Pulse (Dec 2021)
Monster Comics, Wetlands, and the Weird: Steve Gerber’s Man-Thing and Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing
Abstract
This paper examines how comic books set in wetlands have used weird tropes to explore environmental ideas. The essential wetness of landscapes made these places hostile to humans. Hence, these ecosystems were often seen in a negative light or as places that were supernatural and alien. Swamp monsters, like Marvel’s Man-Thing and DC’s Swamp Thing were used by comic creators to promote ecological themes. These characters were steeped in weird tropes as well. Just as these wetlands were both water and land, these monsters were both human and inhuman. Marvel’s Man-Thing came to embody the divide between both water and land and this world and other strange dimensions. DC’s Swamp-Thing was used by Alan Moore to show how the weird is connected to the human-nature divide.
