerate him. Casey's voice taunts them once more, outlining her plan to make Grasp a respected world leader so he can bring about Armageddon by calling forth armies of Nazis, KKK members and others already serving the Beast. Alec confronts the Golem, which has found Liz's abandoned body and is about to kill her. Grabbing the locket to lure the Golem away, Alec discovers that the locket has given him a residue of the demon's powers, which may be the key to destroying her. He follows her to a high parapet, where he wrestles her for the pendulum and absorbs its power as well. It nearly kills him, but he destroys both Grasp and the demon. The fortress illusion vanishes, and they return to their wrecked car.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #13: "Lambs to the Slaughter"

November 4, 1982 A.D.

Paul Feldner is hospitalized for injuries sustained in the fight with Casey. Learning of Grasp's death, General Sunderland tells Hammond to contact Dwight Wicker at the Justice Department so they can end the Alec Holland situation once and for all.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #13: "Lambs to the Slaughter"

NOTE: Wicker was previously said to work for the D.D.I., not the Justuce Department. This might indicate that the D.D.I. is a secret division of the Justice Department.

November 4-17, 1982 A.D.

Liz, Dennis and Harry Kay spend two weeks traveling to return Alec to the Louisiana bayou so he can immerse himself in the biorestorative waters of the swamp that spawned him.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #13: "Lambs to the Slaughter"

Late November, 1982 A.D.

Several days later, Alec finally re-emerges from the swamp, his body on the way to a full recovery.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #13: "Lambs to the Slaughter"

Before 1983 A.D.

John Constantine begins a romantic relationship with a woman named Emma, whom he introduces to his sister, Cheryl Masters, and his friend, Kathy "Kit" Ryan, both of whom consider her to be very nice.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #62: "End of the Line"

NOTE: Emma is killed in Swamp Thing #37, set on July 4, 1985. Since John loses contact with Kit in 1983, this pushes the beginning of his relationship with Emma to before that year, which means he dated Emma for at least two-and-a-half years before she died.

Kathy was given the nickname "Kit" by her boyfriend, Brendan Finn (a close friend of Constantine).

John Constantine, Hellblazer #70: "Heartland"

Mark Lucas is born to Peter and June Lucas of Dogthorpe, Peterborough.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #24: "The Family Man"

King Solovar, the kindly ruler of Gorilla City, places the Flash's nemesis Gorilla Grodd in a paralyzing hypnotic trance to keep him from causing trouble. The trances lasts four years, during which time a beam of light manipulates Grodd's thoughts and dreams.

Swamp Thing Annual #3: "Distant Cousins"

Nathaniel "Nat" Broder, founder of Broder Electronics, tries to accelerate the growth of silicon by destablizing its emerging crystalline structures. His wife and partner, Sally, watches helplessly as the experiment fails and liquid silicon engulfs him. She tries to open the door, but the Phantom Stranger prevents her from acting. Warning her of the danger Nat represents, he vanishes to let her grieve. In Louisiana, Alec re-emerges from another lengthy submersion in the swamp, his body fully healed. He knows the others are awaiting him at a rendezvous point but no longer wants the company of humans. Broder guards named Sid and Jimmy dump the silicon into the swamp in sealed barrels. As they leave, a crystalline arm breaks through one barrel. Sally learns of the barrel-dumping and is furious at her executives, George Williston and Peter Murdock. Alec comes upon a sandy desert, an anachronism in the middle of a swamp. The local fauna has been crystalized, and a crystal man tries to do the same to him. When nothing happens, the crystal man focuses light to burn him. Alec rushes to re-hydrate himself, collapsing as the swamp transforms to sand. Sally, Peter and George investigate the swamp and find that Nat's growth-accelerator is turning everything to silicon. Jimmy sees Alec and opens fire. Alec picks him up, but the sand turns back into swamp upon contact with his body and he starts sinking. Throwing Jimmy to safety, he wanders back into the swamp. The Stranger appears, confirming his suspicion that the crystal man was Nat Broder. Nat appears at the others' location. Sid tries to rush him, but Nat crystalizes him and wanders back to the swamp, confused. Alec, empathizing with his plight, tries to reason with him, but Nat has gone mad with power and boasts that none can stop him. He touches Alec again, this time successfully crystalizing him, then rejoins Sally, warning her not to touch him but assuring her everything will be alright. The Stranger urges Sally not to believe her husband, but Nat crystalizes him as well, and as the Broder crew depart, the Stranger's body turns into a pile of sand and disperses in the wind.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #14: "Crystal Visions, Shattered Dreams"

