Roots Of The Swamp Thing: Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, The Un-Men And More

On New Year's Day, in an alley near Camden Tube Station in England, a male prostitute named Micky Foster sees Prince Charles and offers him sex for money, but Calibraxis uses Charles to cut Foster's throat, castrate and disembowel him, and leave him to die. A woman heading home from a party finds him and screams until she faints. Disoriented, his memory in tatters, Charles huddles in a corner, trying to recall his name, but demon prevails and continues killing other victims. John Constantine, meanwhile, awakens with a hangover, which subsides as he considers how happy he is with Kit. Getting dressed, he goes out for a walk, then hears of the Foster murder on the radio and suspects demonic involvement. Sir Peter Marston spots him walking and, despite their history, tells Constantine to meet him at 4:00. Annoyed at the man's smarminess, Constantine steals the keys from the ignition, stranding Marston and his chauffer, Andrews, in the car. He meets Kit for breakfast, who suggests that after a week of unofficially living together, they make it official—but without his supernatural baggage. He then meets Marston at the Caligula Club, where the fixer shows him the demon-slain corpses. Upon learning that the possessed killer is a member of the Royal Family, Constantine smirks and takes the job.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #52: "Royal Blood, Part One—The Players"

Jaunary 2-4, 1992 A.D.

The royal body count grows, and Marston locates three of Charles' friends from the club: Lt. David Hezlet of the Scots Guards and a pair of twins, Hugh and Holly Elliott, whom Constantine suspects of incest. Telling them to be available that evening, he visits Charles' brother, Andrew. Constantine has no use for Andrew, who snorts cocaine and is concerned only with his own career. Asking him to bungle the investigation so Andrew can move up in rank, he spouts anti-Irish sentiments that offend Constantine, given Kit's nationality. Constantine gets even by switching the cocaine with the ashes of Andrew's late uncle. Charles, his stomach full with raw meat, is disgusted at what he's done, but Calibraxis reminds him who's boss by forcing him to pull out his own fingernails. Back at Kit's flat, Kim sees Constantine reading papers on black magic and asks him to keep it out of her place. Grabbing her art portfolio to show an American publisher, she gives him a drawing she made of him as he slept. He visits Nigel Engels Archer, a psychic and self-fashioned radical journalist, who wants no part in Constantine's scheme, recalling the botched s�ance at Baron Winter's estate. Upon hearing the details, however, he agrees to help. That night, Constantine conducts a s�ance with Archer, Marston and Charles' frightened friends. With them are the bodies of the first three victims, which Archer uses to summon their souls from the afterlife. The spirits cry out in despair, luring Calibraxis to abandon Charles in a coma and head for the club. Hezlet panicks as Constantine demands the demon pay for spilling innocent blood by revealing its name. Bound by Hell's rules, it tells the souls not only its name, but that it has killed before—in 1888, when it slaughtered several prostitutes in Whitechapel as the serial killer Jack the Ripper. Calibraxis departs as the agitated souls erupt from their bodies, leaving most of them bloodied and terrified. Constantine, however, simply lights up and asks for tea.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #53: "Royal Blood, Part Two—Revelations"

The s�ance leaves the Elliott twins catatonic. Calibraxis returns to Charles' body to find him vomiting up his victims. Forcing him to stop, the demon continues on. Constantine meets with Archer to explain Jack the Ripper's history, and the Freemason conspiracy to cover up his identity as Sir William Withey Gull. Archer says they need to alert the press, but Constantine is more concerned about stopping murders than toppling governments. Charles, meanwhile, continues to resist Calibraxis, who does great damage to his body to make him behave. Eventually, the prince recalls who he is and what he's done the past three days, but Calibraxis regains control and goes on to kill a woman and a 10-year-old boy. Constantine moves his belongings to Kit's place, then meets with Archer to share information about Calibraxis from Ben Cox's Grimorium Verum, which they can use to send the demon back to Hell. They return to the Caligula Club with Marston, who has ordered Hezlet to kill them once the deed is done, to keep the situation under wraps. Prince Andrew, dressed up in a gimp costume, hears Constantine's voice and vows to kill him, but Constantine flips him the bird. Sensing what's to come, Calibraxis forces Charles to run to the Caligula Club, killing a doorman in his path. As Marston goes to investigate, Constantine looks around his office and finds an identical Grimorium Verum page—this time with a binding spell. Constantine realizes what Marston's been up to and runs downstairs to find Charles standing in a lobby filled with half-eaten bodies. Suddenly, the prince dives at him and takes a bite out of his shoulder, causing him to fall and knock himself unconscious.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #54: "Royal Blood, Part Three—The Good Old Days"

NOTE: Gull's identity as a Jack the Ripper suspect is a matter of history, and has also been the subject of several other fictional accounts, including Alan Moore's From Hell.

Hezlet pulls out a revolver and shoots Charles in the knees, then crucifies him to the floor with swords through his hands. His wound bandaged, Constantine goes with Archer to Marston's office, where Marston warns them not to expose the royals' involvement. Hezlet executes the twins, orgasming as he pulls the trigger. Constantine and Nigel hear the gunshot and realize they'll be next, once the exorcism is over. Nigel panicks, but Constantine comes up with a way to screw Marston over first. Returning to Prince Andrew's room, he knocks him unconscious with a fire extinguisher and steals his handcuffs, then calls a private meeting with Marston to confront him about the binding spell. Marston brags about his plan, admitting it didn't quite work out as planned, and though Constantine knows he'll probably be killed, he agrees to return the demon to Hell. He and Nigel draw a pentagram on the floor around Charles. Constantine uses a spell to remove the demon from his body, then handcuffs Marston to a pole and orders Calibraxis to enter him instead. Archer and Hezlet watch in horror as the demon dines on one last meal—its new host, Marston. Hezlet pulls a gun on Constantine, but has forgotten to reload after shooting the twins. Kneeing him in the face, Constantine grabs Hezlet and throws him to Calibraxis as well. Feasting on Hezlet, Calibraxis tries to chew through Marston's cuffed arm so it can get to Constantine, but the man's teeth break on the bone. Constantine and Archer exit the building, leaving Charles crucified but alive, and Marston's soul descends to Hell, where he finds himself chained up besides the demon's prior host, Sir William Withey Gull (a.k.a. Jack the Ripper).

John Constantine, Hellblazer #55: "Royal Blood, Part Four—Dog Eat Dog"

Insane from the Calibraxis possession, Charles is locked up in a rubber room, let out thereafter in public only medicated on Valium.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #68: "Down All the Days"

Knowing how Kit feels about magic, Constantine stores all his occult items in Chas's lockup at the Red Rover pub, including Ben Cox's copy of the Grimorium Verum.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #56: "This Is the Diary of Danny Drake"

February 1992 A.D.

Damien Kane, age 23, flies to the Lafayette Air Field in Louisiana. He feels sick but chalks it up to flying nerves. Dr. Hutcheson and Sergeant Hilland of the U.S. Army meet him at the airstrip. Hutcheson and Nurse Haas test a blood sample three times, each time getting completely different readings. Hutcheson takes the results to Dr. David Manguy, telling him Damien's cells are mutating like the others 23 years prior, when Manguy delivered Damien. Manguy tells Damien the truth about his birth: the sole survivor of experiments Manguy performed on a group of Anton Arcane's Un-Men captured in the Louisiana swamp in 1969, Damien was bred and injected with a serum to fix his deformities. The tests failed with all the offspring but Damien; now, says the doctor, Damien is dying. Damien considers suicide until a voice summons him outside. There, an Un-Man named Crassus beckons him to follow. Instinctively, Damien escapes the base and does as the creature asks.

American Freak, A Tale of the Un-Men #1: Chapter One-The Nature of the Beast"

NOTE: This issue, previewed in Sandman #57, has a cover date of 1994 but must take place in 1992 given the math of Damien's age versus when he was conceived.

Damien follows Crassus all night to a cemetary. At the Lafayette Air Field, Colonel Gray orders Damien captured by whatever means necessary. Major Lawrence carries out those orders, warning Hutcheson and Manguy not to interfere. Crassus leads Damien inside a crypt, where he has lived since escaping the military's notice 23 years prior. He wants to help Damien avoid becoming like him. He feeds Damien and provides him clothing, then takes him after dark to the New Orleans Shipyards, explaining that although Arcane is not a good man, they might be able to persuade him to help not only Damien, but also the many other abandoned Un-Men. Damien is unsure, believing Manguy might be able to cure him, but Crassus insists that would be a mistake, for the military would lock him in a cage and use him for research. Damien wants to be normal again, but Crassus says he never was to begin with. He's not dying, Crassus reveals―he's being reborn as what he was meant to be... an Un-Man. Back at the base, Manguy drinks himself into a guilty stupor. In Transylvania, meanwhile, at the home of Alexiev Gogol, the decadent rich dine on caviar while enjoying a freak-show glorifying human suffering. On parade are a mix of deformed humans, including Abel (a man with a human baby growing out of his torso) and Adam and Eve (a skeletally thin man and a morbidly obese woman). Among them are three "second-generation" Un-Men like Damien. One, Brontes, vows to kill Gogol, but his companion Daedalus know his threat to be empty. The third, a psychic named Scylla, predicts that Damien and Crassus' will save them.

American Freak, A Tale of the Un-Men #2: Chapter Two-The Covenant of Freaks"

For eleven days, Crassus and Damien hide in the bowels of a boat bound for Romania. As Damien mutates, he begins to distrust and fear Crassus. In the freak show camp, the cruel manager, Lupo, harrasses a six-armed woman for playing with a two-headed dog named Lassies instead of fetching firewood. The others stand up for her but back down when faced with Lupo's bulk. Brontes again makes empty threats, but Scylla and Daedalus dismiss them. Damien and Crassus travel the Carpathian Mountains toward Transylvania. One morning, Damien awakens to find Crassus gone. Weak and alone, he wanders into the freak show camp and passes out. Lupo puts him in a tent, hoping Gogol will give him a female partner as a bonus for finding such a specimen. Scylla slips into the tent to say she is like him and will come back to help, then sneaks off to the nearby abandoned Arcane castle to confront Crassus and learn why he abandoned the boy. Crassus knew Damien would be safer in the camp; he claims Damien is the One prophecied to come not from the Order of Freaks but from the Chaos of Man, whose rage will serve to make them one but who will be destined to walk alone. Delighted at Damien's arrival, Gogol allows Lupo to join his party as a reward. A former associate of Anton Arcane, Gogol wishes the old man were here to see his latest acquisition. Noticing how amorous his guests are, Gogol prepares to offer Damien to them for their sexual pleasure. However, Crassus sneaks into his cell to free him. Damien accuses Crassus of lying to him, but Crassus insists it's time he saved his people.

American Freak, A Tale of the Un-Men #3: Chapter Three-Blue Skies of Purgatory"

Overwhelmed with guilt, Manguy writes a letter to The Washington Post, confessing his part in the Damien Kane affair, hoping they'll print his letter so Damien can forgive him. Damien is otherwise occupied for the moment, for Gogol has chained him up naked for his guests to grope, fondle, photograph and degrade. The humiliation enrages and empowers him, especially when Lupo brings out Scylla to have sex with him. At her psychic signal, Damien breaks free of his bonds and rips off Lupo's head. Suddenly, Un-Men and freaks alike storm the party, slaughtering many guests. Taking a couple hostage, Damien tells them to steal three limos and burn the rest. He contacts their estate and demands a fully-stocked plane take them to New Orleans. The female hostage offers Scylla her sapphire necklace, hoping to buy their freedom, but Scylla knows it will never make her beautiful and returns it. Once in the air, the freaks harrass and mock the human couple, who take solace in public sex so as not to notice the "peasants" around them. Crassus assures the pilot he'll make it home to his son Vincent if he takes them where they want to go. Damien calls Manguy, who says he'll be in great danger if he returns to the U.S., for the Post has run his story and the embarrassed military is covering up the project and all involved. Manguy guides the pilot to an abandoned air strip, then drives them to an abandoned house in the swamp. To his surprise, Damien doesn't blame Manguy for the pain he's caused. Crassus is missing, but the others spend the night in the house. Scylla enters Damien's mind and makes love to him on the psychic plane as a normal, beautiful human; the feeling is euphoric, and he realizes he is in love with her.

American Freak, A Tale of the Un-Men #4: Chapter Four-The Prodigal Son"

Damien tells Scylla he loves her but she recoils in fear. At the Lafayette Air Base, Colonel Gray orders Major Lawrence to kill all the Un-Men and dissolve their remains in acid. Hutcheson is outraged, so Sergeant Hilland places him under house arrest. When they reach the lab, Crassus kills Hilland and takes the doctor hostage. Manguy tells Damien their only hope is maximum exposure to the press before the military can touch him. He has arranged for a reporter to meet them near Slidell. Damien rejects the idea, unwilling to be a meal ticket to fame and a Time Magazine cover. As Manguy urges Damien to trust him, the male hostage offers his influence and money to the cause. Disgusted at the man's snobbery, Damien nearly kills him until Manguy begs him not to become like his enemies. Scylla says Crassus has gone to free his fellow "first-generation" Un-Men, frozen in cryogenic tanks. Damien wants to escape with Manguy rather than stage a suicide mission to save creatures he doesn't know; still, he gives in since it's the human thing to do. Damien's team force their way into the base and to the lab, where Crassus has opened the tanks. The "second-generation" Un-Men are horrified at the appearance of their Arcane-created forebearers. Among them are Damien's actual parents, who only vaguely resemble humans. Scylla and Damien sense in their minds no desire for life, no functionability other than primitive urges, and when one climbs into an acid tank and kills itself, the others try to follow suit. As Crassus holds them back, a squad of soldiers storm the room with orders to kill. The suicidal Un-Men rush them, taking revenge for their mistreatment before ending their painful existence in gunfire. Crassus goes on a furious killing spree, killing Hutcheson and accidentally Scylla. Outraged, Damien tosses him aside and holds her, realizing she recoiled from his love because she knew she was fated to die. Mortified, Crassus runs off, never to be seen again. The press learns of the incident and swarms the base, making it impossible for the military to cover it up. The Un-Men become overnight celebrities, making the cover of Life magazine, while a Senate sub-committee clears Manguy's team of any crimes. Damien is disgusted, knowing that for all their success, they're still freaks.

American Freak, A Tale of the Un-Men #5: Chapter Five-The Dark Family"

February 1992 A.D. and beyond

The government gives the Un-Men a reservation on the site of an old nuclear testing ground, where others come to join them, some freaks and some normal people who don't feel they belong anywhere else. They grant press interviews for a while but eventually stop letting outsiders in, only meeting their fans at the gates. Some young groupies even pledge their love to Damien kane, but he knows they only love the idea of alienation and would feel betrayed if he ever became normal again. He spends his days visiting Scylla's grave until his own time comes and he lies down next to her grave to die.

American Freak, A Tale of the Un-Men #5: Chapter Five-The Dark Family"

In Motherwell, Scotland, a seven-year-old boy named Jerry finally succeeds in house-training his dog, Scooby, after eighteen months of failure.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #159: "Swamp Dog"

Alternate Timeline: Danny the Street, a sentient road with great powers and transsexual tendencies, dreams of an alternate reality in which John Constantine is a costumed superhero known as the Hellblazer. Constantine—along with the Phantom Stranger; Doctor Thirteen, the Multiple Man; and Mister E, the Malleable Medium—is a member of a band of super-powered magicians called the Mighty Mystics. From their orbital space station headquarters at the edge of the known universe, the Hand of Warning, the Mighty Mystics serve as the supernatural guardians of the Earth.

Doom Patrol #53: "And Men Shall Call Him Hero"

March 3, 1992 A.D.

In honor of Mardi Gras, Jo-Jo closes his bar and joins Chester and Carl (Chester's new roommate) in picking up Abby and Tef� to visit New Orleans. Alec hesitates to join them, but Jo-Jo says he'd fit right in. Parking the van, they head for the French Quarter, where the partying is already in full force. In honor of the celebration, Chester says, the elected officials hand the city keys over to Rex, King of Carnival and Lord of Misrule. As they stroll the town, Alex's "costume" gets a lot of notice so he tones down the realism by growing a fake zipper. The effect reminds Abby of the Swamp Thing film made about him years before, much to his chagrin. A man in a jester costume lures Alec away, and when Abby tries to find him, she sees others dressed as Swamp Thing, a popular costume ever since the governor's race. The jester leads Alec to an alley and reveals that he is Pan, the Lord of Misrule. Pan regrets that mankind remembers him only one day a year but is glad not to have been forgotten. Playing a wind instrument to warm the hearts of attendees, Pan bids farewell to his "younger brother" and departs. Alec reunites with his friends, and at the end of the night, a drunken Jo-Jo passes out in his arms. Carrying the unconscious biker, Alec walks back to the van with his loved ones. Carl, meanwhile, meets a handsome, athletic Black man named Troy Washington.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #117: "The Lord of Misrule"

NOTE: This issue occurs in March but #116 occurs in May, so I switched their order.

May to June 1992 A.D.

Casey Quigley finds a tuber growing on one of Alec's discarded bodies. He plants it, wondering what it will yield, then heads home to the trailer park he shares with his mother, Lena. An alcoholic, she is too damaged by her husband's abandonment to be an effective parent. Ignored, he returns to the swamp, past Ed Thirlwell's cotton patch and Steve Cahill's hurricane-destroyed Cadillac, to water a plant growing from the tuber. Stalk-like, with a leafy hand holding a single red eye, it resembles a mish-mosh of Alec's body parts. Some time later, Casey's mom suggests they live with her sister Mary in Missouri so his abusive dad, Dan Quigley, can never find them. Her plans, however, get lost at the bottom of a bottle once more. One night, Dan comes home claiming to be a new man, his thieving and adulterating behind him. Having found Christ, he promises to rebuild the family, but his high expectations and acrid breath make them wary. Dan makes Lena quit her job, forces Casey to wear a conservative haircut and outfit and preaches feverishly to them about Hell and damnation. Still, Casey spots him hypocritically sneaking alcohol. The plant grows higher each day, and come June, the growing season begins and Dan starts taking his family to church meetings. Bored, Casey longs to see his friend Irving and the plant. When Lena and Casey walk in on Dan drinking, he grows hostile and prepares to whip her. Casey stands up to him, and he chases the boy into the swamp. There, they see the hill-sized plant, filled with dark recesses. Dan is scared and warns Casey to get far from it, but Casey hides inside. He chases the boy through the mammoth plant, past bizarre manifestations of animal-like body parts, until falling to his death in an acid-filled vat. Lena and Casey move to Missouri soon thereafter, their fears subsiding as the growing season ends.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #116: "The Growing Season"

In the Burning Wastes at the Fifth Circle of Hell, the demon Arcane torments several souls begging to be set free. His lack of imagination in finding new ways of tormenting annoys a senior demon, Lord Gorefleck, who decides to teach him a lesson in torment by chewing him and spitting him out. Another demon, Tatterwing, rushes in to report that Lucifer has quit, thrown open the gates of Hell and given the keys to the Endless. Furious, Gorefleck drops Arcane, calling for a meeting in the Seventh Circle with Bloodrunnel and Shriekback to discuss a plan of action. Without leadership, chaos descends on Hell as hundreds flee their posts, hoping to escape before the Dukes and Princes of Hell set amongst themselves for sovereignty. Anton Arcane gladly escapes with them.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #125: "Family Reunion"

NOTE: Lucifer's decision to quit occurs in Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

August 1992 A.D.

White supremacist Daniel William Ducannon, determined to use his metahuman abilities to destroy all minorities in America, hires former Sunderland Corp. CEO Alan Windsor's new company, MetaTech, to help him create a superhero persona and build suitable armor to go with it. With help from Windsor, in-house P.R. group head Rodney Hawkins and chief research scientist Dr. Moon, Ducannon assumes the mantle of the White Dragon and begins punishing all non-White criminals in Chicago.

