Video Comics: Hawkman & Swamp Thing

It took Aquaman’s reputation decades to recover from being mocked as the guy who “talks to fish” on Saturday Night Live. However, people often forget that Hawkman could also talk to birds (at least on some Earths he could). Admittedly, birds have much greater surveillance and intel applications. Plus, Hawkman flies and has greater-than-average strength. Nevertheless, he has mostly been a supporting character in film and television. Still, he had a rare solo spotlight on the 1979 Qube/Nickelodeon motion comic series, Video Comics, which you can find online to celebrate his Earth 1 birthday today.

Motion comics are pretty much what they sound like: a camera panning and scanning over comics pages, while voice actors read the dialogue and descriptive boxes. Early in its existence, the network that became Nickelodeon commissioned the Video Comics motion comic series to serve as filler, licensing content from their corporate cousin DC. Rights were probably unavailable for marquee characters. Regardless, DC apparently saw this as a venue to promote second-tier characters like Hawkman and Swamp Thing or fourth-tier characters like Space Ranger. The series disappeared in the early 1980s and only two legit superhero episodes have escaped online.

“Hawkman” is only nine minutes, adapting a back-up story from a 1970s issue of Detective Comics. In this case, the detective/superhero from Thanagar takes a case that might better suit Scooby-Do and Mystery Incorporated. Someone is regularly stealing from Bleakhill Manor, a converted museum that specializes in military art. However, the thief only takes the replica arms that accompany the priceless art.

Frankly, this storyline does not pass the logic test, but it is pleasant enough on a Scooby-Do level. It also shows Hawkman in his element, wielding hardcore medieval weaponry. However, it it is pretty clear E. Nelson Bridwell’s story was quickly written to fill out pages.

In contrast, “Swamp Thing” is a full 20-minute origin story. Technically, this is Swamp Thing #2, Alec Holland, rather Swamp Thing #1, Alex Olsen (from House of Secrets #92), but they suffer much the same fate. Holland is the Swamp Thing everyone knows from the Wes Craven film and subsequent series. (If DC knew how big Swamp Thing would get, they probably would not have licensed him for Video Comics.)

Holland and his wife Linda are developing a Garden of Eden-like formula in their secret lab nestled in the Louisiana bayous. The government assigned Agent Matt Cable to protect them, but he is a bit of an idiot. However, he waxes quite poetic over the spooky swamp country, where he grew up as a lad. Tragically, he cannot protect Holland from the shadowy syndicate out to buy, steal, or destroy his formula. However, his own research saves his life—but at the cost of his humanity.

Justice League Dark, Coming to Tubi

If there is an asteroid or a kaiju threatening Earth, the Justice League can handle it. Dark magic is a trickier business. Fortunately, Marvel’s Dr. Strange does not have a monopoly on magical superheroing. However, Batman must look outside to League to recruit several specialized “consultants,” including John Constantine, Zatanna, and Deadman, to stop an evil mystical force in Jay Oliva’s Justice League Dark, one of several animated DC films coming to Tubi this Saturday.

Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman have all encountered several otherwise law-abiding citizens committing heinous violent crimes, while claiming to be defending themselves from demonic monsters. Unfortunately, this epidemic is magical in origin, but Batman is skeptical, until Boston Brand, a.k.a. Deadman, sends him an unsubtle message, suggesting he seek out Constantine.

Of course, the comic and animated Constantine is considerably more British than Keanu Reeves. He might even be more difficult to deal with. Fortunately, he quickly enlists Zatanna, the magician with actual magical powers, who helps moderate the supernatural detective’s prickliness. Constantine also helps facilitate communication by casting a spell allowing Batman to see Deadman, the deceased acrobat granted the ability to possess bodies.

Together, they take a wild tour of DC’s occult underbelly, starting with Alec Holland, a.k.a. Swamp Thing, who would obviously be quite an informed source regarding happenings in Gotham and Metropolis. Frankly, it is not always clear how all the dots connect (or if they even do) in JLD, which is somewhat ironic, since it is an original story rather than an attempt to condense a multi-issue story-arc into less than 90 minutes.

However, it is highly entertaining to watch DC’s darker heroes “assemble.” Clearly, JLD must be fun, since it was the first animated DC film to carry an R-rating. Even if the causal relations are murky, it is very cool to watch them plum the occult depths, which Oliva and the animators render with surprising clarity. The fiercely materialistic Batman (voiced with utter dead seriousness by Jason O’Mara) makes a perfect skeptical foil, due to the darkness of his soul.

Indeed, Zatanna’s stock has risen considerably since its release (at least in the LCS world). Fans will also appreciate hearing Constantine’s English snarkiness, the way his creators intended, but those who really dig the film will be happy to hear Jeremy Davies reprising his role as Constantine’s creepy friend Ritchie Simpson.