Sally and Peter bring Sid and Alec's crystalized bodies to Broder Electronics to find a cure. Nothing works, but Nat is confident he'll find the secret of the transformations. Sally is reassured, unaware of his true motives. While Alec's body reasserts its mossy form, breaking through its crystal prison, Nat elicits George's help in using the silicon and micro-circuitry in his body to take control of the world's computers. The Phantom Stranger, having regained his usual form, tells Sally she has a choice to make. Moments later, Nat hears Sally playing her electronic synthesizer; though fearful for her safety, she plays him a song. Meanwhile, Alec walks to Sub-Level II and hears Peter arguing with George and Nat. Peter has seen the programs Nat is writing and no longer wants to be a part of it. Nat tries to crystalize him, but Alec intercedes. Nat pummels Alec and rushes to stop Peter from warning Sally. Shattering Sid's body, Nat crystalizes Peter as well. Sally runs in fear and finds Alec, who takes her to safety. The Stranger teleports them to the North Quad of the complex, urging them to kill Nat. George spots them on camera and sends guards, whom Alec knocks unconscious so Sally can get to her synthesizer. Nat tries to stop her, but Alec holds him off as she finds the correct frequency to set up sympathetic vibrations and shatter his body. Later, Sally drives Alec to the swamp, which has begun reverting back to its original condition. She pities him his loneliness, for she now shares it. Watching Alec saunter off alone, the Stranger observes that a dream unfulfilled can be a lifetime's cause.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #15: "Empires Made of Sand"

With the death of Nat Broder, Peter Murdock's body reverts to its normal human form.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #21: "The Anatomy Lesson"

Alec finds a signal device created by the Sunderland Corporation, designed to keep people away from the cemetary containing his and Linda Holland's graves.

DC Comics Presents #?: [unpublished, title and issue # unknown]

NOTE: A blurb in issue #16 of Series 2 references these events, attributing them to a forthcoming issue of DC Comics Presents. However, the issue never saw publication.

John Constantine, age 30, loses touch with his close friend Brendan Finn and his wife Kit Ryan, from Ireland. Constantine secretly loves Kit, the only lover of any of his friends who doesn't hate him or think he'll get his friend killed. Any time Constantine finds himself unable to handle the dark shadows of his life, Finn and Kit take him in and offer him refuge and sanity.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #42: "Dangerous Habits, Part Two—A Drop of the Hard Stuff"

Kit and Brendan become two of Constantine's best friends, and though she knows him to be a master con artist, he never cons her because the couple represents a break from that life.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #46: "Dangerous Habits, Epilogue—Falling Into Hell"

One of Constantine's favorite foods during this period is "sodas" (eggs and soda bread), which he douses in ketchup.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #48: "Love Kills"

October 1983 A.D.

John Constantine plans how to ellicit Alec's help in defeating a male witch cult called the Brujer�a, knowing that in the aftermath of the impending Crisis on Infinite Earths, they will attempt to awaken a great evil. With help from friends and fellow occultists, Benjamin Cox, Frank North, Sister Anne-Marie and Judith, he spends the next two years carefully preparing for the Summoning.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #49: "An American Gothic—Crisis in Heaven: The Summoning"