Hawkworld #29: "Flight's End, Part 3—Into the Flames"

Hawkman (Katar Hol) and Hawkwoman (Shayera Thal) publicly expose Ducannon's connection to the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party. In an effort to eliminate them as a threat to his plans, Alan Windsor arranges for them to be classified as terrorists and criminals, forcing the U.S. government to refuse their request for asylym from their home planet of Thanagar.

Hawkworld #27: "Flight's End, Part 1—The Dark Road"

Manipulated by Windsor and MetaTech, police superintendent George Emmett reluctantly orders his forces to arrest the Hawks. Outraged, they fight their way to freedom and become fugitives.

Hawkworld #29: "Flight's End, Part 2—Backfire"

Rodney Hawkins uses the media to spin Ducannon's past affiliations in a positive light to make sure his racist statements to the press don't discredit the company's plans. Knowing the racist is inevitably doomed to fail, Alan Windsor orders all records regarding Ducannon to be purged from MetaTech's files so the company will remain unscathed.

Hawkworld #29: "Flight's End, Part 3—Into the Flames"

Late August 1992 A.D.

Gerry Connolly, Ann Bishop and Jim Masters all die in unrelated incidents. Before dying, Connolly loses his virginity on his sixteenth birthday, never to see the girl again; Bishop travels the world using money saved from a career with the British Civil Service; and Masters lives out his days on a seven-acre farm with his dog, Old Sal, having refused numerous offers to sell the land.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #57: "Mortal Clay"

Another person, name unknown, dies falling from a bridge after a drunken summer-night party. The cadavers of all these individuals, following their funerals, are dug up and sold to a secret research lab in Stokesley, England, which performs illegal ballistics tests for a private munitions firm.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #58: "Body and Soul"

August 31, 1992 A.D.

Danny Drake, a frenzied individual prone to public confessions, crashes his BMW during a screaming fit and is forced to take the subway. To the annoyance of other passengers, he yells that he used to pay for prostitutes at King's Cross when his wife Daphne was pregnant. When he mentions owning a copy of the Grimorium Verum, a 17th-century book of dark arts, John Constantine takes notice and follows him off the train. Constantine walks him to his art-filled home in Muswell Hill. Drake claims he's being haunted by his diary, which he started keeping more than a decade before. He'd made money playing the stock market in the 1980s, but lost his wife over the hooker business and began seeing a woman named Ophelia. Realizing he no longer needed the diary since he had Ophelia to talk to, he'd tossed it in a fireplace, then was crushed when she left him. Soon, he'd begun having compulsions to spout the secrets he'd once written in his diary. Ten years earlier, he'd summoned the demon Triskele, Wyrm Queen of Sucubae, who'd given him five years of luck at trade and finance in return for his soul. Constantine realizes Triskele has been playing with Drake's head, forcing him to confess. He visits Chas's lockup to research Triskele in his own Grimoruim, then returns to Drake's home. Five years ago, Drake reveals, when Triskele had come to claim him, he'd panicked and killed Daphne, ripping out their unborn son to offer the demon for five more years. With Triskele is returning for him tonight, he's stolen another baby, from a woman in Covent Garden, to trade up again. Constantine takes the baby to the police, leaving Drake to meet his fate as Triskele arrives to drag him to Hell. He then visits Chas at the Red Rover, ordering whiskey from Tom the bartender. Though he hates Drake for what he did, the incident reminds Constantine of his own actions at Newcastle.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #56: "This Is the Diary of Danny Drake"

Between September 1 and 21, 1992 A.D.

The spirits of Gerry Connolly, Ann Bishop and Jim Masters, recently deceased, watch sadly as their bodies are used for ballistics practice. John Constantine, meanwhile, walks with Chas Chandler to meet his uncle Tom, only to find the man dead of a heart attack. After the funeral, the friends spot three men stealing his uncle's body from the coffin and rush in with fists raised. Chas grabs one man, Steven, and threatens to pop his eyes out. Frightened, the man says a research lab in Stokesley pays them �500 per body. Reinforcements arrive, putting the friends in the hospital. They visit Kit, who chastises them for fighting, then makes some tea and looks up Stokesley in the phone book. Chas heads home to face an angry wife, and Constantine tells Kit he wants to be there for Chas but is worried he'll get killed like other friends have. The lab's director, Dr. Amis, docks Steven two weeks' pay for revealing the site's location, then visits the ballistics area, where two men, Warren and Matthew, test .50-caliber bullets on Masters' corpse, blooding it to pieces. The next day, Chas and Constantine drive to Stokesley and climb a remote hill. Hearing gunfire, they run to the top and spot the facility, then jump aboard a military-looking truck to sneak inside. Realizing they're sitting on a pile of dead bodies, Chas panics and jumps out of the truck, which comes to a stop as guards surround them. Pleased, Amis prepares to conduct his first tests on living tissue.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #57: "Mortal Clay"

NOTE: Issue #57 is said to occur in the summer. Since #56 takes place on the last day of August, that places this two-parter during the three summer weeks of September.

Daydreaming of an orchard full of dead bodies, Amis destroys the cadavers, disgusted at the frailty of the human form. Ending his reverie as Constantine and Chas enter into his office, he says they'll be used as live test subjects in his experiements, then locks them up in a cell. Meanwhile, the soul of one dead body, horrified to see its body blown to pieces, tries to escape to Heaven but finds itself trapped on this plane, along with others thus desecrated. Frenzied, it briefly appears to Constantine and Chas, then rips apart in a shower of energy. Recognizing a trapped soul, Constantine vows to save Chas's uncle before the same happens to him. Using a knife hidden in Chas's shoe, he carves a gateway into the wall, then cuts open his hand, using his blood to help the souls re-enter this world and move on to the afterlife. A soulstorm of rage and revenge sweeps through the facility, smashing their cell wall open and startling employees in the hall. The souls appear to Amis, who is awed by their beauty and begs their forgiveness. One soul creates an illusion of love, making him gouge his own eyes out without even knowing it. Chas grabs a guard's gun and storms out of the cell, while Constantine finds one ballistics tester, Warren, crying at the pain he helped create. Chas finds Amis and raises the gun to shoot, but realizes it's out of bullets and beats the doctor to death with the butt of the rifle.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #58: "Body and Soul"

Mid to late 1992 A.D.

In the realm of the Dreaming, Tef� hears voices and climbs out of her crib. Outside, she finds Peter Pan and his Lost Boys, Kermit the Frog, Sugar and Spike, the casts of The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland and other fairy tale characters waiting to play with her. Peter says their next adventure will be to cross the Burning Desert and the Ocean of Shed Tears, then climb the Rock Candy Mountains so they can get to the Lord of the Gobble-You-Ups and rescue Princess Pritty-Pritty from the evil King Thundermugg. Most of the creatures run off in fear, the Lost Boys turning into zombies and warning her to beware the Bad Man. Matthew the Raven (formerly Matthew Cable) appears, asking her to give Abby his love. Tef� wakes up cranky the next morning, which her parents blame on the "terrible twos." To give Abby a break, Alec takes Tef� outside, where she runs into Les Perdu. The creature does not kill her, however, recognizing an innocent soul. Only the spirit of Tommy remains now, for the others have satisfied their need for vengeance and moved on to the next spiritual realm. Tommy appears to Tef� in spectral form, scared and alone and glad to have someone to talk to, but when Abby shows up, he vanishes into the swamp. This upsets Tef�, who takes it out on her kitten, mentally skinning it alive. As Alec puts the cat out of its misery, he and Abby wonder how they can control their daughter's powers without help.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #118: "A Child's Garden"

Somehow learning that Alec and Abby need help with Tef�, Irwin "Ambush Bug" Schwab visits the swamp to apply for the job of nanny. When Alec notices that his r�sum� includes experience as a lumberjack, he politely declines, saying he and Abby are looking for a British nanny. Dejected, Irwin curses the British invasion and looks for work elsewhere in the world.

Ambush Bug Nothing Special #1: "Don't Lose Sight of the Forest for the Trees"

With little choice, Alec visits the Parliament and demands to speak with Yggdrasil. He cannot enter Founder's Grove, however, for Yggdrasil now speaks only to Tuuru for security reasons. Alec explains the problem, and the Parliament seeks volunteers to teach her. An elemental known as Lady Jane volunteers, which the others find fitting. While Alec is gone, Abby takes Tef� to a Winn Dixie to buy groceries. There, as she chats with Carl and Troy, the Bad Man abducts Tef�. Picking up his scent, Les Perdu runs to take its final revenge. Alec returns home to find police probing the area. In hysterics, Abby tells him that Tef� has been kidnapped.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #118: "A Child's Garden"

Tef� rides in the Bad Man's car, enjoying the toys and candy he has given her. He stops at a dilipatated house and carries her from the car, throwing her ragged doll in the swamp. Inside sits a haggard young boy named Randy, who the Bad Man says will be her new brother. The boy holds her protectively while the Bad Man pulls the half-rotted corpses of his own parents from a trunk and sets the table for a family dinner. Meanwhile, Officer Rawls takes statements about the kidnapping. Rawls is compassionate to the Hollands, urging Alec not to kill the man as Alec tracks Tef�'s elemental essence. Les Perdu, tracking the Bad Man, makes no such promises. The Bad Man cooks rice and beans for dinner, telling the kids he killed his parents a year before. Beaten and molested as a child, he ran away at age 17, living on his own for three years before doing to other boys what his father did to him. A year ago, he returned home and killed them, keeping their bodies to torture them. He kicks his father's corpse, angered by the tale, which scares Tef�. Outside, Alec and Les Perdu arrive. Les Perdu finds the discarded doll, which it gives to Alec. Inside, the Bad Man grows tired of Tef�'s crying and decides to kill her, but Alec busts through the floor, scaring the man out into the swamp. Rawls and other officers await, guns pulled, but the Bad Man holds a knife to the baby's throat. Les Perdu strikes from behind, biting him in half, and as Tef� falls to the ground, the creature's curse lifts, forming four separate bodies once more. As Alec carries Randy to safety, he and Abby look up to see Tef� in the arms of a woman similar in appearance to Alec. Her name is Lady Jane, and the Parliament has appointed her Tef�'s governess-and as Ambush Bug predicted, she's British.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #119: "The Bad Man"

Abby is very jealous of Lady Jane, fighting with Alec to send her back to the Parliament. Alec feeds her a small fruit from Jane's body, allowing them to share minds. In so doing, Abby learns about the terrible life she led in 1851 and the tragic events that led Alicia Huston to become the Earth elemental of her age. Touched by such tragedy and embarrassed at her own jealousy, Abby apologizes and falls crying into her soothing arms.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #120: "Lady Jane"

Constance "Connie" Sunderland, daughter of the late General Carlton Avery H. Sunderland, wrests control of Sunderland Corp. from her older cousin, Alan Windsor. Windsor manages to keep control of several parts of the company and opens his own weapons manufacturing firm, MetaTech, from which he continues his research into the use of metahumans to promote commerce.

