One of comics’ most infamous “lost” stories is finally coming to print. At New York Comic Con during their Vertigo panel, DC announced that Rick Veitch and Michael Zulli’s unpublished Swamp Thing #88 from 1989 will finally be published, the first issue of a four-issue miniseries that’ll wrap up the story Veitch originally intended to tell.
Swamp Thing 1989 will kick off in April of next year as a Black Label title, with the first issue containing the completed but never published issue. It’ll be followed by three new issues, written by Veitch with art by Tom Mandrake and Trish Mulvihill. Zulli, unfortunately, passed away last year.
So what exactly made this story so controversial that DC decided not to publish it? Well, the story, titled “Morning of the Magician,” would have featured a time-traveling Swamp Thing arriving at the crucification of Jesus Christ. Veitch followed Alan Moore’s legendary run on the title with a storyline that was equally as ambitious, as Swamp Thing was sent backwards in time and had all sorts of encounters and adventures with past DC characters and historical figures. Issue #88 came as the story was winding down, and it would feature the title character arriving on Calvary. The character of Christ wouldn’t be referred to as such; he was simply going to be called “The Nazarene,” referring to his birthplace of Nazareth. The story would have revealed how the three wise men were assassins and that the Nazarene was a hedge wizard, and also would have featured the DC character Golden Gladiator.
“The subject was handled with integrity and respect,” DC President Jennette Kahn said at the time. “But we believe that the story concept itself would be offensive to many of our readers.”
While this book was solicited to be published in May of 1989, it never was released. Instead Swamp Thing #88 featured a story by Doug Wheeler and Tom Yeates. With Veitch wrapping up his run, Neil Gaiman was supposed to take over the book, but with the controversy he decided to back away from it and co-create Sandman instead. Mark Millar would eventually take over Swamp Thing, something that may not have happened otherwise. Veitch went on to work on indie comics like Brat Pack and Roarin’ Rick’s Rare Bit Fiends, as well as the America’s Best Comics line.
And the original Swamp Thing #88 became the stuff of internet legend and speculation. Here’s a piece by Veitch from that time period:
“You’re going to be able to put these into your long boxes as if this run had never ended,” said DC Comics Executive Editor Chris Conroy at the panel.
So you can mark this off your list of comic runs you hoped to see again but never expected they’d actually be published, like Gaiman and Mark Buckingham’s Miracleman and that Kevin Smith Black Cat miniseries. Can we get the rest of Big Numbers next?
Update: Veitch posts about the news on Facebook: