Born on the Bayou – A Pre-Flashpoint Chronology of Swamp Thing and Hellblazer

A Muck-Encrusted Mockery of a Timeline

It all began in 1971, when writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson introduced a sympathetic bog-monster who was more than his horrifying exterior conveyed. But there was Moore to come-Alan Moore, to be exact-and it transformed the comics world.

Wein and Wrightson’s story “Swamp Thing,” published in DC Comics’ The House of Secrets #92, launched an extraordinary saga. The resultant Swamp Thing monthly title chronicled the macabre exploits of scientist-turned-plant Alec Holland, and it introduced chain-smoking occultist John Constantine, ushering in his acclaimed spinoff, Hellblazer.

Alec Holland and John Constantine: distinctively different, yet inextricably intertwined. Born on the Bayou examines every comic, novel, and short story-approximately a thousand tales-to feature the mossy elemental or the British mage before 2011’s Flashpoint. Featuring a foreword by Swamp Thing writer-artist and Constantine co-creator Stephen R. Bissette, plus an afterword by comics historian John E. Boylan.