The origin
Scientist Alec Holland is working on a bio-restorative formula in a Louisiana swamp when a bomb planted by criminals engulfs him in burning chemicals. He staggers into the water and rises as a shambling thing made of plant matter, believing himself to be Alec Holland transformed, spending years trying to become human again. He is wrong. Alan Moore's revelation in 1984 is that Holland died in that swamp, and the creature is a plant that absorbed a dead man's memories and thinks it used to be him.
What makes Swamp Thing different
That single twist, delivered in one issue, is arguably the most influential reinvention in comics. It turned a monster comic into a meditation on consciousness, ecology and what it means to be a person. Swamp Thing is also the character that proved mainstream comics could be genuinely literary, and the direct ancestor of the entire Vertigo line that followed.
Where to start reading
The full reading order
House of Secrets #92, the first appearanceessential
Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson's eight page horror short. The Swamp Thing here is Alex Olsen, not Alec Holland, and the Holland version does not arrive until the 1972 series. One of the big Bronze Age keys and priced like it, so read it in a collection and hunt the original only if you mean it.
+ Add to my want listSwamp Thing (1972) #1 to #10, the Wrightson issuesrecommended
Wein and Wrightson again, now with Alec Holland. Gothic, gorgeous and still the best the original series ever looked. #1 is a genuine key. If you only read one stretch of the pre Moore material, make it this.
+ Add to my want listSwamp Thing (1972) #11 to #24deep cut
Nestor Redondo draws #11 to #23 and Fred Carrillo the last issue. Wein leaves after #13, then David Michelinie (#14 to #18, #21 to #22) and Gerry Conway (#19 to #20, #23 to #24) see it out. Completist territory.
+ Add to my want listSaga of the Swamp Thing #1 to #19deep cut
Martin Pasko writes #1 to #13 and #16 to #19, Dan Mishkin #14 to #15. Solid monster comics that set up the status quo Moore then demolishes. Skippable unless you want the full picture, but cheap and easy to find.
+ Add to my want listSaga of the Swamp Thing #20, 'Loose Ends'essential
Moore's first issue, tidying up Pasko's plot. Start here rather than #21 so the next issue lands the way it was meant to.
+ Add to my want list#21, 'The Anatomy Lesson'essential
The single most important reinvention in the character's history: Alec Holland died in the swamp, and the creature is a plant that absorbed a dead man's memories. Everything that follows, and most of Vertigo, comes from this one issue.
+ Add to my want list#22 to #27, Book Oneessential
The first collected book covers #20 to #27. Jason Woodrue, the Monkey King, and Abby Arcane moving to the centre of the story. Stephen Bissette and John Totleben make it look like nothing else on the racks.
+ Add to my want list#28 to #34 and Annual #2, Book Twoessential
Ends on #34, 'Rite of Spring' (March 1985), the psychedelic love story that is still one of the most beautiful single issues in comics. Annual #2 is Swamp Thing's trip through the DC afterlife and belongs here, not at the end.
+ Add to my want list#35 to #42, Book Three, first John Constantineessential
American Gothic begins and #37 (June 1985) is the first appearance of John Constantine, one of the most collected modern keys there is. Some argue for a one panel cameo in #25 or the DC Sampler #3 promo; the market treats #37 as the first.
+ Add to my want list#43 to #50, Book Four, 'The End'essential
American Gothic concludes in the double sized #50 (July 1986), with the Spectre, Doctor Fate, Deadman and the rest of DC's occult corner lined up against something older than heaven. As big as Moore's run gets.
+ Add to my want list#51 to #56, Book Fiveessential
Gotham, Batman, and Swamp Thing holding a city to ransom for Abby. Then exile into space. Quieter than the Gothic stretch and, for a lot of readers, the most affecting part of the run.
+ Add to my want list#57 to #64, Book Sixessential
The last stretch, including 'Loving the Alien' and 'All Flesh is Grass'. Rick Veitch scripts #62. Moore's final issue is #64 and it ends the way it should, in the swamp. Read the six books in order and you have the whole thing.
+ Add to my want listRick Veitch, #65 to #87recommended
Veitch had drawn much of the Moore run and his own stint is the natural continuation: time travel through DC history, ending abruptly in a famous editorial row over a story involving Christ. The best of the post Moore volume 2.
+ Add to my want listDoug Wheeler, #88 to #109deep cut
Wheeler inherits the fallout from Veitch's exit. Dense, mystical and uneven. Deep cut for people who want to follow the character all the way through.
+ Add to my want listNancy A. Collins, #110 to #138recommended
A horror novelist takes over and pulls the book back towards the Louisiana swamp and family life. #129 is the first issue to carry the Vertigo logo, which makes it a small piece of imprint history.
+ Add to my want listGrant Morrison and Mark Millar, #140 to #171recommended
Morrison and Millar co-write four issues, then Millar carries the book to its end at #171. A long apocalyptic arc that tries to give the whole volume a conclusion, and largely succeeds. Underrated.
+ Add to my want listBrian K. Vaughan, volume 3recommended
Vaughan, before Y: The Last Man, writing Tefe Holland, Swamp Thing and Abby's daughter, rather than Alec. A coming of age book wearing a horror comic's clothes. Worth it for the writer as much as the character.
+ Add to my want listVolume 4: Diggle, Pfeifer and Dysartdeep cut
Andy Diggle writes #1 to #6, Will Pfeifer #7 to #8, then Joshua Dysart takes it to #29. Back to Alec, back to Vertigo horror. Patchy but the Dysart issues have real fans.
+ Add to my want listScott Snyder and Yanick Paquetteessential
Coming out of Brightest Day with Alec Holland alive and wanting nothing to do with the Green. The best Swamp Thing since Moore, and Paquette's page layouts are worth the price alone. #12 to #18 is Rotworld, crossing with Animal Man #12 and #17, so read those alongside.
+ Add to my want listCharles Soulerecommended
Soule picks up without a dip and runs it to the end of the volume. Sets Swamp Thing against other avatars and other kingdoms, and gives the New 52 version a proper ending.
+ Add to my want listLen Wein returnsrecommended
The co-creator writes his character one last time, with Kelley Jones on art. Old fashioned in the best sense. Wein died the following year, which makes this a farewell whether it meant to be or not.
+ Add to my want listSwamp Thing Winter Special #1recommended
Tom King and Jason Fabok's 'The Talk of the Saints', Swamp Thing guiding a lost boy through a blizzard, published as a tribute to Wein and Wrightson. One issue, and one of the best short Swamp Thing stories there is.
+ Add to my want listRam V and Mike Perkins, The Swamp Thingessential
A new avatar, Levi Kamei, and a run good enough that DC extended it from ten issues to sixteen. Modern, global, and the first Swamp Thing since Snyder that stands on its own without needing Moore as a reference point. Essential if you want to know what the character is now.
+ Add to my want listSwamp Thing: Green Hellrecommended
Jeff Lemire and Doug Mahnke, DC Black Label. Far future, ecological collapse, the Green, the Red and the Rot agreeing that humanity has had its turn. Three issues, but the second and third were delayed into 2023, so check you have all of them.
+ Add to my want listSwamp Thing Is Killing the Children #1recommended
James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera bring Swamp Thing into their Slaughterverse for a 64 page one-shot, the first crossover of its kind. Not out yet at the time of writing, but this is where the character goes next.
+ Add to my want listChasing any of these Swamp Thing issues?
Whether you are hunting a key, thinking about selling a collection, or just want to talk comics, I am always happy to hear from you.