It seems that the time has come again for my annual post, and I’m sneaking it in a few hours before the new year begins. 2022 saw the conclusion of Ram V and Mike Perkins’ The Swamp Thing series after 16 issues. It was a very satisfying introduction of a new version of Swampy, Levi Kamei, and the series brought interesting guest appearances and fantastic art throughout. We were also supposed to get Lemire and Mahnke’s mini-series Swamp Thing: Green Hell, but only one issue was published on schedule so we should expect to see the commencement and conclusion of this title in 2023.
I’ve been keeping the list of appearances up-to-date. We saw several appearances of alternate versions of Swampy this year. Swamp-Man is from Earth-13, where the major superheroes are affiliated with magic and he is a member of the League of Shadows – that world’s equivalent of the Justice League. Spore of Earth-41 is a cross between Swamp Thing and Spawn, on a world where all heroes resemble Image Comics characters. Both Swamp-Man and Spore appeared in the Justice League Incarnate series. Swamp Thing also appears in several issues of DC Vs. Vampires, set on a world (Earth-63) that has been taken over by vampires. Meanwhile in the Flashpoint Universe, where familiar heroes are villains and vice versa, Jason Woodrue makes an appearance as the plant avatar of that world.
Swamp Thing also had a part to play in the big multiversal crossover event of this year, Dark Crisis, and was the focus of a tie-in issue. He also featured in a short story in the Halloween anthology DC’s Terrors Through Time. In early 2023, Swampy is rumoured to be appearing in the ‘Lazarus Planet’ crossover.
I’ve had a busy year changing houses and jobs. Apart from keeping up with the activities of Swampy, I’ve been enjoying a few Tom King miniseries, and am very excited about new issues of Miracleman being released throughout next year.
I wish you all a great start to 2023.
Zac.
Another Green World 