Hawkworld #29: "Flight's End, Part 3—Into the Flames"

At the future site of Sunderland Toxie Waste Disposal Facility #23, near the outskirts of Houma, three monkey-wrenchers named Michelle, Spike and Otter sabotage several construction vehicles by filling the gas tanks with Uncle Ben's Quick Rice. This draws attention from workers, who rush them with bottles and bats, injuring Otter. The trio run through the swamp until Alec intervenes, scaring off the workers and bringing the saboteurs to his home; any defender of the Green, he says, is a friend of his. He recognizes them as the Bon Temps Rulers, the eco-group who staged his gubernatorial campaign. Leaving Tef� with Lady Jane, Alec checks out the new Sunderland plant at their request. At the Washington D.C.-based Sunderland HQ, the Board of Directors meets with Constance Sunderland, who, as the new CEO, has vowed to whip the firm into the shape it was under her father. She quadruples the budget of an executive named Winter to ensure his work on Project Proteus succeeds. Her assistant, Smithers, reports the monkey-wrencher incident; Alec's involvement interests her, for she has a personal score to settle. Abby brings Otter, Michelle and Spike to Chester's home so they can call the Professor to come pick them up. Troy Washington arrives with a U-Haul full of his belongings. He and Carl are dating, and Carl has asked him to move in. This does not sit well with his bigoted neighbor, Lester Beaudreaux, who complains to his wife Wilma about having to live next to homosexuals, hippies and people of color. Meanwhile, at the Blumlein Medical Center in Louisiana, Dr. Eric Neiderman is called away from an appointment with a patient named Myers. His assistant, Cynthia, tells him Connie Sunderland has called to excise the Swamp Thing and needs his expertise as the Needleman to do it for her.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #121: "Laissez Les Bon Temps Rulers"

Professor Clark Johnson arrives at Alec's home in Bertha, his Volkswagon Bug. Picking up his students, he thanks Abby for her help and returns to Tulane University in New Orleans. Lady Jane expresses concern over the singing daisies with which Tef� has filled the swamp. In Terrebonne Parish, Abby and Chester settle down for drinks at Jo-Jo's, where a local named T-Beau Beaudreaux (a nephew of Chester's neighbor, Lester Beaudreaux) harrasses him for letting Blacks and gay men stay at his home. When he mocks Chester for losing Liz to another woman, Chester loses control and knocks him out. In Tulane's Shiner Hall, Otter, Spike and Michelle hack into Sunderland's mainframe computer and discover Project: Proteus. A Sunderland employee, Erickson, reports the hack to Connie, who calls Eric Neiderman and arranges Professor Johnson's death. Lester, meanwhile, calls Ben Barron to complain about Chester; since Chester is friendly with Alec's wife, Baron promises to handle the situation. Abby tells Alec what happened at Jo-Jo's, surprised when a singing daisy runs by. Alec examines it and decides it's harmless. That night, as Barron's Klan cronies perform a cross-burning on Chester's lawn, Neiderman pays a fatal visit to Johnson.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #122: "The Eye of the Needleman"

Otter find's Johnson's body sprawled over his desk. Panicking, he runs to Alec and Abby's home for help, concerned for his group's safety. Alec is disturbed, haunted by memories of his own battles with Sunderland. In the morning, Abby visits Chester to use his phone. Carl and Troy, frightened by the Klan burning, hastily move out. Chester and Otter are shaken, unable to understand why anyone would want to kill Prof. Nearby, Tef�'s animated flowers wander the swamp, hunting and killing a frog, all the while singing happily. Spike and Michelle drive to Chester's house, hoping he can take them to Alec's place in the swamp. Someone unseen kills Spike, and Chester grabs a shotgun to protect her. When they investigate, Spike's body is gone. They drive out to Alec's home, and as they walk through the murky waters, Neiderman attacks Chester, causing him to let off a gunshot in surprise. The shot alerts Alec, who ensnares the killer in a net of vines and demands to know why he is killing innocent college students. Instead of talking, Neiderman bites down on a suicide pill, ending his own life. The next morning, Otter and Michelle bid farewell, planning to head to Colorado and go underground until Sunderland forgets about them. Their bravery and activism inspires Chester to go back to school, finish his degree and become a teacher. Back at Sunderland HQ, Connie tells Smithers to send a floral tribute to Neiderman's funeral, anonymously donated. Despite the Needleman's failure, she is un-phased, noting that the world is full of Dr. Neidermans.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #123: "Punctures"

Triskele, Wyrm Queen of Succubae, suggests the First of the Fallen use the succubus Chantinelle to exact revenge on John Constntine, as the two are acquainted. When Ellie betrays Hell, however, the First storms into Trikele's soulgarden to punish her. Panicking, she creates a pentagram of fire and jumps to the living plane, crashing through Big Ben and plunging into the Thames River. The First charges back to Triskele, nearly breaking her in half. Meanwhile, unable to sleep, John Constantine leaves Kit's flat to go for a walk. Following tracks in the mud, he finds Ellie huddled in a drainpipe. She asks for his help, but he refers her to the Snob (the angel Gabriel), determined to leave the demon world behind and enjoy life with Kit. Still, when Ellie mentions the First, he knows he has no choice but to help. Back in Hell, Triskele tells the First not to dwell on a mere mortal, urging him to revel in his rulership of Hell. He backhands the skin from her face, but as she begs him to return it, he reconsiders her words, for with Lucifer having abdicated the throne, he is one step closer to ending the Triunmverate and ruling Hell himself. Constantine checks Ellie into a bed-and-breakfast to discuss recent events, and finally agrees to help her—but eventually, he says, he will call in her debt.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #59: "Guys & Dolls, Part One—Fallen Women"

Constantine and Ellie visit a pub to plan their next actions. He recalls their first meeting, around Christmas 1984, when she and her lover Tali (an angel) came to his flat, seeking his help. Ellie had become pregnant, violating the rules of both Hell and Heaven, and Constantine had helped hide them. However, God had learned of their love and sent seven angels to destroy Tali and take the hybrid baby. Constantine had used masking sigils to hide her actions from Hell, however, and she'd returned home unnoticed, owing him a debt of gratitude ever since. Hence, when ordered to help destroy Constantine, she'd instead betrayed Triskele and the First of the Fallen to warn him. As they leave the pub, Ellie asks what he'll expect of her once he saves her from the First's wrath. She tries using her seductive charms on him, but he laughs it off, preferring to call in her favor when he really needs her to defeat the Devil. Meanwhile, the First overhears the demon Nergal boasting that Constantine will be his prize, not the First's. To teach him a lesson, the First makes Nergal a mortal, cuts off his arms and hangs him by the neck. Still, the memory of how Constantine humiliated him dampens his fun.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #60: "Guys & Dolls, Part Two—Nativity Infernal"

As Constantine and Kit make love one night, the First of the Fallen continues searching for Ellie, who sits alone at a pub, lonely and missing Tali. Constantine asks Chas to procure for him a deadly set of knives, then meets with Ellie at the pub. He's found a way to end the conflict, he says, but it involves carving a masking sigil into her soul. This he does, leaving a bloody mess in Joe Hollis' abandoned house. Heading outside for air, he is approached by the First and Triskele, who demand to know Ellie's whereabouts. Realizing Constantine has tricked him a third time, the First is livid, but still he must swallow his humiliation. Hidden at a hotel, sad that she can never return to Hell, Ellie marvels at the lack of scar on her body. She goes for a walk in the park, her spirits lifted when a young child says she's very pretty. Constantine joins her on a bench, outlining his plan to defeat the First. Impressed at his audacity, she agrees to help, and he says he'll see her again in the new year. Back in Hell, after beheading Triskele as punishment for Ellie's betrayal, the First stews on his throne. Agony and Ecstasy, Hell's Twin Inquisitors, inform him that as per Hell's Law, since Constantine has thrice bested him, the man is now free and the First must suffer in his place. Ripping them to pieces, the First ignores their decree, vowing to make Constantine pay.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #61: "She's Buying a Stairway to Heaven"

John Constantine's niece, Gemma Masters, attends a party held by her friend Tina Brooks. Another friend, Sandra, betrays her at the party by stealing her boyfriend Barry. Tina's brother, Robbie Brooks, gives her a magic curse board, claiming she can get even with Sandra if she pins up a photo of her and drips her own blood n the photo. He warns her that if she ever tells who gave it to her, he'll curse her. Before she can complete the ritual, Gemma's mother Cheryl enters the room. Furious at seeing her daughter engaging in magic, she assumes her brother gave it to her and asks him over to the house so she can confront him about it.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #62: "End of the Line"

November 3, 1992 A.D.

Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States. His campaign promise to a population wary of so-called "super heroes" is to get tough on superhuman activity. He serves the country from January 20th, 1993, to January 20th, 2001, during which his own activities take center stage.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #144: "A Hope in Hell"

Late December 1992

A week before Christmas, Constantine and Kit Ryan visit his sister Cheryl. She shows him a magic curse board covered in pinned photos, accusing him of giving it to Gemma. Assuring her he'd never get Gemma mixed up in magic, he talks to his niece while Cheryl and Kit compare notes about Constantine's dysfunctional life. Gemma tells Constantine where she got the board, and he promises to sort it out. Heading to Robbie Brooks' flat, he barges past the teen's roommate Brian, accusing Brooks of giving his niece the board. Brooks has heard of him, however, and reveres him for brief stint in Mucous Membrane and his reputation as a mage. Constantine bullies the youth, who is surprised he wouldn't want Gemma to follow in his footsteps. Making up an incarnation, Constantine pretends to curse him, threatening his soul if he goes near Gemma again. Kit, meanwhile, takes Gemma to the mall to buy her an outfit for Christmas. Over pizza, she warns Gemma that while magic has allowed her uncle to see some amazing things, it's also caused great pain. She applauds the girl's desire to stand up for herself, but says she doesn't need magic to do it. Constantine, disturbed by what he did to Brooks, digs up his ancestor, Harry Constantine, to discuss their family's tendency to hurt others. Cursed with immortality and buried 300 years prior, Harry has been trapped alive in his grave all this time, decomposing but alive. Constantine had partially dug him up in 1972, at the start of his magic career, then reburied him after learning about his heritage. This time, he frees Harry fully, then beheads him, ending the man's sorry existence and accepting his role as the last Constantine male.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #62: "End of the Line"

Late 1992 or early 1993 A.D.

Alternate Timeline: With AIDS spreading around the world in epidemic proportions, the being known as Death of the Endless decides to spread the word about the importance of practicing safe sex. Though embarrassed, John Constantine agrees to help her by holding out a banana like an erect penis so she can teach others how to properly put on a condom.

Death Talks About Life

NOTE: Included as a public service announcement with Hellblazer #62 and other DC Comics titles, this six-page story seems to take place in the "real" world.

Header, a friend of John Constantine, catches Terry Butcher (a mutual acquaintance from their younger days) in bed with his Siamese twin daughters, Maggie and Kate. Furious, Header sticks a baseball bat up Butcher's rear and tosses him in the River Clyde in Scotland. Header decides Butcher is better off dead, having had his penis cut off for angering gangster Mike Adams.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #63: "Forty"

Early to mid 1990s A.D.

Alec reads Tef� a bedtime story teaching how vital it is to have others believe in you-otherwise, you might die. This rather harsh lesson remains with Tef� for years. The story is called Peter Pan.

Swamp Thing (Series 3) #9: "Concrete Jungle, Part Three-In the Air, on Land and Sea"

NOTE: There is no way be more specific in dating, as we only know it happened during Tef�'s childhood. Therefore, my placement is conjectural and there is room for error.

February 23, 1993 A.D.

It's Mardi Gras time again, and the people of New Orleans party like there's no tomorrow. In the bayou, a Voodoo cult called the Red Hand summon the spirits of Baron Cemeterre, Lord of the Dead, and his mistress, Erzulie, Queen of the Night. The group is led by con-man Joe Christmas, an unemployed actor who created the cult as an exercise in the Theater of Blood. Inadvertently, his act turns real as he actually invokes Pritor and Lissik, shape-shifting alien parasites who decimated their own universe and now seek another to sate their voracious appetites. As the aliens get to work feeding on humans throughout the bayou, a radiation containment breach at nearby Dayton Industries pours tons of poisonous toxins into the local environment. As Dick Grayson (Nightwing) and his team of Titans work together with Garth of Atlantis (Aqualad) to end both threats, Alec watches quietly from the shadows, angry at yet another example of humanity's irresponsibility.

New Titans Annual, Bloodlines Outbreak #9: "The Red Hand Blues"

NOTE: Pritor and Lissik first appeared in Lobo Annual #1, published in 1993.

Somewhere in Central America, three farmers kill Sunderland field rep Walter Kramer to punish him for damage done to their culture by Sunderland technology. Their leader, Carlos, hopes the rituals and customs of their heritage will summon the aid of Xipe-totec, the Flayed God and Lord of the Corn. Instead, his actions pull Alec through the Green to his village. Carlos tells him that four years ago, Kramer visited their village claiming his company made a deal with their government to test a new fertilizer that would double their crop yield and end all hunger. For two years his claims provied true, but by year three, the rich soil that had served many generations had turned to sand. When livestock and children began malforming, they sent out a delegation of elders, all of whom were killed by the corrupt government. Their children starving, church and state unable to help, they had no choice but to rely on the ways of their forefathers. Chosen as their priest, Carlos sacrified Kramer hoping to summon Lord Xipe, instead ensnaring Alec. Agreeing to help them, Alec enters the soil, hoping to draw out the toxins, but the poisons dissolve his form. Suddenly, a local named Santos arrives, warning that soldiers have arrived searching for Kramer. As the soldiers kill the villagers, their blood infuses Alec's regenerating body with raw power, making him feel like a god. He nearly destroys the army but realizes what is happening and lets them go. Looking through their papers, he discovers plans for Project: Cornucopia, a Sunderland plot to sell a slow-acting defoliant to the U.S. government to be shipped to coca growers in South America, wiping out competitors in the cocaine industry. Without warning, two Sunderland jets drop missiles on the village, destroying all evidence of their crimes. As the fire burns, Alec decides to avenge Carlos' people by mailing the paperwork to Clark Kent at the Metropolis Daily Planet, trusting the media to expose Sunderland's treachery.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #124: "Husks"

NOTE: Although issue #127 is the first to sport a 1993 cover date, dating surrounding issues is complicated by the fact that Hellblazer #63, set on John Constantine's birthday (May 10, 1993), most logically falls between issues #126 and 127. I have thus moved the year marker back a few issues to compensate, but the long spans of time between issues admittedly seem a bit forced. Unfortunately, I do not see a better way.

Six months after Arcane's escape from Hell, the demon visits Tef�. Calling himself Uncle Anton, he vanishes upon the arrivial of Lady Jane. Ya-Ya Dupin visits the Hollands, warning that Arcane is on his way. Alec tells Lady Jane what has happened; having shared his memories in the Parliament, she agrees his family is in danger. As Alec does a perimeter check of the swamp, Arcane takes the form of a butterfly and possesses Tef�. He explores his new host, amazed at how the child's skills far outweigh Matt Cable's telekinesis. The singing daisies sense the change and cringe in terror. Picking one up, Arcane is impressed that his grand-niece has continued the Arcane tradition of creating new life. Alec wanders the swamp determined to protect his family from Arcane. Inside, Abby warms up to Lady Jane, inviting the nanny to call her Abby. Jane is hesitant, for Abby is Consort to the Prime Founder and a baroness by birth. As Alec tells Abby of Arcane's return, Jane discovers Tef� missing. Arcane walks the swamp testing his new powers, raising an army of undead starting with Dennis Barclay and the serial killer called the Bogeyman, whose bodies lie rotting in the swamp. In Terrebonne Parish Cemetary, he re-animates Father Esau Tocsin, Merle Layton and Matthew Cable. Most retain their evil host personalities, but Cable's mind is a blank, having been reborn as Matt the Raven. As Alec, Abby and Lady Jane search for Tef�, Arcane leads his undead soldiers to the Holland home, which he recreates in his image. He also alters the child's face to resemble his. The undead subdue Alec, Abby and Lady Jane. Arcane says Abby looks like her mother Anise. He kisses her with Tef�'s mouth, telling Tocsin to pluck out her eye. Luckily, Ya-Ya arrives to stop him. Forcing Arcane to leave the girl's body, Ya-Ya calls upon the Righteous Dead to force the wizard back to Hell. Arcane wins the battle, felling the dead minstrel, but flees when Hell's Bounty Hunters, Agony and Ecstasy, come to retrieve him. Sensing his stink in Tef�, they decide to vivisect the child to learn where Arcane has gone, but the Phantom Stranger defuses the situation. An old friend of Ya-Ya, he reminds the Twin Inquisitors that the Erl-Kings have allies in Heaven, and they bitterly depart. Still, Alec knows he'll see Arane again. Not far away, Sunderland Co. transfers a coffin to its Cryogenic Storage Department in Louisiana. Attendant O'Malley recognizes the body as General Sunderland himself. The spirit of Arcane watches over the transfer, deeming the general a "tasty" host indeed.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #125: "Family Reunion"

Wandering the bayou, Alec finds a copy of Rolling Stone left behind by Chester. Within, he sees an article titled "Where Are You Now, Freddie Freelode?" in which Ralph Simak interviews Johnny Dogg, famed 1960s "kounter kulture kartoonist." Living near Tularose in the south New Mexico desert, the recluse is trying to resume his cartooning career to make up for "selling out" in the 70s and opening an advertising company. Despite having renounced commerial work since 1980, he has writer's block and cannot find the spark. Recognizing Dogg from memories of Holland's youth, Alec is taken back to his college days, when The Adventures of Freddie Freelode first inspired within him the notion of the healing power of plants. This set him on a lifelong quest to develop a bio-restorative formula. Alec decides to return the favor Dogg unknowingly did for Holland. Spying on the recluse's activities from the paneling of Dogg's home, he watches as a friend named Leon visits. Over drinks, Dogg says his wife and former cartoonist partner Angie left him, unable to deal with his self-pity. Leon wonder why things went awry after the Hippie movement, but Dogg blames himself and others who accepted commercialism. That night, Alec appears to Dogg as Mescalito, a drug-dealing hero from the strips, and bids him to eat of the mescalin growing on his body. Dogg enters an altered state in which Freddie takes him on a trip through space, time and consciousness to the moment of creation. When the trip is over, Alec urges Dogg to find himself and his creativity once more, then departs, leaving behind a discarded husk. Fascinated, Dogg considers what Alec taught him, realizing the problem isn't that his spark was ever lost but that frames and pages are no longer a large enough canvas to ignite it. Putting aside cartooning, he builds a new life for himself as a sculptor. Among his greatest pieces: a likeness of Aec as Mescalito, several stories high and carved in the side of a hill.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #126: "The Big Picture"

Focused on his love for Kit and his concern over the coming battle with the First of the Fallen, John Constantine spends the next few months drifting through life and ignoring the urge to explore the darker side of life. As such, he barely notices as winter turns to spring.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #63: "Forty"

George Foster, the younger brother of John Constantine's friend Dez, returns to his Birmingham home to find a White man on fire in his garden. Realizing the man had ignited himself while burning a cross, George lets him die. The police offer no assistance, and a few weeks later, other racists fire-bomb the house, burning it to the ground. Defeated, George returns to his former hometown of London.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #64: "Fear and Loathing, Part One—For God and Country"

May 10, 1993 A.D.

