Tuesday, 11 August 2020

DC on TV: Swamp Thing
















Having binged through several DVD box sets recently I was surprised to discover that there was a season of new Swamp Thing. This wasn't the first attempt at bringing Swamp Thing to the screen big or small. I had seen one of the three movies they did back in the eighties but never realised there were three seasons of a Swamp Thing TV show. Guess it was never shown over here  or I'd been down the pub.















 

There is only one season of the new Swamp Thing despite having apparently fair ratings when it started out. The DVD set is advertised as "The complete Season" which it is but there is so much potential in this programme which also introduced three of DC's supernatural characters. Madam Xanadu, The Phantom Stranger and the Blue Devil.

 

Although a big fan of DC Comics since childhood the Blue Devil is actually a hero I know zilch about but the TV adaptation looked interesting and if Swamp Thing doesn't return perhaps they'll give him a tryout? In the meantime I'm just going to have to pick up some of the Blue Devils comics.

As for the programme it is an excellent adaptation of the Swamp Thing from origin through to the "conclusion". Plenty of drama, greed corrupt cops and unrequited love.  I highly recommend this DVD collection and note that there is a possibility another company could pick up the tab. Only time will tell.

Also worth grabbing a copy (still available on Amazon I just discovered) is this hardback edition of the original Swamp Thing Stories by Len Wein with art from the great Bernie Wrightson. This edition collects the first 13 issues of the seventies series plus the proto-story from House of Secrets.





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