Swamp Thing

Horror is a notoriously difficult genre to pull off in comics. The reader controls the pace, so scares and surprises don't work the same way they do in other media, and once you've seen enough of them, shocking twist endings can feel routine. Every now and then, though, there's a creator who has the ability to pull it off, crafting unforgettable visuals and a moody setting that feels oppressive, unknown and terrifying, and Bernie Wrightson, born this day in 1948, is unquestionably one of the masters. Over the course of a career that began in 1968, Wrightson has crafted stories full of twisted figures and haunting apparitions, and he's never stopped experimenting with how he can do it better.

One is a kind, caring and sweet person who wants to make a difference. The other is brash and feels isolated from a world that would paint it as an outsider. Somehow, they find a common bond and fall in love, which makes both of their lives a little bit more complete. The archetypes behind the classic fairy tale "The Beauty and the Beast" are ones you can spot again and again in stories dating back centuries. We've assembled some of our favorite examples of "beauty and beast" romances in comics.

As we draw closer to the arrival of NetherRealm Studios' Injustice 2, the developer continues teasing us with roster reveals for the upcoming fighting game set in an alternate DC Universe. While to this point we've mostly seen some of the more traditional heroes and villains from the comics make their way into the game, today's announcement came out of left field. The Guardian of Earth himself, the Swamp Thing, will be joining the fight between Batman and Superman (and Brainiac) this May. Thanks to a new gameplay trailer, we now know how Swamp Thing will attempt to bring green peace to the world of Injustice.

When superheroes make the transition from comics to TV animation, it's always interesting to hear what kind of theme music they get. Songs with lyrics that explain who the heroes are can be fun, but they can also go awry. Instrumental tracks can be boring if you're not careful, but if they're well-executed, they can do a great job of creating just the tone you want for your cartoon. I've put together a chronological list of nine memorable theme songs from TV superhero cartoons. Obviously I can't include them all, but I expect to see in the comments which of your favorites I've left out.

We're looking back at the long and weird history of superhero comics by picking our favorite heroes from each decade in our latest fantasy draft. Each team must include one character who debuted before 1950, one character that debuted in each decade from the '50s to the '90s, and one character that debuted in 2000 or beyond, plus two wildcard picks from before and after 1980, for a total team of nine characters. Today our writers pick a Doom Patroller, a dog, an extreme teen, a latter-day Stan Lee creation, and some of the most popular heroes of the 21st century

Justice League Action, premiering this Friday, December 16, at 6 PM EST on Cartoon Network, is the first new TV version of the Justice League since Justice League Unlimited ended in 2006. From the advance promos, we knew the show was aiming for a younger audience from that show, but beyond a few casting announcements we didn't know many details. Now we've had a chance to watch this week's premiere episode, and we have plenty to say about it. This review deals with the basic plot elements of the episode, and details which characters appear, but beyond that we'll do our best to avoid spoilers.

Everyone loves comic book trivia, but with decades of comics behind, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite names in comics in our continuing video series. You think you know comics? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! This week we're taking a look at Swamp Thing, DC's chlorophyll-laden agent of the Parliament of Trees!

It's like the late '80s all over again: John Constantine and Swamp Thing are lurking in the dark corner of the DC Universe, rather than a walled-off Vertigo, and the two of them are all wrapped up in each other's lives. That's where we find ourselves in The Hellblazer #2, written by Simon Oliver with art by Moritat.

Last time in Superhero Color Theory we explained why our main heroes look the way they do. Now it's time to look at the secondary colors and how they often, but not always, signal the presence of a bad guy. Obviously it makes the most sense visually, that to stand apart from a primary colored (red/blue/yellow) hero, you want a secondary colored (purple/green/orange) one. But what do these colors tell us about what type of character the heroes are encountering?

One thing I really appreciate about a city is when it has a nice green space. Parks, public gardens, even those little flower beds that you sometimes see at intersections and roundabouts, I love 'em all. They add a lot of character to a place, and they're really nice to look at. The thing is, they're only nice when they're, you know, planned out and cultivated, and not when they erupt through famous landmarks at the behest of an unstoppable plant elemental who is holding the world hostage. Those tend to be a little less pleasant. And that's exactly what the world's facing in Len Wein and Kelley Jones's Swamp Thing #5, in which Matt Cable --- who you may remember from his lengthy tenure as a bird --- has taken over the power of the Swamp Thing, and immediately set about giving landmarks all over the world a new leafy makeover. Check out a preview!