On his 40th birthday, John Constantine heads home to see Kit Ryan, but finds a note saying she's gone to Belfast to visit her sick Aunt Jane. He calls Chas to hang out, but his friend is on duty all night. Visiting a liquor store for Jack Daniels and Silk Cut cigarettes, he considers how depressing his life is, but when he arrives at his flat, a surprise party awaits, organized by the Lord of the Dance. Attendees include Zatanna Zatara, the succubus Ellie, Nigel Engels Archer, Header (a violent Scotsman with a tendency to beat people up), Rick "the Vic" Nielsen (a reverend with a penchant for sacrilege who obtains taboo items for Constantine) and Mange, a grumpy stage magician trapped in the body of a rabbit. Constantine gets drunk and heads outside to urinate. Startled at a voice behind him, he accidentally pees on the shoes of the Phantom Stranger, who'd come to put their differences behind them but instead leaves in a huff. Back inside, Constantine jumps as Swamp Thing angrily forms from Mange's plate of broccoli, demanding to know the meaning of the party invitation he received. The Lord of the Dance apologizes, having mistaken the two for friends. Swamp Thing makes a peace offering by growing Nigel's marijuana plant, Treebeard, to grand proportions, then heads home to protect his family. Constantine gratefully promises to leave him alone. Ellie and Zatanna tease Constantine about Kit, who's now been with Constantine for over a year, but he dodges their questions.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #63: "Forty"

NOTE: Nigel Archer, introduced in issue 53, is identified here as both Nigel Engels and Nigel Archer. I have combined the names as Nigel Engels Archer, assuming Engels to be a middle name. "Treebeard" is a reference to Lord of the Rings.

May 11, 1993 A.D.

Constantine's birthday party ends at about 6:00 in the morning. As his friends leave, Constantine puts a sign on the back of the very drunk Nigel Engels Archer, saying "All coppers are bastards," then assures Ellie they'll soon take down the First of the Fallen. The last to leave is the Lord of the Dance, who sits for a while, discussing Constantine's perspective on turning 40. He warns Constantine that the next few years will be rough, calling him a "rake at the gates of Hell," but promises to be there when the time comes. As the spirit vanishes, Constantine drinks himself into a stupor, and when Kit returns, she finds him passed out drnk and the flat a filthy mess.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #63: "Forty"

Mid-May 1993 A.D.

Sitting at the Cambridge Club, the archangel Gabriel recalls Constantine's comment two years earlier, wondering why God has allowed him to consort with racist sinners like Charles Patterson. As he walks outside to ruminate, Patterson orders an attendant named Thompson to follow him. Kit forgives Constantine for trashing her flat, and they make love. Still, he holds back from telling her how much he loves her. Gabriel collides with a woman named Julie, haughtily ignoring her apology. When she calls him a snob, as Constantine had, he regrets his actions and apologizes. With Thompson spying, Gabriel accompanies her to a diner and speaks of his father's stern moral distinctions, saying Constantine has made him question his faith in his father. Constantine meets Rick Nielsen at a pub. Rick has procured a foreskin Bible from an archbishop's collection, which he sells to Constantine for �2000 and a jar of angle semen. Dez, a friend of Constantine's, enters with his brother George, who has moved back to London after racists burnt down his home in Birmingham. After taking a phone call from Ellie, Constantine tricks the bartender, Janine, into giving them free drinks. At the end of the night, he heads back to Kit, determined to fix the mistakes he's made and do right by her. Thompson reports in to Patterson. Shaken at seeing an angel so scared, worried over Constantine's involvement, he tries to quit, but Patterson won't let him. Having heard about Constantine's relationship with Kit from Lenny Fisher, Patterson tells Thompson to have her killed.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #64: "Fear and Loathing, Part One—For God and Country"

NOTE: There appears to be some inconsistency regarding when the storyline of Hellblazer #64-67 takes place. Dialog in this issue makes it clear it occurs shortly after Constantine's birthday, and the rest of the story seems to take place immediately thereafter, placing all four issues leading up to Kit's departure for Belfast (in #67) in mid-May. However, issue 70 has her arriving in Belfast in July, which offers two possibilities: Either she traveled for a while before reaching her destination, or this storyline spans two months. Since the latter seems unlikely, I am assuming #64-67 do, in fact, occur in May, and that she arrived in Belfast in #70 after a period of soul-searchng travel.

Julie spends the day with Gabriel, urging him to stop feeling guilty about his father. Her compassion touches him, and he kisses her, thinking her the first person he's found to meet God's high standards. Meanwhile, as Kit chats on the phone with her sister Claire, two thugs, Mickey and Sam, burst open the door to kill her. She grabs a knife and cuts them—Sam in the crotch, Mickey in the face—then goes to the Green Man, a pub near Muswell Hill, and calls Chas, hoping to find Constantine. Seeing blood on her hand, she runs to vomit, then spends the night on Chas's couch. Patterson decides to attack Constantine directly: As Contantine and Dez discuss England's racial problems, including harassment of Dez's mother, a baseball bat to the head drops Constantine to the ground. A thug cuts Dez with a boxcutter, and both men are dragged to Patterson's waiting car. Constantine awakens tied to a chair in a shed in Putney, with Patterson and others standing around him. Dez's face is torn open, his throat crushed, and Patterson tells Constantine to leave Gabriel alone. George visits a restaurant, looking for his brother. The bartender, Martin, warns him that Constantine is no good, but Carol, the counter waitress, reassures him Dez and Constantine are both fine. Unconvinced, George calls a Kilburn hooligan named Bates, who owes him a favor and has access to Joe Hollis' sawn-off shotgun. Back in his chair, Constantine dreams of Kit jumping to her death in the ocean.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #65: "Fear and Loathing, Part Two—London Kills Me"

Dez dies, and the skinheads return for Constantine, armed with bats. Patterson enters, gloating and spouting racist propoganda. George spends the night looking for Dez, overhearing Mickey bragging about what he's done. Cornering him outside, George forces him to reveal Dez's location, then blows off Mickey's knee with the shotgun. Julie brings Gabriel to her flat, where he experiences sex for the first time. To his horror, she reveals she's really the demon Ellie and rips out his heart. Propelled back to Heaven, Gabriel faces the wrath of God, who sends the fallen angel back to Earth in agony. As Patterson's cronies rough up Constantine, the mage realizes Patterson wants to corrupt Gabriel and have him as an ally in the coming race war. Constantine says he's already caused Gabriel to fall. Patterson frees him in exchange for Constantine delivering Gabriel. George watch as the skinheads dump Dez's body, then shoots Patterson dead before Constantine can stop him. Constantine returns to Kit's flat. Furious with him for breaking his promise to keep the occult out of their life, she makes him clean up the bloody kitchen. Ellie finds Gabriel hiding in a tomb, beaten and shaking. Constantine meets her there. Showing the angel his own heart, he threatens to destroy it, sending Gabriel to Hell, unless he helps Constantine fight the Devil. With no choice, Gabriel acquiesces. Constantine then severs Gabriel's wings with a chainsaw, leaving him to huddle in the cold, homeless and alone.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #66: "Fear and Loathing, Part Three—Down to Earth"

For the next week, Constantine wisely stays out of Kit's way, letting her cool off. When he returns to her flat one day, he is stunned when she announces she's leaving him and returning to Belfast. Pleading with her to reconsider, he grows angry and storms out, and she throws his belongings out the window. Devastated, he goes to a pub to get drunk. When three teens make fun of him, he snaps, smashing a mug across one youth's face and exposing another's molestation of his six-month-old sister. Constantine insults Angie, one of the pub's owners, and Chas drives by as her husband, Tom, defends her honor. Chas tries to calm the man down but takes a punch to the face for his trouble. Bringing Constantine to Kit's empty flat, Chas tries to comfort his friend but gets indignant when Constantine, full of self-pity and alcohol, insults Chas's wife and tells him to piss off. Seething, Chas beats him up and shoves his head in the toilet, then throws him on the floor and leaves. Drinking bottle after bottle, Constantine makes his way to a nearby cemetery, where he lies down atop a tomb and passes out drunk in the rain. As he does so, Kit takes a boat back to Belfast, crying.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #67: "Dear John"

NOTE: Vertigo inadvertently used the title from issue #62 ("End of the Line") instead of this issue's actual (and more fitting) title, "Dear John," revealed in the letters page to issue #71 and corrected in a later reprint.

Summer 1993 A.D.

