The Hour Cosmic Presents: Our Favorite “Swamp Thing” Covers

In case you missed the most recent installment of The Hour Cosmic, your favorite comics game show podcast (Episode 70: Chipwrecked with Jeremy Dale), we discussed, at length a certain “Swamp Thing” cover, and the importance of that book to Chad’s life. So, we decided to share with you three “Swamp Thing” covers that mean a lot to us, personally, as well as share some other ephemera from the most recent episode.

If you haven’t listened to it yet, you can grab it here, or listen to it below:

[audio: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thehourcosmic/~5/sCJV1elPVdM/70%20Episode%2070_%20Chipwrecked%20with%20Jere.mp3]

And now – the covers:

Chad’s Pick: “Swamp Thing” #98

Here it is — Swamp Thing #98! So I spent a chunk of this week’s show reminiscing about its spot in my collection as the first comic I picked up at a con. And I thought I knew this one through and through, but revisiting it, I didn’t remember it nearly as well as I… remembered. I attributed the cover to artist Mike Hoffman, when in fact, the credit goes to the great John Totleben. Totleben, of course, is one of the all-time great Swamp Thing artists, second (or third) only to co-creator Bernie Wrightson, or Stephen Bissette. His moody settings and eerie characters were a major part of what drew me to Swamp Thing back in the day, and I’m embarrassed I didn’t recognize the cover as his.

What I do remember is that #98 had a lot going for it when a kid. It featured Swamp Thing and a group of DC ghosts, including Abin Sur (yes, that Abin Sur), journeying to Hell to retrieve the soul of Swampy and Abby’s daughter, Tefe. I distinctly remember thinking “this is so adult” and I’m sure I boldy tossed around the term “groundbreaking.” But that was mostly because I’d yet to read Alan Moore’s definitive run on Swamp Thing. Just a year later, I discovered Moore, and connected the dots back to this very issue, realizing just how much writer Doug Wheeler was channeling Moore during his time on the book. But to my 12 year old brain, it was just an insanely cool story, not to mention downright terrifying. So, derivative or not, if you come across it in a quarter box, it’s worth about twice that for the cover alone.

Matt’s Pick: “The Saga of The Swamp Thing” Vol. 1

My experience with Swamp Thing is, admittedly, limited. With no inherent offense to the character or the idea behind him, but when I was younger I wasn’t exactly clamoring to read a book about a character named “Swamp Thing.” It was only when I grew up that I came to the character, albeit because of specific writers: Brian K Vaughan, Grant Morrison and — of course — Alan Moore. And, as a big fan of Moore’s work, I of course singularly swear by that one run of “Swamp Thing” as the one to read. It just so happens that the first volume before the recent reprints had perhaps the best cover that perfectly encapsulates why Moore makes the character work: despite being a disgusting character visually, the character itself is so noble in his intent, so humble in his endeavors, that you can’t help but find beauty mixed in with everything that might otherwise scream “horror.”

That’s the Swamp Thing I like.

Brian’s Pick: “Swamp Thing” #157

There is a majesty to Swamp Thing that is hard to find in other comics characters. He is an extraordinarily powerful creature, one that is visually uncomfortable to look at, and yet one that exhibits more humanity and grace than almost any other character in comics. This cover, by John Totleben, shows a statuesque Swampy that suggests importance and age, and acts almost as a reminder that the Parliament of Trees has had many avatars, and that he is just one of them. Visually, this is his plaque in the Avatars of the Green Hall of Fame, with a statistical run down underneath him.

Also, let it be known that this was a very, very hard choice. This is not, by any means, from my favorite “Swamp Thing” run, but I think the image is a stunning and representative one, that could work for almost any incarnation of the character.

Continued below

On Monday, our guest on the show is…Gabo!

Gabriel “Gabo” Bautista is the artist on the new Oni series, “The Life After,” written by our pal Joshua Hale Fialkov. He is also an Eisner-winning colorist who has worked for DC, Image, and Thrillbent.

Make sure to visit @TheHourCosmic and retweet this tweet by 10pm Eastern Time tonight (Thursday), which will enter you in a contest to win a prize if Gabo wins the game!

Also on last week’s show, we spoke about our guest Jeremy Dale’s book, “Skyward” – specifically, we spent some time discussing how he has been able to get exceptional artists to do variants. Below are variants by Mike Norton, Darwyn Cooke, and Stéphane Roux.