31 Days of Horror 2025 Day 25 Swamp Devil

 

TITLE-Swamp Devil

SOURCE-Maneater Series Triple Pack DVD

I grew up seeing the 50s/60s and 70s creature features on  tv. Sometimes with a host sometimes not. Which is partially why when I find a pack like the  one pictured above for a buck I take a chance. Yea all three films are CGI crapfest made for SYFY channel. But sometimes they can be decent and sometimes you want the movie version of eating a dozen Krystals with cheese for dinner.

Swamp Devil has a young lady returning to the town where she was born. After her mother passed her father pretty much abandoned her. She gets a call saying her father is dying and she comes back to take care of him. The father is played by the only name in the cast,Bruce Dern.

Right when she arrives at the town a guy about her age welcomes her. She wonders how he knows her when she moved from the town when she was still fairly young. He is the son of the local diner owner. 

This takes a bit to get going. First kill happening around the 30 minute mark. And besides being pure CGI it isn't bad. Yea there is almost no blood. Really besides a few uses of the word fuck nothing in this would warrant a R rating. 

Over the course of about 90 minutes we learn that our lead's dad and some other guys beat a guy to death for a crime he did. And tossed his body in the swamp. Now his spirit possesses what looks like Groot and Swamp Thing had a kid that was a cut scene from a PS2 game. 

The acting isn't bad. The story is one you have seen before but done fairly well here. And for a low budget movie the CGI is decent, If there was a few more kills this would be one I would recommend to almost anyone that likes horror.

I do enjoy how early on the rules for the Swamp Devil are set. And then used to kill him at the end. Plus of course we get a teaser for a sequel.

Worth seeing,thinking this is streaming on TUBI or Fawesome for free. And if you like modern CGI creature features it is worth grabbing on DVD for cheap.

Swamp Devil gets a C+

Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch Vol 1 Wild Things TPB

 

TITLE-Swamp Thing Vol1 Wild Thing

SOURCE-DC TPB

Oh yessss after years the start of the run of Rick Veitch writing and penciling Swamp Thing is back in TPB form.  This is a series I was reading back as it came out. Was one of the reasons I made sure each month to get to the comic shop.

After the stint out in space during Alan Moore's run the Parliment of Trees has started creating a new Earth Elemental. And Swamp Thing is in charge of finding it a host. 

Lots of set up for the future issues. And like the Moore run,Veitch takes some older forgotten DC characters and brings them back updated for the modern world of the 80s.

The art,with Alfredo Alcala on the inks,is amazing. With the Moore run the writing was amazing and so was the art. This time the story is just damn good,which on my scale is a bit below amazing. Now part of that might be this is the start of Veitch's run and stuff that felt dropped to me might get picked up in the next volume.

Swamp Thing By Rick Veitch vol 1 Wild Things gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 25 Swamp Thing

Title-Swamp Thing
Source-Uncut first release MGM DVD

Yeah I know the cover above isn't the cover on the DVD,but it looks so much better. I got lucky 6 years ago and got the uncut first release of the film for $5. The first DVD release in the States was of the R rated cut,which mostly got the R cause of a few instances of nudity. Some parent complained,cause the back of the DVD case said PG.

Alec Holland is a scientist way out in the swamps of Louisiana. And he is working on a top secret new chemical. He finishes it about the time Alice Cable comes to visit. When Anton Arcane shows up. He wants the formula. A fight breaks out and Alec ends up covered in the new chemical and out in the swamp. And it is assumed he has died.

But he didn't. He comes back as the plant creature Swamp Thing. The rest of the film is Arcane trying to capture Swamp Thing,and Swamp Thing and Alice falling in love.

Now I remember this film kind of bombing,but it did good enough to get a sequel years later, Then a TV series that lasted 3 or 4 years on USA. One good thing that came out of this film was with a Swamp Thing film in theaters DC wanted a Swamp Thing comic on the stands. So the Saga of Swamp Thing title started. Which in a bit less than 2 years later got taken over by Alan Moore and became one of the best comics to come out from the big 2 in the 80s.

Swamp Thing gets a B-

2016 Comic Challenge 217 Swamp Thing #129

TITLE-Swamp Thing #129
PUBLISHER-Vertigo/DC Comics

Anytime I find issues of Swamp Thing for cheap I gotta grab them. So I have ended up with a bunch of random issues of the post Veitch run.This issue is written by Nancy A. Collins.And Scot Eaton,Kim Demulder handling the art.

