The air is heavy, damp and almost suffocating. The moon shines fearfully through a patchwork blanket of clouds and dense, looming treetops. The night’s utterly silent except for the hum of frogs and cicadas, and the occasional splash of water that’s likely an alligator or snake. Or is it? It almost sounds like footsteps, and that gimmer up ahead really does look like it could be a red pair of eyes…
Welcome to the world of Swamp Thing, one of the most groundbreaking and critically acclaimed stories to ever make its way to print…and soon to the small screen.
Swamp Thing is the latest original series to be announced for the DC Universe digital experience, and it comes to us care of a name that DC (and horror) fans will likely know—James Wan, who will serve as an Executive Producer of the series along with Mark Verheiden (Ash vs. The Evil Dead, Daredevil, Constantine), Gary Dauberman (It, Annabelle: Creation) and Michael Clear (Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation).
While much about the series is unknown, the official description does suggest that it won’t stray too far from the world and characters that fans love:
When CDC researcher Abby Arcane returns to her childhood home of Houma, Louisiana, in order to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus, she develops a surprising bond with scientist Alec Holland—only to have him tragically taken from her. But as powerful forces descend on Houma, intent on exploiting the swamp’s mysterious properties for their own purposes, Abby will discover that the swamp holds mystical secrets, both horrifying and wondrous—and the potential love of her life may not be dead after all.
Swamp Thing, for anyone out there who doesn’t know, is based on characters from DC created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. He first appeared in 1971’s HOUSE OF SECRETS #92 before earning his own ongoing comic written and drawn by Wein and Wrightson. Over the years, the SWAMP THING comic has been written by a dream team of visionary comic book writers including Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Brian K. Vaughan and Scott Snyder. Moore’s iconic SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING broke new ground when it came to sophisticated, mature storytelling and helped pave the way for what would eventually become Vertigo Comics—a line that Swamp Thing would eventually join before making his way back to the DCU during The New 52.
Swamp Thing also has quite a history outside the world of comics. Most famously, the character served as the inspiration for the 1982 Wes Craven Swamp Thing movie, its 1989 sequel The Return of Swamp Thing and a USA network television series that ran from 1990-1993, all of which starred stuntman Dick Durock in the title role. The character also had an animated series that ran at roughly the same time as the live action one, and has since shown up in animated shows and movies such as Justice League Unlimited, Justice League Action and Justice League Dark, as well as video games like Injustice 2. There was also a Constantine Easter Egg that nodded to the existence of Swamp Thing, but the character never actually appeared on the show.
Wan’s Swamp Thing series is scheduled to debut in 2019, and is the fifth original series announced for DC Universe, DC’s upcoming digital service (the name of which was just revealed today), and will come on the heels of Titans, Young Justice: Outsiders, Harley Quinn and Metropolis. DC Universe promises to be a first-of-its-kind digital experience designed with DC fans in mind, of which the announced original series will be an exciting part. Fans can find out more about membership by visiting www.DCUniverse.com and signing up for updates and by following DC Universe on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
