The Swamp Thing has always been about death and resurrection. From the day scientist Alec Holland was murdered and reborn as a “muck-encrusted mockery of a man” back in October 1972’s Swamp Thing #1 (written by Len Wein and illustrated by Bernie Wrightson). So, it makes sense that the character would one day face the most famous resurrection tale of all time—that of Jesus Christ. But to the surprise of writer/artist Rick Veitch, DC wasn’t so interested in taking Swampie on a theological journey during his run on the book back in 1989.

Following Alan Moore’s departure from the title, the legendary scribe recommended Veitch (who’d illustrated the latter part of his run) as his successor. Veitch became Swamp Thing’s regular writer with 1987’s issue #65.

Veitch described the transition when I interviewed him in November 2012.

“Being in a rock-and-roll band and following the Beatles on stage, no matter how good you are, the Beatles are always going to be better. That’s the position I was in taking over Swamp Thing. [Editor] Karen Berger and Alan and I used to joke about committing career suicide by taking it on. But I was just perverse enough to do it anyway.”

In Veitch’s hands, Swamp Thing’s adventures grew more introspective, more existential, culminating with an odyssey that saw Swampie catapulted across time and space in Swamp Thing #80. This included trips to Nazi Germany, the American Revolution and Camelot.

“I got drawn into the time-travel sequence so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the summer crossover that year,” admits Veitch. “I figured if I got Swamp Thing off the planet and out of our time zone, then Swamp Thing comics could just be about that and they wouldn’t have to be a part of whatever that crossover was. The other aspect of the time-travel sequence was there were a few DC characters at the time who hadn’t been staked out by various creative people who wanted to retcon them. The richest vein of available characters were all in the past. The cowboys and the cavemen and the gladiators and the knights and all of that kind of stuff. I was really attracted to that, that I’d have that in my little sandbox and be able to play with all of them.”

The arc—and Veitch’s entire run—was to have culminated with Swamp Thing meeting Christ himself. Unfortunately, a company policy at that time prevented the story from seeing print.

“I proposed the story and DC and I talked out what I wanted to do with it and how to make it palatable,” shares Veitch. “I wrote scripts. It was all approved. Michael Zulli penciled the book. It was passed on, it was going to be inked. It had been lettered and everything when there was a decision on DC’s end to [cancel] the book.

“I got a call saying that I had to write a new issue in three days. I was so confused by the whole thing I probably overreacted. In hindsight, I can say I was probably a bit too stubborn and angry, but I said I would have to resign. I never really understood what happened on their end. I’m really sad about it, because I shouldn’t have left the fans and the characters in the lurch. I think Swamp Thing and Abby suffered because of how that all played out. They were great characters. They didn’t deserve that.”

Veitch’s last issue was May 1989’s Swamp Thing #87. Throughout the decades that followed, he considered himself “best known for the story that never came out.”

That’s about to change. DC announced at last year’s New York Comic Con that it will at long last publish Veitch’s never-before-seen storyline as Swamp Thing 1989. A four-issue DC Black Label series debuting this week, the first issue, Swamp Thing 1989 #1 (which continues the comic’s original 1989 numbering on the cover), sees artist Vince Locke—a frequent and favorite collaborator of Michael Zulli—inking the artist’s original pencils. Another of Veitch’s Swamp Thing collaborators, Tom Mandrake, illustrates issues #89-91.

As Veitch announced on social media regarding #88, “I haven’t changed a word of the script and Vince Locke is bringing stunning clarity to Michael’s original pencils.”

Crediting the years of fan campaigns that led to this long lost holy grail of comics, Veitch stated in DC’s press announcement for the book, “The response from readers was immediate and overwhelming. It helped make the final decision to publish these issues. I am grateful to the fans for stepping up, and to DC’s team, especially editor Alex Galer and Editor-in-Chief Marie Javins, for pulling off the impossible.”

As Swamp Thing fans have long known, resurrections are possible. And miracles can still happen.
 

Swamp Thing 1989 #1 by Rick Veitch, Michael Zulli, Vince Locke and Trish Mulvihill is now available in print and as a digital comic book.

Joseph McCabe writes about comics, film and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Instagram at @joe_mccabe_editor.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joseph McCabe and Rick Veitch and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.