Seems in the previous issue Swamp Thing fought a creature made of toxic waste. Which infected Swamp Thing. So now he is up in PA and trying to make his way back down to Houma LA. But he can't travel through the green cause he is afraid he will infect it.

Back in LA,Abby is getting use to her new home.Plus we see a female Swamp Thing looking on.

To wrap the issue up we see Swamp Thing confronted by the female Swamp Thing.Then the issue ends with us wondering what the fuck will happen next.

Sure it is hard for anyone to follow up the earlier runs of Alan Moore or Rick Veitch. I did enjoy the issue. But part of that is because I got this issue for a quarter.

Swamp Thing #129 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 159 DC Comics Presents #85

TITLE-DC Comics Presents #85
PUBLISHER-DC Comics

This issue came out sometime in the summer of 1985,it has a September cover date so that means it hit newstands in July or August.Under that great cover by Rick Veitch you get a story so good it made me a life long fan of the writer and of Swamp Thing. An issue so amazing that since I have read it I track down any artwork from Mr Veitch. Oh yeah forgot to mention this was written by a pre-Watchmen Alan Moore. During the rise of his fame while doing Swamp Thing,Moore and pretty much the entire current Swamp Thing creative team created this crossover with Superman.

When this came out I was buying almost no DC. I had just recently found a semi local comic shop. So what money was left over each month after buying all the Marvel titles I read,was spent on various indy comics. It was right before school started that year. My parents had to go overnight somewhere,I can't remember anymore where they had to go or why,so I was stuck spending the night with my cousin.For years he was the only family I had living near me. So while I didn't like him,never really have,I ended up spending more time with him than I wish. I get dropped off at his house around 3 on a Sunday afternoon. I had barely walked into the house when his mother reminded me that we were leaving in a bit to goto church. I go back to my cousin's room. And he throws me a comic. "I bought this last week and it sucks. Superman never fights anyone. And the plant dude is crap. You can have it." I looked at the cover and I knew of Swamp Thing since I had seen the movie with him a few years before.Right before I could sit down and start reading the comic my aunt yells for us to get out to the car so we can goto church.I grabbed the comic thinking I should be able to read it all on the ride to church. 

By the time the 15 minute drive to church was over I was barely 10 pages into the comic and hooked.I thought I could sneak it in with me. So I put it under my shirt and went in. About halfway through the service,IIRC this Aunt was Southern Baptist so the services were much longer than what I was use too,I excused myself to the bathroom. And I sat on the toilet and started reading the comic. I was almost to the last page when my Uncle knocked on the door. Seems I had been gone for a long time. Before I could put the comic back under my shirt he had opened the door.

The entire ride back my Aunt chewed me out about it. With my cousin egging her on.She had already taken the comic from me. And after she had said "I am so mad at you I have no idea how to punish you." my idiot cousin said "Why not rip up the comic book Mom?" So that is what she did. As soon as we got back to their home. She ripped it up to shreds in front of me. And I was pissed.Mostly cause I never got to finish it.

Years later I did get another copy. Which sadly got burnt up in 96. Since then I had gotten the story reprinted at first in a trade collecting lots of oddball Alan Moore DC stuff.Then a few years ago got a DC's greatest team up stories hardback and this story was reprinted in it. Skip ahead to a few days back. I am killing time by digging thru the cheap bins at the local comic shop. Saw the issue pictured above and for the cheap price couldn't pass up owning it in this form again.

The story is pretty simple. Superman gets infected with some Kryptonian virus. That causes him to lose control of his powers.So he rents a car and starts heading south. He ends up in Swamp Thing's swamp. And crazy from the virus has a run in with the protector of the green.

DC Comics Presents #85 gets a BUY!

2015 Reading Challenge Book 040 The Greatest Team Up Stories Ever Told

TITLE-The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$8

I have always like DC comics The Greatest FILL IN THE BLANK series of trades and hardcovers. Back when the first Burton Batman film came out I got the Batman and Joker trades from this line. And read each of them so many times they fell apart.

