SWAMP THING
#34
"Rite of Spring"

(23 pages)
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist(s): Stephen Bissette, John Totleben
Colorist: Tatjana Wood
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Karen Berger
Swamp Thing Created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson

Cover: Stephen R. Bissette (penciller), John Totleben (painter) See #36 letter column for credits.
Loved this cover? You're not alone. According to the letter column of issue #40, the original art for this issue and issues #29-34 and Annual #2 were stolen from the DC offices. Painted covers were still rather rare at that time, and this one got many offers to buy. Artist John Totleben tells me this:

"The original to that cover was supposed to go to Steve -- we used to trade off on every other cover, and #34, fell to him by luck of the sequence. We still consider it hot, and he still wants it back.? At today's eBay-influenced art market prices, that cover is undoubtedly worth a very pretty penny.? The art for most of the other material from #34 was recovered years ago -- all but the last page, and a few pin-ups and covers (#32, 33) from that time period?... some of which have turned up on the open market in recent years.

Unlike most ST issues since SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #29, this cover does not have the words "Sophisticated Suspense".


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FACTOID
FROM THE BOG

In the original printing of this issue, the DC Comics editorial page by Dick Giordino announces plans for Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' history-making WATCHMEN mini-series.

1:3 The comatose man is, of course, Abby's husband, Matt Cable.

2:1 The birds, dragonflies & frogs are mating. (Not with eachother...obviously.) ST's appearance reflects the seasons. Is this a new concept for the character?

11-12:13 A frog eats a bug. Meaning?

13:1 Abby's altered perceptions are symbolized by the panel layout changing to a 90 degree angle. This technique would later be used in Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN issue #10. Alan Moore pushed the comics envelope by doing an entire "sideways" issue with PROMETHEA #11 in 2000.

15: The red dots are ST's eyes.

19:1 That's the star-nose of a mole.

Comment: "The Rite of Spring" ("Le Sacre du Printemps") is musical composition by Igor Stravinski (1882-1971), which many will recognize from the "Greek myth" sequence of the Disney film Fantasia. Stravinski envisioned it as "a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle , watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of Spring" The first half of the piece is titled "The Adoration Of The Earth" which, in French, is the title of from issue #76, ("L'Adoration De La Terre", by Rick Veitch).

Comment: Note that the original printing of this story had a dozen or so full page ads interspersed throughout. The layout of this issue is unusual for comic books of this period in that the story is not to be read one page at a time. Whenever two pages of story are printed side by side, the reader should follow the panels from the upper left of the left page continuing clear across to the upper right of the right page, then resuming at the lower left of the left page continuing to the lower right of the right page.

Comment: Who else would've dared do a whole issue of a "horror" or "super-hero" comic book devoted entirely to a romance story? (Essentially) only two characters and no subplots!

COMMENT: This issue won "Best Cover" in the 1985 Jack Kirby Awards. This issue was nominated "Best Single Issue" for the 1985 Jack Kirby Awards, as was issue #32. SWAMP THING Annual #2 was the winner.

Comment: This issue is reprinted in black and white as ESSENTIAL VERTIGO: SWAMP THING #15, January 1998.

Comment: In 1990, DC Comics collected/reprinted issues 28-34 and SWAMP THING ANNUAL #2 in a trade book titled "Swamp Thing: Love and Death".


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