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.