Back in 2008 I had a lot more disposable income. Was on Ebay looking for decently priced comic trades and hardcovers.I saw this collection. With the great artwork on the dust jacket catching my eye.I looked it up and scoped out what stories are reprinted in this collection. They looked to be a nice selection of both stuff I had read and hadn't read.It had 3 days to go in the auction.So I put in  a bid of $8,which was 25 cents more than the current highest bid. By the time I won the auction I had kind of forgot about bidding on it.

It came in and I filled up my glass with some cold sweet tea.Went out on my back porch. Spent the next 2 hours reading some really fun Golden age and Silver age stories with various DC heroes teaming up.

Oh yeah the stories.There are 15 stories total. 5 Golden age stories,with 3 of them teaming up Superman and some combination of Batman and/or Robin. These are decent. But nothing about them stands out that much.The other two stories team up Aquaman with Green Arrow and Speedy.These two are really fun. I like how Green Arrow has to change up his techniques because of him being underwater.And the Aquaman part of the story has beautiful Ramona Fredon artwork.

There are 6 Silver age stories. And there is much more variety in what heroes team up in these stories.Of course the classic team up stories of the 60s,Flash of Two World,Crisis on Earth-One and Crisis on Earth-two.The Hawkman/Adam Strange team up is a story I had never read or heard of.But after reading it I would rank it with the stories I mentioned a few sentences back.Gardner Fox is the author,with Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson doing the pencils.Mr Anderson pulls double duty by also doing the inks.The Atom/Flash team up....well it isn't anything special. The Alex Toth art is nice.But I have never been a big fan of Bob Haney's storytelling skills.Then the final story from the Silver age,another classic. From The Brave and the Bold #54 it is first appearance of the original Teen Titans.I had a reprint of this teaming of Robin,Kid Flash and Aqualad. But the reproduction of the artwork was really bad. Here it looks better than it ever has.I love the Bruno Premiani pencils. And the only drawback is the by the numbers Bob Haney story.

Finally we get 4 Bronze age/Modern age stories.Before getting this collection I had read 2 of them. The first is O'Neal & Adams Green Lantern #76 from Spring 1970. What can be said about this comic? Really it has been discussed indepth for over 40 years now. All I can say is that I do enjoy it,but feel that it feels a bit dated. Which isn't really a bad thing,the story is 44 years old. The next story is one I have never read.It is the story about how if Krypton hadn't explodes Kal-El would have been the greatest Green Lantern of all time. I have never been a Superman fan. There is at the most 10 or so Superman stories I even enjoy. This is not one of them.We jump ahead to the very early 80s. From Brave and the Bold #178,the Jim Aparo drawn team up of the Creeper and Batman. Kind of surprised I had not read this issue before getting this collection. From the very late 70s until the series ended I rarely missed an issue of Brave and the Bold. This was the title that not only made me a Batman fan,but also introduced me to so many DC heroes and villains.And when Jim Aparo was drawing it I tried my best to never miss an issue.I loved this issue so much. The Creeper is a low enough level super powered hero that he works very well with Batman.And finally not only the last issue in this great hardcover,but the best issue in it. As I said above I am not a Superman fan. But DC Comics Presents #85 is one of those 10 or so Superman stories I enjoy. The first time I read it was not long after it came out in the fall of 85.My cousin had bought the comic. We were 11 or 12,and had found out the local library had a comic book trade. He had bought the issue of DC comics presents cause he was a big Superman fan. And he did not like it. He hated it.Before we got into his mothers car to go trade comics he asked me if I might want it.I looked at it and saw Superman was teaming up with Swamp Thing. At the comic trade that summer I had gotten a few issues from the 70s Swamp Thing run.So I agreed to trade him one of my Gi Joe comics for the issue. It got buried in the pile of comics I got that day. And at least a week went by before I read it. Holy Hell what a great story. Wait I am just assuming people reading this know who wrote it and did the pencils. Alan Moore wrote the comic.Rick Veitch did the pencils. So you got the at the time current creative team on one of the best comics of the 80s. OK enough gushing. This is one of my favorite comics. And one I think every comic fan should read.

Lets see. This is a well made hardcover. Out of the 15 stories 9 of them are great. The other 6 suffer from either being very dated or starring heroes I have little interest in. But even the stories I have no interest in the artwork is reproducted so well.

The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told gets a 4.05 outta 5.