In 1984, Alan Moore took over Saga of the Swamp Thing from Marty Pasko. Moore had made a name for himself in England with his work on 2000AD and Warrior (where he had two ongoing series: Marvelmanand V for Vendetta). The book was headed for cancellation with low sales and DC saw no harm in letting Moore try a revamp of the character. What DC didn’t anticipate was the ramifications that Moore would have on DC and the whole US comic industry.

In 1983 (or so), DC editor Karen Berger went on a talent scouting trip to the UK and engaged several British writers and artists to work for DC Comics among them Alan Moore. Alan Moore was well known and admired in the British comic book industry, but was unknown in the US. After closing off Marty Pasko’s storylines in issue 20, Alan Moore set to reinvent Swamp Thing. It all started with the Floronic Man and the issue titled “The Anatomy Lesson”. Moore had Floronic Man working for Sunderland (who got him released from prison) to discover what Swamp Thing was. The Floronic Man discovered that Swamp Thing wasn’t half man/half plant, but instead was a plant that thought it was a man.

That issue grabbed the public’s attention and led to continuing storylines of the Floronic Man taking over the world’s plants,  Anton Arcane coming back from the dead, a re-invention of The Demon as a rhyming demon from hell, a journey to Hell with Deadman and The Phantom Stranger and a growing relationship with Abby Arcane. This was all within the first 14 issues. In 1985, Alan Moore and Swamp Thing made an almost complete sweep of every comic book award they were eligible for. In just over a year, Alan Moore had taken a soon-to-be-canceled series and made it the most talked about series in comics.

But the biggest impact was from issue #29. Artists Steve Bissette and John Totleben drew a two page spread that was truly horrifying. The Comics Code Authority, which had enforced standards on Comic Books since the mid 1950s rejected the issue. DC decided to just drop the Comics Code from the series and The Saga of the Swamp Thing became the first mainstream comic to be published without the Comics Code. The fact that the series not only survived, but flourished after the removal of the CCA directly led to other comics removing the CCA as well. This led to more adult themes and comics being published by mainstream publishers and pretty much killed off the CCA. (It’s still around, but only some DC and Archie Comics still use it). 


Alan Moore then spent the run up to issue 50 tying into Crisis on Infinite Earth. These issues had Swamp Thing traveling around the US under the tutelage of John Constantine (who Alan Moore and Steve Bissette designed to look like Sting). Swamp Thing worked with the metaphysical elements of the DC Universe on a meeting between God and the Devil. Swamp Thing slowly became more powerful as he learned that we was an Earth Elemental (basically a God type creature) that re-emerges periodically to protect the Earth. Moore used this to tie the original Swamp Thing story into the current continuity. During these stories, Moore brought back Cain and Abel (from the House of Secrets and House of Mystery anthology titles of the early 70s) did an amazing Pogo story as well as creating the character of John Constantine. 


After issue 50, Moore sent Swamp Thing on a rampage through Gotham (and a Batman crossover) and off-planet (courtesy of Lex Luthor) before bringing him home to a reunion with Abby as he finished his run on the series at issue 64.


Moore’s 45 issue run on Swamp Thing won pretty much every award possible, removed the influence of the CCA and introduced characters and storylines that were used in Hellblazer, Sandman, The Books of Magic. Moore’s influence directly led to a second British talent hunt in the late 1980s (which brought over Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison) and set the foundation for the creation of the Vertigo imprint. In addition, he rescued a floundering character and book and made them best selling, fan favorites. DC is now reprinting Alan Moore’s legendary storylines. It is a must read for everyone. Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at what happened when Alan Moore moved on, including another movie, a TV series and a controversy with Jesus.