Alec unearths Linda's grave and finds it empty. Sadly, he rejoins Liz, Dennis and Harry, wondering if she was ever buried there at all. Dennis realizes the government must be trying to kill him. Harry confirms this and offers to take them to the conspirators themselves, in Washington, D.C. Twenty-four hours later, Alec awakens in their station wagon in the parking lot of the New Moon Motel in Virginia. A maid spots him and screams, and he runs for cover. Outside the Fabric Corner Boutique, he sees a car sliding toward a cliff. He stops the car and rescues a boy named Jimmy Spurlow. Ida Harmon, a neighbor watching Jimmy, doesn't seem to notice his grotesqueness. She brings him to her town, where no one else notices either, and introduces him to her husband Cyrus and daughter Mallory. Cy shows him a basement full of masks from a costume shop he owned for forty years, giving him a Mask for the Soul. To Alec's astonishment, it reveals his human form. The next morning, as Liz and Dennis eat breakfast at the motel diner, oil mogul Hec "Dallas" Brandon recognizes Liz and tries to hit on her, until she threatens his manhood. The watress has white hair and her name-tag reads "Abby." Ida and Cy give Alec their blessing to court Mallory. Comfortable for the first time in years, he considers staying in this fantastic village. Reality rears its head, though, when Mallory's ex-lover Frank grows jealous and removes his own mask, revealing a hideous creature beneath. The two battle until Frank throws Mal from a bridge. Risking his own life to save her, Alec reveals his true identity to her. He turns at the sound of applause to find the townspeople watching. All remove masks, revealing horrible disfigurations. This has all been a test, says Cy, to see if he would accept who he is and earn a place in the town. Fearing that she loves him out of pity since she knows what it is to be hideous, and knowing he must help his friends, he regretfully departs. As he does so, the town disappears, and he never learns that Mallory actually had no disfigurement and truly loved him for the person he is. Meanwhile, General Sunderland learns that Grasp failed to kill Alec. $50,000 over-budget, he tells his secretary to alert Wicker that he's ready to join forces with the D.D.I.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #16: "Stopover in a Place of Secret Truths"

Though several days have passed for Alec, mere hours have transpired in the outside world. As Harry, Liz and Dennis wait for his return, Alec is stunned to find Abigail Arcane outside the motel diner. Old friends reuinte and reminisce, and she brings his group to see her husband―Matt Cable. Alec senses something different about her, as though the fire in her spirit has gone out. En route, a fearsome beast attacks Abby's pickup truck, proclaiming itself "Death for Barclay." As the others run for cover, Alec battles it, trashing the truck in the process. The creature hurls him and runs off, and Abby explains that such bizarre creatures have been haunting the woods for weeks. They arrive at her home, where Matt lies dazed on a ragged couch, an empty bottle of Mighty Moose at his feet. At the sight of Alec, he recoils in terror, convinced Alec is dead. Once Matt has calmed, he and Abby explain that they thought they'd killed him in 1975 when he'd gone berserk. Alex explains about his crazed double and fills them in on his whereabouts since then. Matt does the same, stopping short as a seizure grips him. Dennis tries to help, but Matt reognizes him and tries to hit him, collapsing unconscious. More apparitions plague the group, and when they dissipate, Alec finds Abby badly injured. Leaving Alec to watch over the Cables, Liz and Dennis return to the motel to fetch his medical bag, and Dennis reveals his connection to Matt. Alec tends to Matt when he awakens. Matt says the D.D.I. took Linda's body to perform an autopsy, but they caught him before he could de-code the findings. Suddenly, Abby's home is beseiged by bizarre creatures resembling flying brains and floating eyeballs. Several miles away, an insect-shaped helicopter descends upon Harry Kay, who fails to notice a bear trap on the ground. The hooded owner of the chopper taunts the injured physician as a band of Un-Men drag Harry aboard. Anton Arcane is back, and he craves revenge.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #17: "And Things That Go Bump in the Night"

Alec's group fight vainly against the swarming Un-Men. Inside the cabin, Matt attributes the monstrosities to his latest liquor binge and doesn't bother fighting them. When he regains his will to live, the creatures disappear and he realizes his own sub-conscious has been creating them. Harry asks Arcane why he's been adbucted, and Arcane details his last encounter with Alec in 1974, ordering the Un-Men to prepare Harry for a metamorphosis.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #18: "The Man Who Would Not Die"

NOTE: A caption places this story 8 years after issue #10 of the first series, but it has actually been 9 years.