Circumstances force thousands into a life of homelessness. Among them are Killy and Weasel, two men from Cork, Ireland, who end up squatting in a Kilburn, Northern Ireland, flat until three others kick them out and beat them; Wee Sue, a young woman living on London's Piccadilly Street, who bites off half the ear of a policeman harassing her; and Andy and Kernahan, a pair of unfortunates in Milwall, London, forced to damage their teeth biting open cans of rotten tomatoes for sustenance.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #68: "Down All the Days"

Kit Ryan arrives at Belfast Central Station, where her sister Claire picks her up. They drive to Claire's flat in Botanic, and Claire suggests they meet their old gang at The Crown Bar. Within moments of sitting on the couch, Kit falls asleep. Later that night at the Crown, they see their brother Peter, their sister Ann and Ann's husband Sean. With them is Neil, a quiet man whose attentions she has spurned in the past. Neil expresses his condolences over her father's death, feeling awkward when she says she didn't attend the funeral. As she catches up with her her siblings, she can't help but be reminded of Constantine, even ordering a gin and tonic before remembering he's not there to drink it. Ignoring a drug dealer named Gerry, they return to the table, Kit purposely avoiding Neil's attempts to talk to her. At the end of the night, a drunken Sean offends them with an off-color joke, so Kit "spills" a drink in his lap. As they leave, he suggests they go dancing at the Manhattan, but two teens steal his car. Belfast, Peter says, has gotten very crime-ridden in recent years. When the Manhattan's ushers deny Sean entrance for being drunk, he picks a fight and gets trounced badly. Kit and Claire visit the old home of their parents, which has been sold to a new family who will soon move in. They recall how their father used to beat their mother, and how Kit took a breadknife to him when the abuse got out of hand. The sisters sit up talking until 3:00 in the morning, when Neil stops by to tell her he loves her. She sends him home, then stares out the window, crying, wondering if leaving Constantine was a mistake.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #70: "Heartland"

NOTE: This issue takes place before issues #68-69 and is the only issue of Hellblazer not to feature the title character, John Constantine.

Devastated by Kit's leaving him, John Constantine turns to the bottle for comfort. Too depressed to seek help from Header, Rick Nielsen or Nigel Archer, he starts a downward spiral that leaves him an alcoloholic living homeless in the streets of London.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #68: "Down All the Days"

Mid- to late 1993 A.D.

When Zatanna Zatara tries to stop using magic, she experiences a string of nightmares involving people from her past. Among those appearing in her dreams is her former lover, John Constantine.

Zatanna: Come Together #1 and #2

Hiring new-age magician Dr. Lawrence Polygon to resurrect her father, Connie Sunderland contacts occultists Dr. Fate, Baron Winters, Jason Blood, John Constantine and Zatanna Zatara to ask their opinions of his abilities and reputation. The first three have never heard of Polygon, while John Constantine and Zatanna both describe his character in horribly unflattering terms. Still, only the man's magic skills matter to Connie, so she invites him to meet with her anyway.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #128: "Toxic Shock"

NOTE: Though these events are undated, issue #137 places them six months before that story. Assuming #137 occurs near the end of 1993, I have set these events mid-year.

At the Maryland corporate HQ of MetaTech, CEO Alan Windsor (formerly of Sunderland), continues the Metamorphosis Project, training metahumans to join his Captains of Industry, a privatized superhero team created to promote commerce. MetaTech is training a new Marauder to kill Katar Hol (Hawkman). The suit has been upgraded by Windsor's chief scientist, Dr. Moon, its wearer a woman altered to resemble Shayera Thal (Hawkwoman), who's been missing for six months. Hawkman battles the Marauder, stunned to see his partner's face within the helmet. Moments later, Moon self-destructs the suit, seemingly killing Hawkwoman, though Hawkman senses it's not really her.

Hawkman #2: "Dead End"

NOTE: Sunderland Corp., in an effort to avoid being linked to Marauder, caused the original suit to self-destruct in Hawkworld #13.

Dr. Moon walks the streets, waiting for Hawkman to arrive. Hawkman nabs him, demanding to know Hawkwoman's location. Moon says she's being held at a Federally-licensed pollution control station at the Grand Canyon. As Hawkman flies off, a spy codenamed Cover Five alerts Windsor that the trap has been sprung. When Hawkman arrives at the Grand Canyon, one of Windsor's latest metahumans, William Kavanaugh (Airstryke), awaits, holding a gun to Hawkwoman's head. Defeating Airstryke, however, Hawkman discovers she is really Comte Etienne du Vipere (Count Viper), a being of pure psionic energy able to jump from host to host and now inhabiting Hawkwoman's body. Taking over Hawkman, the Count evicts his spirit to the female form.

Hawkman #3: "Into the Abyss"

Count Viper, still in the body of Hawkman, flies to MetaTech headquarters to meet with Alan Windsor to plan their next move. Hawkman, trapped in his partner's body, breaks out of prison and roughs up Dr. Moon to obtain Hawkwoman's true location—she's in Craemer Asylum, locked in the form of an old man. As he fights his way through the asylum to free her, Viper enters the Justice League America headquarters as Hawkman and takes over the mind of Wonder Woman.

Hawkman #4: "The Return of Hawkwoman"

Still in alternate bodies, Hawkman and Hawkwoman force Moon to reveal Windsor and Count Viper's plans, then rush the the JLA headquarters to stop them.

Hawkman #5: "A Rage of Hawks"

John Constantine takes refuge in a construction pipe with a fellow homeless man called Coney, who agrees to share his Jack Daniels if Constantine tells him a story about magic. Constantine recalls an incident in 1985, when the Third of the Fallen helped a woman named Annette kill his friend Seth for cheating on her. She'd learned to summon the demon while having a secret affair with Constantine, by studying his magic books. Constantine had discovered what she'd done and tried to save his friend, but as they arrived, the demon had killed Seth during sex, ripping off his penis. Constantine had run from the grisly scene, leaving Annette to face the carnage alone, and she later slit her own wrists in a bathtub. Shaken by the story, Coney gives him the bottle and asks why Constantine doesn't use magic to fix his life. Thinking of Kit, the mage replies that he doesn't want to.

Vertigo Jam #1—Louder Than Noise: "Tainted Love"

The King of the Vampires and his lover Darius go out hunting for the evening. Darius suggests they drink from Prince Charles and turn him into a vampire, but the King says his insanity and inbreeding make him unviable. John Constantine, meanwhile, begs for change, then heads to a liquor store. The proprietor, mocking his poverty, mentions several wines outside his budget, then suggests he drink lighter fluid. The vampire king and Darius feast on two derelicts (one of whom the depraved Darius rapes), then capture and tie up and third. The King is consumed with thoughts of Constantine, whom no one has seen or heard from in a while, but puts aside his concern to have a threesome with Darius and a fellow vampire named Mary. When they're done, Darius turns to mist and drinks the blood of several pregnant women's unborn children. Constantine finds a mattress in an alley, the former owner of which—a young man named Davy, forced to sell his body for money—soon returns. Though he agrees to share the mattress, Constantine refuses to share his liquor. Getting drunk, he thinks about Chas and Kit turning on him and cries. Davy leaves to turn a trick, but when the man tries to bring a German Shepherd into the mix, Davy runs off, unpaid. Hearing about his night, Constantine takes pity on the youth and offers him a drink. Nearby, the King of the Vampires dines on a homeless man named Billy, then stops in amazement to see Constantine sleeping on the street.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #68: "Down All the Days"

Recalling how he killed Constantine's ancestor William Constantine in 1916, the King of the Vampires relishes the chance to kill another member of the bloodline. Biting Davy, the vampire waits for Constantine and his friend to awaken. Davy tells Constantine he's thinking of returning to Sheffield to work in a nightclub, then notices a pain in his neck. To Constantine's horror, Davy's neck has a bite mark on it, and his shirt is covered in blood. The vampire snaps his fingers, causing Davy's artery to burst in a spray of blood. Gloating, he says Davy had AIDS anyway. The vampires tells Constantine mankind is killing his world with industrialization and apathy, and that when man has to run into the shadows to avoid the damaging effects of the sun's rays, the vampires will be waiting for them, and when the world is destroyed in 20 billion years, his kind will find another world on which to prey, as they've done before. Sunrise approaches as he gloats, and Mary and Darius worry when their king fails to return. Finally, the vampire king offers Constantine a choice: a quick death or vampiric undeath. Constantine chooses death, but when the vampire bites his neck, his demon blood poisons the other, dissolving the creature's lower jaw. As the vampire drops to the ground in agony, the sun begins to rise. Constantine urinates on the vampire's head, then drags him by the feet out into the sun, where he catches fire and incinerates while Constantine downs his bottle and laughs.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #69: "Rough Trade"

After four-year-old Tef� creates a flower and shows her father her work, he teaches her about her eventual role as an elemental. He explains how humans cause polution, resulting in global warning that is damaging the planet. This, he tells her, will some day be her responsibility. As a young child, she feels pressured by such talks but does not complain. One day, a father-and-son team on a fishing boat interrupt their relaxation, spewing smoke and flame into the environment. Tired of human selfishness, Alec tries to scare the father into thinking about his actions. To Alec's horror, wishing only to please her father, Tef� nearly drowns the young boy. Realizing he has failed to teach her compassion, he cries that day, an image that will haunt her for years to come.

Swamp Thing (Series 3) #9: "Concrete Jungle, Part Three(c)-Forget Me Not"

NOTE: There is no way be more specific in dating, as we only know it happened during Tef�'s childhood. Therefore, my placement is conjectural and there is room for error.

While wandering the bayou, Alec befriends a young Cajun child named Sallie, whose lack of fear impresses him. They talk for a while, and she tells him she and her mom moved here after her father left them. Like her mother, she can do juju, a form of voodoo magic. Charmed by her spunkiness, he gives her a strange plant, asking her to care for it for him and promising they will meet again.

Swamp Thing (Series 4) #9: "Love in Vain, Chapter One"

NOTE: This seems the most logical-indeed, the only logical-placement for this event, given that Alec and Abby are still living together in the bayou. The issue, set in 2005, says it happens 10 years in the past, but since Alec and Abby are no longer together in 1995, no placement during that year will work. Therefore, I am taking "10 years" as a generalization and fudging the results a little, setting this meeting 12 years prior.