Swamp Thing, Now on the CW

The battle of the comic book bayou beasts was really no contest. Marvel had Man-Thing, who is still best remembered as an associate of Howard the Duck. DC published The Swamp Thing, which was written for several years by a young Alan Moore and inspired Wes Craven’s cult-favorite film. A campy sequel and an early 1990s cable series eventually followed. Given DC’s current success with episodic television, it made sense for them to take another whack at the character for their streaming service, but they announced the first season would also be the last, shortly after its premiere. Yet, somewhat appropriately, Xi’s Covid epidemic prompted an opportunity for the mucky brooder to rise again, when the CW picked up the network broadcast rights to season one of Gary Dauberman & Mark Verheiden’s Swamp Thing, which premieres on free TV this Wednesday.

CDC field investigator Dr. Abby Arcane has returned to her hometown of Marais, LA, where some strange viral outbreak has rattled the community (can we relate?). Her teenaged years there were difficult, for tragic reasons we will soon discover, so she is less than thrilled to be back. However, the nature of the pestilence is so severe, she accepts the inevitable awkwardness. Consulting with Alec Holland, a talented but somewhat disreputable scientist hired by local big-wig Avery Sunderland, proves illuminating. He was hired to track the accelerated growth effects of a “mutagen” Sunderland’s business is developing, but he discovered illegal mega-dumpings of the serum have been systematically released into the swamp.

There seems to be a connection between the mutagen and the virus, but the nature of the latter remains unclear. Sadly, Holland winds up dead for his efforts, but not dead enough. Somehow, the mutagen transformed him into a big hulking plant creature—or something like that. His cellular structure is radically altered but he still has his memories and continues to carry a torch for Arcane, who in turn yearns to cure the man she was developing feelings for.

This review is based on the episodes that are available on DVD and VOD, which will be slightly edited for length and content when they air on the CW. That means they will be a bit shorter and slightly less fun, because one of the best aspects of this Swamp Thing are the macabre mutant-plant effects and the wild body horror they often produce.

Regardless, the way the latest Swamp Thing series embraces the horror elements of the franchise is quite effective (logically so, given James Wan’s executive producer imprimatur). The effects really do work and the Southern Gothic elements compliment the mad science quite nicely (from a fan’s perspective). Yet, one of the biggest discoveries is how cool the relatively minor DC Universe super-hero The Blue Devil turns out to be, when given an unexpected supporting role. We’d rather see a spin-off series for him, rather than a second season for Swampy.

Be that as it may, Dauberman & Verheiden’s Swamp Thing earns a lot of good will for showcasing some talented 80’s and 90’s-era character thesps, including 90210’s Ian Ziering, who constantly gives the show a jolt of energy as Daniel Cassidy, who is and will become the Blue Devil. Likewise, it is always entertaining to see Will Patton do what he does best as the villainous Sunderland. Virginia Madsen constantly forces viewers to re-evaluate their assumptions regarding Maria Sunderland, the evil big-shot’s profoundly grieving wife. Yet, it is Jennifer Beals who constantly surprises as the cynical and decidedly unpredictable Sheriff Lucilia Cable.

Crystal Reed manages to project all of Arcane’s guilt-ridden angst without taxing viewer patience, which really is quite an accomplishment. She also forges some genuinely credible chemistry with Andy Bean as the flesh-and-blood Holland and Derek Mears as his giant fungal analog.

For true-green fans, Mears has big, muddy shoes to fill, since the late Dick Durock portrayed the monstrous super-hero in both films and the previous TV series, but he really gives the show tortured soul, very much in the Universal monster tradition. However, there are times when Kevin Durand is maybe a little too campy as the arrogant and untrustworthy scientist, Dr. Jason Woodrue. In contrast, Macon Blair chews the scenery with just the right level of hamminess as the Phantom Stranger.

Reportedly, DC Universe cut their order from thirteen episodes to ten after production commences, so it only stands to reason that plenty of loose ends remain unresolved. Fans should know Anton Arcane, Louis Jordan’s character in the Craven film does not appear in the first and presumably only season, but Adrienne Barbeau chops poor Abby Arcane off at the knees in a special appearance as the CDC’s assistant director. The series gets that kind of fan service right and also offers up a lot of creepy ambiance and macabre imagery. Some of the conspiratorial themes are rather shopworn and conventional, but the supernatural and super-hero elements blend quite smoothly. Recommended as a horror show that carves out its own hybrid-space, Swamp Thing starts its broadcast TV run this Tuesday (10/6), on the CW.