Matt finds Abby and Alec lying unconscious in the woods. An overturned lamp has started a forest fire, and since he can't extinguish it, he mentally summons a monster to awaken Alec. Upon waking, Alec demolishes the monster, smothers the fire with his own dampness and carries Abby to safety. Matt admits he's the cause of the creatures and explains how he and Abby came to live in this area. Arcane's Un-Men bind Harry in a cocoon of their own silk. Arcane plans to swap Alec's powerful body for his own mis-shapen form. He reveals how he survived Black Jubal, then steps through a warp-like opening in the air and onto his tesseract craft. He orders his Un-Men to set down beside the Cables' cabin and uses Kay's coccooned body to lure Alec away so his Un-Men can abduct Abby. Alec tries to fight them, but a mutant wasp's venom knocks him out. He awakens in a giant web surrounded by Un-Men. Arcane tries to switch bodies and turn Abby into an Un-Man, as he did Harry. Unexpectedly, Harry chews through his coccoon. What little is left of his human mind pushes him to disrupt the mental transfer, incinerating his body and casting Arcane's mind out into the void. As Alec frees Abby and escapes the ship, the uncontrolled Un-Men devour Arcane's body. Abby and Alec jump to freedom as the chopper explodes, and as Abby runs back to find Matt, Alec searches for Arcane's body to be sure he really is dead. Meanwhile, Liz and Dennis's truck breaks down on the side of the road. Dennis feels guilty for ruining Matt and Abby's lives and decides to continue the journey to the motel on foot. Liz, however, fears for her safety alone in the woods and seduces him into staying with her. Exhausted, he gives in and makes love to her.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #19: "And the Meek Shall Inherit"

Unable to escape death, Anton Arcane decends into Hell, where his right eye implodes and he finds himself among the angry dead. They tear at his spirit, trying to drag him down, but he flees their embrace and fights his way back to the material world.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #30: "Dark Messiah-A Halo of Flies"

Arcane brings back spirits of several guilty dead with him, who cling to him on his journey out of Hell. These spirits become his soldiers in a campaign to avenge himself on Alec and Abby.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #31: "Dark Messiah-The Brimstone Ballet"

Arcane tries to re-enter his former body, but it is damaged beyond use so he seeks another body to inhabit. He discovers Matt Cable's own spiritual descent into darkness and patiently waits for his self-destructive actions to provide him an opportunity to assume Matt's form.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #30: "Dark Messiah-A Halo of Flies"

Alec finds Arcane's broken body among the wreckage and realizes Arcane was his opposite-while Alec tried to find humanity, Arcane purposely threw his away. Elsewhere, Sunderland and Wicker discuss the events in Virginia. Sunderland decides to quiet the entire affair under cover of "National Security" and wipe out Alec's entire group in one shot. Dennis and Liz awaken in the dead truck and begin the long walk to the motel. Dennis tells of his mother's place in Florida and of his future plans, but she considers their encounter a one-night fling, nothing more. Angrily, he storms off, not noticing the helicopters following them. Abby returns to her cabin to find Matt unusually lucid. He says he had another attack while she was out, but this time he pushed the creatures back in his mind and they vanished. The power has left him, he says, and now they'll be okay. He tells her he loves her and makes romantic overtures, but she is unable to handle the change yet and goes for a walk. Taking a drink, he summons a vision of her as an exotic dancer to satisfy his unquenched lust. Clearly, he hasn't been entirly truthful. Outside, two guards named Otis and Roy await the others' arrival, itching to tie up all loose ends. At the New Moon Motel, Liz borrows the room key from a clerk to fetch Dennis' bag. Dallas Brandon grabs the key to be gentlemanly, but as he opens the door, the room explodes, incinerating him. Dennis panics, runs to the reception area and leads Liz out a side door to avoid back-up agents. She clings to him in terror, and he realizes that as long as their lives contain horror, she'll be his. Sunderland's troops level the cabin and flood the woods to make escape impossible. Trapped, Alec tries to find cover, but a barrage of gunfire finally brings him down.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #20: "Loose Ends"

Late 1983 to 1986 A.D.

