Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: hellblazer, rick veitch, swamp thing

DC Comics Gives Away All Of Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing For Free

DC Comics gives away all of Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing, and a bunch of Hellblazer, for free on DC Universe Infinite

Bleeding Cool scooped the news a while back that DC Comics would be publishing and concluding Rick Veitch's run on Swamp Thing, with both the unreleased Swamp Thing #88 and the three planned but unpublished following issues, Swamp Thing #89-91. But of course, it's quite a thing to publish the final four issues of a series from almost four decades ago, when many people might not have read the issues that led up to it. So as a result, DC Comics is making all those Swamp Thing issues available to read, digitally for free, on their DC Universe Infinite app. As well as the issues of Hellblazer that lead into it and crossover, including work from Jamie Delano, Steve Bissette, John Ridgway, Richard Piers Raynor, Tom Mandrake and Tom Yeates. Thirty-two issues in total, of the comics that would lead up to what is now DC Vertigo, running from 1987 to 1990.

• Swamp Thing #62, Rick Veitch
• Hellblazer #4, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
• Hellblazer #5, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
• Swamp Thing #65, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #66, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #67, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #68, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #69, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #70, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #71, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #72, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #73, Rick Veitch
• Hellblazer #6, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
• Hellblazer #7, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
• Hellblazer #8, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
• Swamp Thing #75, Rick Veitch
• Hellblazer #9, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
• Swamp Thing #76, Rick Veitch
• Hellblazer #10, Jamie Delano, Richard Piers Rayner
• Swamp Thing #74, Jamie Delano, Tom Mandrake
• Hellblazer #11, Jamie Delano, Richard Piers Rayner
• Hellblazer #12, Jamie Delano, Richard Piers Rayner
• Swamp Thing #78, Steve Bissette, Tom Mandrake
• Swamp Thing #79, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #80, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #81, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #82, Rick Veitch
• Swamp Thing #83, Rick Veitch, Tom Mandrake
• Swamp Thing #84, Rick Veitch, Tom Mandrake
• Swamp Thing #85, Rick Veitch, Tom Mandrake
• Swamp Thing #86, Rick Veitch, Tom Mandrake
• Swamp Thing #87, Rick Veitch, Tom Yeates

It was hardly a surprise when it was announced at New York Comic Con that Rick Veitch's censored, binned, canned, and spiked issues of Swamp Thing will finally be published as Swamp Thing 1989 in 2026. With Swamp Thing 1989 #1 by Veitch and the late Michael Zulli scheduled for April, under DC Comics' Black Label imprint, published monthly through July.

In March 2024, Bleeding Cool ran the story "Might DC Comics Finally Publish Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing #88 In 2025?" Then we noted that listing for the final Rick Veitch Swamp Thing collection has some interesting aspects to it, four mystery issues added at the end. At the DC/Vertigo panel at New York Comic Con, DC confirmed it.

Back in 1989, the original story in which a time-travelling Swamp Thing would have met Jesus, portrayed as a White Magician, and becoming the cross on Calvary. was greenlit by editor Karen Berger but spiked by publisher Paul Levitz. Not only did Veitch leave the book, but those who were set to join it after him, such as Neil Gaiman and Jamie Delano, pulled out in sympathy, and DC only found a replacement months later who was unaware of the situation.

Now DC Comics will publish Swamp Thing 1989 #1-4 with their "original trade dress, period-accurate numbering on the cover, facsimile-style paper stock, and vintage ads" before collecting the stories into their final Rick Veitch Swamp Thing volumes. The first issue has had the artwork by the late Michael Zulli recovered and restored, working "closely with Zulli's wife, Karen Zulli, DC selected Vince Locke, Zulli's longtime inker, to complete the issue over his original pencils while preserving the integrity of Zulli's original vision." Issues #2-4 will be drawn by series artist Tom Mandrake, colourist Trish Mulvhill, who "honors the palette and spirit of legendary series colorist Tatjana Wood while letterer Todd Klein brings the same reverence to the work of original Swamp Thing series letterer John Costanza."

Swamp Thing 1989 #1
(W) Rick Veitch (A) Michael Zulli, Vince Locke, Tom Mandrake, Trish Mulvihill.
In this issue, Swamp Thing is cast back through time and encounters a humble carpenter whose presence will alter the creature's destiny and send ripples through the DC Universe. The issue also sets the stage for the long-anticipated origin of Etrigan the Demon and catapults Swamp Thing on his mythic journey back to the Big Bang and beyond. 29th April, 2026.

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