Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: jesus, spoilers, swamp thing, The Demon

How Swamp Thing #88 Makes Jesus A Major Part Of DC Comics Continuity

How Swamp Thing #88 (or Swamp Thing 1989 #1) makes Jesus Christ a major part of DC Comics continuity, only thirty-seven years late

In March 2024, Bleeding Cool ran the story "Might DC Comics Finally Publish Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing #88 in 2025?" We were a year off. Today sees the publication of Swamp Thing #88, or Swamp Thing 1989 #1, depending how you want to look at it, from DC Comics, a mere 37 years late. Famously the Rick Veitch and Michael Zulli comic book that followed the plant elemental as it was dragged through the timeline to momentous historical events where he would play a prominent role. This 1989 comic would have depicted the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Much of the contents are famous, despiite not being published, the depiction of Jesus Christ as a white magician, and Swamp Thing as the cross on Calvary. However, on publication, that's not quite right, and indeed, the comic goes out of it's way to a) depict Jesus Christ in a fashion consistent with the Biblical telling of the story, b) it also includes wilder takes on other Gospel characters, but again nothingh in the Bible that actually contradicts them and c) it's made entirely part of the wider DC Comics continuity.

We first see Jesus Christ from his own perspective, during the events of the Last Supper, but the descriptions of him, often conflicting, are from everyone else. The "white magician" is one of them, but also is "the Son Of God." And then we meet the Magi who are still hanging around thirty-plus years after his birth. And it's not Herod they are dealing with…

….. but a demon. Turns out they were always pawns of demons, even back then. Which, you know, would also be consistent with modern Christian takes on astrology and astrologers…

Then we have Mary Magdalene, now unequivoically a prostitute, with a Roman Centurion, the one who witnesses Jesus' crucifixion and said that "Truly, this was the Son of God." And he does that here as well. But not before he is posessed by that demon….

And so the time travelling Swamp Thing arrives on the scene at the Garden of Gethsemane, and as a Plant Elemental with the memories of Alec Holland, a practising Christian man, recognised Jesus Christ and those around him.

And becomes part of the story itself, not just a witness, but also a participant…

…of the wine and the blood…

And the posessed Centurion begins to rhyme… he is a rhyming demon.

But a demon can be exorcised by Jesus Christ, as he is depicted doing so a number of time in the Gospels…

And this demon isn't just "a" demon, but "The" Demon, as created by Jack Kirby, Etrigan, The Rhyming Demon, now with a new origin and bound to Earth.

The rest of the story plays out as the Gospels do, with the humiliation of Jesus Christ, the sacrfice made to save us from our sins, played out straight.

And that includes the crucifiction, complete with "INRI" headboard, and ropes to bind the arms, and the nails through his wrists as would have been custom, rather than through the palms of his hands as is often shown.

Swamp Thing is not the cross here, that was only a suggested cover, even if it was the inciting image at DC Comics that saw the entire comic book pulled, and kicked off thecontroversy at the time. I was sixteen at the time, a perfect point to be outraged at the unfairness of it all.

But reading it now, I ams susprised that it was contgroversial at all, given its deep respect for the Christian message, and within DC Universe continuity, underlining the importance of Christ by how the other supernatural being react to his presence.

Swamp Thing 1989 #1 by Rick Veitch and the late Michael Zulli is published by DC Comics today. I have no idea if any of this will enter James Harren's upcoming relaunch of The Demon, but it would be an interesting twist if it did.

• SWAMP THING 1989 #1 (OF 4)
  (W) Rick Veitch (A) Michael Zulli, Vince Locke (CA) Rick Veitch
  ONE OF THE GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD. INTRODUCING THE MOST FAMOUS UNPUBLISHED DC COMIC OF ALL TIME! Over three decades since the controversy and cancellation, Rick Veitch's legendary lost issues are completed! After a renowned two year run on the series, Veitch's grand finale to Swamp Thing was cut short, and never to see print! Whispers and leaks hinted at the epic untold saga for years. Now, for the first time, that final story is told! As Swamp Thing is cast back through time, he will come to meet a carpenter who will change the trajectory of his life, and the DC Universe forever. The origin of Etrigan, and Swamp Thing's journey to the beginning of time starts here! $4.99 4/29/2026

• SWAMP THING 1989 #2 (OF 4)
  (W) Rick Veitch (A) Tom Mandrake (CA) Rick Veitch
  ONE OF THE GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD. THE MOST FAMOUS UNPUBLISHED DC COMICS STORY CONTINUES! As Swamp Thing is flung backwards through time, his true destination is revealed! While John Constantine works a world of connections to locate the lost elemental, Abby prepares to give birth to their child of three worlds. Witness the epic odyssey that could not see print until now! Over three decades in the making, welcome to the grand finale of Swamp Thing! $4.99 5/27/2026
• SWAMP THING 1989 #3 (OF 4)
  (W) Rick Veitch (A) Tom Mandrake (CA) Rick Veitch
  BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF TIME, SWAMP THING MUST FACE THE SOURCE! After three decades of controversy and cancellation, Rick Veitch's finale to the Swamp Thing time-travel saga barrels toward its mind-bending conclusion! Swamp Thing's journey back through time has finally led all the way to the Big Bang and beyond. There, in the presence of the Source of the Multiverse, Swamp Thing must make an impossible choice: join the Source of life itself or find his way home to Abby. While 13 billion years in the future, John Constantine works his occult network while Hell itself is ablaze with villains of yesteryears forging evil into a new and terrifying form! The child of Swamp Thing, Abby Arcane, and John Constantine, heir to the role of Earth's Elemental, is about to be born. And everything hangs in the balance. $4.99 6/24/2026
• SWAMP THING 1989 #4 (OF 4) CVR A RICK VEITCH (MR)
  (W) Rick Veitch (A) Tom Mandrake (CA) Rick Veitch
  THE CHILD IS BORN, AND ALL OF HELL IS LICKING ITS CHOPS! After over three decades of anticipation, Rick Veitch's legendary finale to the Swamp Thing saga explodes! The child is born, and Anton Arcane has slithered out of hell to claim them as his final prize. Can John Constantine and Abby's closest friends protect their baby? Will the fate of the world be tipped into an abyss of unalloyed hatred? Or will Swamp Thing do whatever it takes to return to his loved ones and save them from Arcane's clutches? Welcome to the ultimate ending to the saga of Swamp Thing. $4.99 7/22/2026

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!