Over the next two to three years, Dennis Barclay keeps a tight hold on Liz Tremayne with a web of deceit and mind-games intended to destroy her will and keep her in a state of terror. He tells her that Sunderland killed Abby and is looking for them, and that the only way for them to survive is to go into hiding. Terrified, Liz withdraws into herself out of fear, becoming a shadow of her former strength and entirely dependent on Dennis for security and survival. Eventually, they settle in Houma, Louisiana.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #54: "The Flowers of Romance"

c. mid-1980s A.D.

Beaten and molested since childhood, a 17-year-old young man runs away from home. After living on his own for three years, he begins molesting other boys just as his father once did to him. Although he has journeyed down the same path as his father, he resents his parents for making him the monster that he is. His crimes earn him the dubious moniker "the Bad Man," as he commits a rash of kidnappings and molestations across the country.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #119: "The Bad Man"

British mage John Constantine first meets Dr. Lawrence Polygon. At the time, the mystic is selling spiritual ergonomics to yuppies looking for an edge over their colleagues. Arogance, greed and slipshod research lead to his killing a customer, however, when he taps into repressed psychic powers, causing her to combust.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #137: "Dead Relatives"

Joan, an elderly woman, works at a fruit and vegetable store in London until it is sold and converted into a launderette. A friend of hers, Florrie, breaks her leg and is forced to move into the high-rise flat of her eldest son, Clive. Unable to handle the loss of her independence, Florrie jumps to her death from a balcony.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #51: "Counting to Ten"

January 1984 A.D.

Sunderland transports Alec to Washington and places him in frozen storage. Two weeks later, he arranges for the prison release of Dr. Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, and hires him to dissect Alec and discover why the bio-restorative formula affected him but not his wife Linda. Woodrue, hiding his plant features beneath a flexi-flesh spray, begins the autopsy the next day. Thrilled at this chance to learn more about himself by examining a fellow human-plant hybrid, Woodrue is disappointed when weeks of study fail to unlock the secrets of Alec Holland's physiology. To his confusion, none of Alec's organs are connected to one another-or even appear to function.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #21: "The Anatomy Lesson"

February 1984 A.D.

Finally, after six weeks of study, Jason Woodrue finds the answers he seeks and delivers a report to General Sunderland. When Alec Holland died, his decomposing body was consumed by plants altered by the formula, which absorbed his intelligence the way planarian worms take knowledge from creatures they consume; the confused plant then built itself a body approximating human design. In other words, Alec is not a human transformed into a plant; rather, he is a plant who thought itself a human. Sunderland listens to Woodrue's report, then fires him, having no further use for him. Feeling betrayed, Woodrue accesses the security computer, thaws Alec's body and overrides all exits and elevators. That night, as Sunderland takes his customary stroll through the building, Woodrue waits in his apartment, savoring the revenge he has arranged: since Alec is a plant, the shot to the head merely shocked his system into a coma-like state; once thawed, he'll grow a new body and come back to life-which he does. Searching for Sunderland, Alec comes across Woodrue's report and reads it, discovering the grim truth of what he is... or, more accurately, what he is not. Enraged, he chases the general throughout the compound before suffocating him in the moss of his own chest. Woodrue wishes he could witness the death, but is content in knowing it occurred.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #21: "The Anatomy Lesson"

NOTE: Issue #121 of this series incorrectly places Sunderland's death in 1985, when it's clearly 1984. What's more, issue #134 places his death five years prior, even though that issue is set in 1993, nine years after his death. That's "comic book time" for ya', folks!

Sunderland's spirit descends to Hell, where he is tormented by a demon named Nergal. The demon is fascinated with the general's tendency to disguise his crimes with cosmeticized language, such as calling murder "termination with extreme prejudice."

