Swamp Things Podcast

"Sounds great, Piggy! But you're wrong about one thing. These paparazzi photos? I happen to know they were faked. See, Wonder Girl has this delicate little beauty mark... It's almost in the same spot as Diane's was..."

Swamp Thing #66 by Rick Veitch entitled "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" has a little bit of everything. Including heaven, hell, John Constantine, Hellblazer, Arkham Asylum and its inmates, a brand new director of Arkham, and of course Abby and Alec. Both of them. This is Rick Veitch's run really taking off and showing both his metaphysical side and his satirical side. Rob Veatch guests on this episode to help break it down.

Reader: Rob Veatch

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"The Publishers and the so-called Purveyors of "Fine Art" have conspired to keep the public in the dark about the true potential of comics!"

Rick Veitch is joined by artists Shawn McManus, Jim Fern, Stan Woch, and Tom Yeates for a bit of monkey shines in Swamp Thing Annual #3 entitled "Distant Cousins." Erik Hanson from the Cradle to the Grave podcast returns to help discuss this issue as we try to make sense of the all the madness of this issue and put it in context.

Reader: Erik Hanson

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"Swamp Thing is dead!"

We kick off the third season of Swamp Things which will be focussed on the Rick Veitch run. And maybe it won't end on recriminations and tears this time. I'm joined by Rob Veatch as we discuss how Rick Veitch kicked everything off in his first issue, #65 "(We Could Be) Diving for Pearls"

Reader: Robert Reineke

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

It was my great pleasure to welcome Stephen R. Bissette to the podcast for a wide ranging interview covering most of his career. Despite some subpar audio on my end. I hope all our listeners enjoy this.

Podcast Artwork by Nat Almirall

Podcast Theme Music by Jim Laczkowski

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"If there is truly a heaven, sweet Linda... I pray to God you're happy there... And there must be a heaven... because I know there is a hell... I'm living in that hell right now...!"

We reach the end of the second season with "The Leviathan Conspiracy" wrapping up Len Wein's orignal run. Nestor Redondo supplies the art as Len Wein has revelations and twists to bring a conclusion to the storylines started in Issue #1. Erik Hanson from the Cradle to the Grave podcast returns to help discuss this important issue of one of the best comics of the 1970s.

Reader: Robert Reineke

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"Home..? Who'd have ever thought that one day... I would call this dismal bog home..."

Len Wein and Nestor Redondo explore the cursed, never ending life of Milo Mobius in this time travel adventure. It's a definite change of pace for Swamp Thing as we near the end of Len Wein's run.

Reader: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"How long he has stood here, gazing sadly at the ruptured ruins of the mouldering barn that was once his private laboratory, he cannot remember-- nor would it truly matter if he did--"

It's a changing of the guard as Nestor Redondo steps in to art duties after Bernie Wrightson had left. Returning guest Erik Hanson steps in as we assess Redondo's art. And the story of alien worms and would be saviors that Len Wein conjures up.

Reader: Robert Reineke

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"For the screamng is loud and long and frightening --- and laced wth maniacal laughter that sends snakes skittering into the underbrush --- night-birds sailing off into an angry sky --- and, at last, the screaming stops!"

The end of the Bernie Wrightson run is reached with Issue #10 of Swamp Thing. Paul Hermann of The Comic Binge comes on to discuss this wrapup featuring a battle of monsters and the ghosts of slavery.

Reader: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"Don't play so high an' mighty with me, Cable. I'll bet there's something in your life you've felt exactly the same way about."

This month, Ryan Lower from The Batman Book Club comes on the podcast to discuss "The Stalker from Beyond" by Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, and Michael Wm. Kaluta. There's a lot to unpack in a still timely rumination on xenophobia and a divided America.

Reader: Robert Reineke

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly

"There wasn't any natural way to restore the mines... so my pappy... he started checking into unnatural ways... the occult... and the supernatural... Then one night... I guesss he thought he was ready... He gathered up all the mystic books as such he'd been collecting... and carried them into the mine... And that was the last anyone ever saw of my pappy... Oh, there was the scream that night of course..." With issue #8 of Swamp Thing, Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson turn their sites on Lovecraftian horror after Swamp Thing has wrapped up his initial origin loose threads. Erik Hanson comes on as a guest to discuss the issue and our relationship with Lovecraft.

Reader: Erik Hanson of Cradle to the Grave

Original Music: Jim Laczkowski of Now Playing Network

Logo: Nat Almirall of Where the Long Tail Ends

Dedicated to the Memory of John Bierly