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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Swamp Thing and Jesus Christ

Alan Moore reinvented the concept of who Swamp Thing was as a character when he took over as writer in the early 80's.Originally Alec Holland was a sabotaged scientist,covered in his chemical creation,burned and left for dead in the swamp.As tends to happen in comics,the chemicals didn't kill him,but melded him with the vegetation of the bayou,and reformed him as the Swamp Thing.Moore changed it up,while this creature thought it was Holland it was not actually.Holland's personality lived on after his body's death,and inhabitated the physical form of the swamp,a Golem of sorts.Through the years and fantastic stories we learned more and more about Swamp Thing,how he is the protector of the Green,essentially Earth's ecosystem.How his love for Abby,a woman who could love such a strange creature showed no bounds,and that this is really one of the most powerful and interesting characters in the DCU.Moore at one point had ST's consciousness travel through space for some time,inhabiting different planet's vegetation and having adventures throughout the galaxy.Soon after returning to Earth,Alan Moore left the writing to his partner Rick Veitch.Veitch had an idea to send ST through time,encountering various historical events and figures.All was good until Veitch turned in his script for issue 88,where ST would end up meeting Jesus on the cross.DC refused to print this story,and Veitch ended up leaving the book shortly thereafter.DC had alot riding on it's shoulders at the time,with  the soon to be released Batman movie poised to buoy the company.This script is over 20 years old and has never been produced as a proper "in continuity"story.Veitch sells the script and the finished art could be seen at various art galleries through the years.Now is the time to release this as a part of a trade collection,or as a single issue,we are at a point in America where a little religious fervor in comic books is no sweat.If Jesus can be a vampire hunter(Loaded Bible),why can't he meet Swampy?I hope this is resolved some day,because in the end,as a fan,it just sounds like a good story to me.

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