John Constantine, Hellblazer #6: "Extreme Prejudice"

Alec is stunned at the realization that he wandered the swamp in ignorance for ten years before learning his true nature. This sends him into a bout of depression.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #100: "Tales of Eden"

General Sunderland leaves all his personal finances and corporate holdings in the Sunderland Corp. to his British cousin, Alan Windsor, rather than to his own daughter, Constance. Sunderland's will stipulates that a new headquarters building be built in San Diego, Calif., and that his body be cryogenically frozen and put on public display in that building. Despite the ghoulish nature of the request, Windsor honors the will, amused by his cousin's eccentricity. Construction begins on the San Diego HQ, overseen by Windsor's assistant, Ms. Radcliffe, which takes five years to complete.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man #88: "Meltdown"

When Sunderland's body is found, he has moss in his mouth and green pulp beneath his fingernails. Dwight Wicker makes it his personal mission to destroy the Swamp Thing once and for all.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #52: "Natural Consequences"

The magazine Louisiana Life runs an article in its January/February issue about footprints found in Dugdemona Swamp, near the city of Hodge. Thirteen inches long, with a 57-inch stride, the prints are deemed too big for bear tracks and fuel seculation about the existence of the Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #43: "An American Gothic-Windfall"

Heather Strand is born to future U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Culler Strand and his wife, Genevieve Burgdorf-Strand.

Swamp Thing (Series 3) #11: "Red Harvest, Part One-The Virgin Thorn"

The Outback Mall is constructed in Melbourne, Australia.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #57: "Mysteries in Space"

Famed hunter Congo Bill loses control of himself as Congorilla and violates a woman on safari through Kenya. The experience disturbs him enough that he hangs up his Congorilla alter-ego.

Swamp Thing Annual #3: "Distant Cousins"

A Louisiana couple named Chris and Jenny experiment with a Ouija board, spelling out a chant that frees Kamara, the demon Monkey King, from Hell. Kamara immediately kills them, orphaning their seven-year-old autistic son, Paul.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #25: "The Sleep of Reason"

Unbeknownst to the couple, the spirit of Anton Arcane is responsible for the Monkey King's arrival, having secretly guided their hands to spell out the chant.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #30: "Dark Messiah—A Halo of Flies"

Chantinelle ("Ellie" for short), a demon succubus, sees an angels named Tali. She tries to seduce him and improve her standing in Hell, but ends up falling in love with him. Entranced with her beauty, he falls for her as well, their love violating the laws of both Heaven and Hell.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #60: "Guys & Dolls, Part Two—Nativity Infernal"

Despite their fundamental differences, Ellie and Tali enjoy a deep romance, and when she becomes pregnant, they agree to give up their respective realms to be together, no matter the cost.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #61: "She's Buying a Stairway to Heaven"

Spring to Summer 1984 A.D.

Alec Holland embarks on foot on a months-long trek from Washington D.C. back to Louisiana. Jason Woodrue follows him, tracking his progress the entire way.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #22: "Swamped"

Late Summer 1984 A.D.

Abby and Matt journey to Louisiana to locate Alec. It has been several months since their home was destroyed, and for weeks they have searched the rainy swamps. Abby finds Alec's body completely rooted to the ground, grown over with plantlife and insects. She thinks him dead, but Jason Woodrue steps out of the shadows to reassure her that isn't so. He explains that Alec has withdrawn from humanity and joined the vegetable kindgom. Three weeks prior, he says, Alec put down taproots, stopped pretending to breathe and began producing edible yam-like tubers. Abby vomits at the thought and runs off. Woodrue scorns the squemishness of "meathood" and returns to Alec, who has lapsed into an elaborate dream sequence involving Linda, Matt, the Arcane family, Ian MacCobb and others he met early in his travels. The underlying theme of each dream involves death, loss and consumption by worms. Abby returns to the Briar Wood Motor Inn in Houma, where she and Matt are staying. She hears laughter and a woman's voice, as she has many times recently, but as always, when she enters the room he is alone. That night, Woodrue takes polygraph readings of Alec and the surrounding vegetation and finds them in perfect synch. Ecstatic, he sits down to a baked tuber dinner, then uses electrodes to atune his own mind to Alec's and experience the joys of being one with nature. In Alec's dream, he attends a barbecue in which the main course is his own body. The worms consume all but his skeleton-his humanity-which they've left for him. Arcane and others try to take it from him, but he holds onto it for dear life and absorbs it back into his mossy form. Locked into Alec's mind, Woodrue feels what it is to be a plant everywhere in the world. The sensation is staggering, and he rips off the electrodes to celebrate his feeling of total planthood.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #22: "Swamped"

