Over three decades since the controversy and cancellation, Rick Veitch's legendary lost issues are completed. After a renowned two year run on the series, Veitch's grand finale to Swamp Thing was cut short, and never to see print. Whispers and leaks hinted at the epic untold saga for years. Now, for the first time, that final story is told. As Swamp Thing is cast back through time, he will come to meet a carpenter who will change the trajectory of his life, and the DC Universe forever. The origin of Etrigan, and Swamp Thing's journey to the beginning of time starts here.
It was at this point I had planned to post a link to "In Magician's Mysterious Sleeves - Rick Veitch and the Censoring of Swamp Thing" by Cole Hornaday, but the link no longer works (which must be a fairly recent development, because it did still work when Swamp Thing 1989 was first solicited). If you're reading this, you are probably aware of the controversy surrounding what would have been the conclusion of Veitch's run, but the article was the best treatment of the situation I have ever read. Here is what Veitch himself said in an open letter published in CBG #803: "Veitch stated, 'I certainly do not believe anything I wrote in the script for Swamp Thing #88 to be worthy of [censoring] of any kind.' He further notes he did not deviate from the New Testament in any way and was only taking cues from culturally embedded storytelling tropes that have been SF staples for decades. 'If anything, I believe my story to be an affirmation of the rather elegant symbolism of Christ’s personal sacrifice and crucifixion. It was written not as a challenge to those who possess deep faith in Christian doctrine, but as an exercise in possibilities, aimed at those who do not.'"
I understand why DC refused to publish Swamp Thing #88 as scripted in 1989; I do. To tell you the truth, all throughout the second half of the '90s I was convinced Preacher was going to lead to the next comic book witch hunt. By that time, Vertigo existed as a haven for such storytelling, but I could easily envision a right wing evangelical Christian getting ahold of a copy and raising a stink. Luckily, that didn't happen. Like I said, I understand why DC didn't publish the story in 1989; what I don't understand is why they haven't published it since. According to Veitch in a 2020 interview: "There had probably been at least 5-6 serious attempts to get Swamp Thing #88 done.”
The most recent attempt was tanked by the pre-publication controversy surrounding Mark Russell and Richard Pace’s series Second Coming, originally considered by DC, eventually published by AHOY!: "Veitch claimed the latest attempt to publish the story was as recent as 2019. '(DC) were going to do a Rick Veitch Omnibus, like the new Swamp Thing Omnibus with Alan’s stuff,' he recalled, 'And part of that would include Swamp Thing #88 in order to finish the time travel story. I actually wrote a plot and discussed it all. Then they got into trouble with a comic book they were putting out where this superhero meets Jesus. It ended up at [AHOY! Comics], but DC was going to publish it, or Vertigo was going to publish it and this Christian organization got 400,000 signatures against it. So, that killed any possibility of having Jesus in a comic book at DC, I think. So, pretty much a dead issue now. But, part of me is still there, guys. I’ve got that story in my head. I want to finish that one.'"
Upon reviewing Swamp Thing #88’s story and rough art, CBG's Don Thompson had this to say: “I think this is a magnificent and entirely Christian story. It is no more blasphemous than Ben Hur or The Robe or Barabbas…It is appalling that, more than a century after Ben Hur was written, a work of fiction done with comparable reverence was to be suppressed out of fear of reprisal by zealots. This is not progress. It’s too bad you’ll never get to read this comic book. It’s an excellent story – and might well have succeeded in getting across to some horror-fixated youths that there is a deeper meaning to blood than seeing it splattered across a page or movie screen.”
After the 2019 effort failed, I gave up hope of ever seeing the conclusion of Veitch's Swamp Thing. I don't usually start a discussion of a particular comic until it's in my hot little hands, but in this case I need some lead time to re-read Swamp Thing #80-87. If you'd like to review the story leading up to Swamp Thing 1989 as well but your issues aren't handy, they are covered on pp.35-36 of the Swamp Thing discussion.
Swamp Thing 1989 #1 will be on sale at comic shops everywhere April 29.
Replies
Thanks for the tip. My DC Infinite membership has reverted to free, and I can confirm that the Veitch issues are free (in single issue form). This new series is fascinating, but I am going to tradewait.
ISSUE #2 SHIPPED TODAY:
Well, Rob... it looks as if it's just you and me.
Have you read #1 yet?
..aaannnd it looks as if I've lost Rob. (I really thought there'd be more interest in this series.) I've still got the notes I took on #2, but I'm not going to type them up if no one cares. If anyone is interested, #3 shipped today.
I'm not reading the series, Jeff, but I'm always interested in what you have to say.
Same here.
I am reading Swamp Thing 1989, and picked up issue #3 today but haven't cracked it open yet.
I haven't read the original run since those issues were published. I well remember the controversy that led Rick Veitch to leave the book, which was thoroughly explained in text piece in Swamp Thing 1989 with context I didn't have at the time. Like how the poohbahs at DC got spooked by a proposed cover sketch of the Swamp Thing as the cross that the Son of Man would be crucified on -- an image that didn't appear in the story.
I'm not going to re-read what did get published, but it is an interesting exercise to compare this alternative storyline against the printed version -- or at least my hazy memories of same.
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