Alec gains awareness of the living existence of the Green and revels in the freedom it offers. Woodrue, meanwhile, has gone mad with ecstasy. In Terrebonne County, he slaughters three teens named Andy, Stuey and Dumont. As Abby walks alone, she sees the boys' bodies and screams as tendrils reach out to engulf her. Her voice cuts through Alec's reverie but fails to wake him as he continues to work through his depression. Woodrue reaches the town of Lacroix at 1:32 a.m. and takes control of the local vegetation to destroy the buildings. Sheriff Ed Cutler shoots him twice, so Woodrue kills him. Taking over the town, he asks William Anslinger to record what follows. Sealing off the homes, one containing Billy's own family, he instructs all houseplants to produce oxygen at an alarming rate, hyper-oxygenating the inhabitants. One person lights a cigarette, and a chain reaction of explosions levels the houses. At 2:45 a.m., Woodrue allows Billy to leave with the video. In his dreams, Alec senses the damage Woodrue is doing to the Green and realizes he's the same being who wrote the autopsy report. Enraged, he snaps out of his coma, rips away from the ground and forces the tendrils holding Abby to scatter. Though he barely acknowledges her, she follows him into the swamp. Billy reaches the Chenille police at 3:36. Sgt. Luther Galen contacts Morgan City, who contact Washington to summon the Justice League of America. An experienced gardner, Galen realizes the danger Woodrue represents and heads home to his wife Janey and son Steve, to destroy a magnolia tree and any other plantlife on their property. Woodrue begins his reign of terror, killing any "hamburgers" in his way. Claiming to speak for the Will of the Plants, he says he's been sent to build "another green world" free of animal life. Alec, however, disagrees.

The Saga of the Swamp Thing (Series 2) #23: "Another Green World"

From their orbitting space station, the JLA listen as Woodrue proclaims the Earth's doom across the globe. He increases all plantlife's oxygen production by ten percent, making the atmosphere so flammable a mere spark could cause worldwide destruction. The JLA consider many options, but the Green Lantern Corps and the Titans have tried most of them and failed. In Lacroix, Alec approaches Woodrue, who thinks his mentor has decided to join him. Woodrue offers him a human woman to sacrifice to their cause, but Alec pummels him and frees the woman. Furious, Woodrue summons plants to attack. The people of Lacroix scatter in terror as he overpowers Alec. One old man refuses to give up his home and fetches his chainsaw, "Evangeline." Woodrue kills the man, carving him up as a symbol of what mankind has done to the trees. Alec intervenes, breaking his arm and telling him he's hurting the Green with the poison of his hatred. Woodrue denies the accusation, but Alec forces him to accept that plants can't survive without the animal kingdom. Suddenly, Woodrue's connection to the Green is severed and he runs off in panic. Alec bids farewell to Abby, saying he accepts his identity as Swamp Thing and will return to his home in the bayou. Woodrue cowers from the trees in loneliness, humbled at their refusal to talk to him. He tries to camoflauge himself in flexi-flesh, but his rushed attempt yields grotesque results, and Superman and Green Lantern are shocked by his misshapen appearance when they find him. As they take the Floronic Man back to Arkham Asylum, Alec stands amidst the creatures and plants of the swamp and bathes in their beauty.