Winter completes Project Proteus, and though Connie Sunderland praises his work, an insider trading scandal and 25-year-old mistress in Georgetown have ended his usefulness. Therefore, she hands him over to Dr. Binwey as a test subject. Binwey transforms Winter into a mentally deficient behemoth named Proteus, guided only by its basic instincts. Connie visits the frozen form of her father in Cryogenic Vault 1-014, promising to put the Sunderland name in history books. Back in the bayou, Abby makes Alex promise he won't leave her again, and despite his obligation as Earth's champion, he makes the promise. The next morning, Lady Jane tells him the Parliament has been lenient with him, tolerating his illusion of domesticity, but that his true allegiance must be to the Green. Watching them together, Abby grows jealous. At the former site of Jupiter Solvents, Inc. (Jupiter, New Jersey), Connie visits the Proteus field test, which Dr. Binwey deems a huge breakthrough in bioengineering. The abandoned plant is filled with hazardous chemicals. The plan is for Proteus, who feeds on such wastes, to clean the area, ridding the world of toxic waste. Unbeknownst to its creators, Proteus retains enough of Winter's mind to long for freedom, and at the first opportunity breaks free and kills its guards and Binway. Though shot down, it recovers fast and burns its way through a fence with acid secreted from its skin. Back in Houma, at a diner called Lenny's, Chester tells Abby he's moving to New Orleans. At 39, he feels he's accomplished little and plans to finish his teaching degree at Tulane University to get a job teaching biology and conservation. Though happy for him, Abby is sad to see her best friend leave. Alec feels a great jolt as the Green cries out in pain, summoning his help. Torn between his promise to Abby and his obligation to the Green, Alec grows a second body and departs, leaving his duplicate to watch over the family. Lady Jane knows such a move is unwise.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #127: "Project Proteus"

Alex travels the Green, wondering what could have caused it such pain. Connie Sunderland tells Smithers to capture Proteus and cover up the whole incident, annoyed at a report that the creature has been sighted breaching a toxic waste holding tank in Devil's Den, New Jersey. Dr. Lawrence Polygon arrives. Self-impressed and prone to quoting mysteries to increase his own mystique, he is intrigued at the prospect of helping her resurrect the dead. Alec visits Devil's Den and confronts Proteus as it consumes barrels of toxic sludge. He attacks the creature, determined to stop it from damaging the Green. Though Proteus fights back, it is confused by the attack, having the mind of a child despite its deadly form. Abby tells Jo-Jo that Chester is leaving, sharing a drink with the biker in "Peepers'" honor before returning to the swamp. She tells Alec's double of her sadness, not realizing he's a duplicate, and as he consoles her, he grows attached to her. A family portrait drawn by Tef� touches the duplicate as well. He and Abby make love while the real Alec is gunned down along with Proteus by a Sunderland helicopter. The chopper leaves them for dead but Alec survives. Painfully taking the creature's toxins into his own body, Alec prepares to shed his form but is denied entrance into the Green, his body so toxic it would endanger the Green's integrity. With little choice, he must walk back to Louisiana, ignoring the pain and nausea he feels. Meanwhile, at his home in Metairie, Louisiana, Ben Barron stews about his public humiliation during the election. To get even, he calls the Child Welfare Protection Agency to complain about how Abby and the elemental are raising Tef�.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #128: "Toxic Shock"

NOTE: Ben Barron tells a Child Welfare worker that Tef� was born two years prior, but she was actually born four years ago, in 1989.

In Marsh Creek State Park, eastern Pennsylvania, four boys tell ghost stories around a campfire. When they get to the scary ending of one tale, Alec steps deleriously out of the bushes, scaring them off. Sick from the toxins, he envisions Abby chastising him for lying. Back in the bayou, Abby cuddles with his duplicate, happy for the first time in years. Watching from afar, Lady Jane worries about the outcome. At the Sunderland Cryogenics Vault in Washington, D.C., Connie Sunderland brings Dr. Polygon to her father's frozen form; longevity enhancement was a special interest of his. Polygon's job: to bring him back from the dead. Alec wanders the Pennsylvania countryside, haunted by visions of Abby, Tef�, Chester, Jo-Jo, Sunderland, Constantine, Batman, Arcane, the Patchwork Man and others. As the toxins break down his body, he wonders if he will die or just become the unending pain. His body falling apart, he dreams of Alec Holland's ghost mocking his arrogance in having a human family. The ghost claims Abby only loves the human fa�ade, not the real him. Furious, Alec unleashes a burst of elemental energy that causes plants in West Chester, Lancaster, Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand and New Holland to grow out of control. Devoid of strength, he collapses. In Houma, Abby bids farewell to Chester as he packs for his move to New Orleans. He worries about leaving her without transportation or communications with the outside world, but she is happy for him and wants him to pursue his dreams. As they hug goodbye, Ben Barron snaps photos of their "shameful behavior." The Parliament appears to Alec in a dream, saying he has failed them once more and must choose between his family and his role as Earth's champion. Among them are Eyam, Tuuru, Yggdrasil, Lady Jane, Jack-in-the-Green, Alex Olsen, Swamp Knucker and Fields-That-Stalk. With them, he is a god... without them, he's a muck-encrusted mockery of a man.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #129: "Swamp Fever"

NOTE: Pages 12-13 of this story first appeared in the promotional comic Vertigo Preview #1-Innovative, Dangerous, Provocative, as an excerpt simply titled "Swamp Thing."

In eastern Pennsylvania, two hippies named Sperhawk and Trippy find strange mushrooms growing from Alec's toxified body. Eating one, Sperhawk dies a painful death as the flesh dissolves from his bones. As Trippy runs off in horror, Alec forces himself to rise, determined to make it home. There, Lady Jane tries to warn Abby about Alec's duplicity, but the double shows up with flowers for their anniversary before she can act. Alec finds Constantine waiting in the forest, annoyed at having to save him yet again without a shred of gratitude. Alec apologizes and begs for help, but realizes Constantine is just an illusion. In Washington, Dr. Polygon (now a Sunderland employee) is told by his secretary, Della, that Connie is calling. He assures her work is progressing nicely in blending modern technology with ancient magic to re-animate the dead. A typical employer, she cares only for quick results. Alec makes it to southeast Kentucky, where he mistakes a dog named Cotter for a large bear and kills it. He picks up what he believes to be Tef� but is really a young girl named Lucille. Her farmer father shoots a massive hole in his torso, then runs off with his daughter. He hallucinates Arcane trying to kill him, which causes him not to see an oncoming truck that rams into him. Ben Barron gives a series of photos showing Abby's unfitness as a mother to Mrs. Johnson of Child Welfare. As Tef� sleeps, her daisies form warrior tribes that fight and kill one another. Meanwhile, unable to travel further, Alec is found unconscious by a band of elf-like beings known as the Folk.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #130: "Home Sick"

Two of the Folk, Colm and Nain, rescue Alec. He awakens to find them watching over him in their village, Danu's Holler. Colm fetches Auntie Mave, the eldest at over 300 years old, who is happy to see the Erl-Kings still exist. Humans call her kind the Tuatha de Daanan ("Children of Danu") since they worship Danu, goddess of the Moon's cycle and grace. Older and wiser than man, they were the first to master woodworking and smithing. Warriors, huntsmen, poets, sorcerers, physicians and musicians without equal, their rulers were good and just. Believing themselves blessed, though, the Folk became cruel and arrogant toward those they deemed inferior. Mankind first revered them, then hated and feared them; following the coming of Christ, man hunted down and killed them. The Folk scattered to isolated valleys and distant mountaintops, their villages pillaged, their pride stolen, but no matter how well they hid, man always found and destroyed them. In the 1690s, the last of the Folk chartered a ship from Europe to North America, hoping to begin afresh in the New World. They settled in eastern Pennsylvania since it reminded them of home and because of its close connection to natural energy (magic). Only a few survive to this day, and in a few centuries all will be dead. Alec tells Mave of his journey and his need to get home, and she Mave uses "old magic" to restore his regenerative powers. Though painful, it works. He bids a grateful farewell, and she is happy to know the Lords of Creation still walk the land.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #131: "Folk Remedy"

The Pariament of Waves discover the champion they've long sought: a struggling writer named Anna. Inspiring in her an interest in writing about elementals, they plant the seeds for a happy, successful life as a comic book writer with aspirations of being a novelist. They then entirely deconstruct that happiness, washing it all away to bring about the events of her transformation into an elemental.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #158: "River Run, Chapter Seven-The Parliament of Waves"

Living in Minnesota with her boyfriend Bobby, Anna refuses to forward on a chain letter she has received in the mail. This causes her tons of bad luck, making her life rapidly unravel. First, the comic publisher goes bankrupt, leaving her without a job. Then her credit card is canceled, the company has no record of her account and Bobby vanishes while taking a bath. Meanwhile, strange messages appear on her computer screen and mirrors, threatening and scaring her. What's more, she finds out she's pregnant and her house sinks into the river with no insurance to pay for it. Her sister takes her in so she can finish a book of tales she's been writing called River Run: A Collection of Short Stories. Each tale is set in a parallel universe, at a different point along the Mississippi River, much like the alternate Earths populating comic books. Unable to afford a child, Anna gets an abortion.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #157: "River Run, Chapter Six-Sink or Swim"

Maggie, eldest child of a Houma policeman named Casey and his wife Lisa, is killed.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #151: "River Run, Prologue-Flotsam and Jetsam"

Anna's bad luck continues when a drunk driver takes her sister's life and kills himself. To deal with the pain, she spends months working on her book. Unfortunately, the plots never quite work out as she had hoped, and she misses several deadlines, causing the publisher to lose interest.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #157: "River Run, Chapter Six-Sink or Swim"

The Parliament of Waves, thinking Anna has finished the book, instill in her mind a desire to commit suicide, not realizing she has not yet written the last page.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #158: "River Run, Chapter Seven-The Parliament of Waves"

First, Anna tries overdosing on drugs. When that doesn't work, she ingests a mixture of deadly poisons. Her second attempt is far more effective, and she dies.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #157: "River Run, Chapter Six-Sink or Swim"

The Parliament of Waves' error in pushing Anna to commit suicide too soon condemns her to eternal existence as a wandering ghost. Keeping the truth from her, the Parliament removes from her mind the actual details of her death. Instead, they implace an illusion designed to suit their needs.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #158: "River Run, Chapter Seven-The Parliament of Waves"

In this illusion, Anna ends her life as she ended her book, at the source of the Mississippi, where she strips naked and drowns in the Louisiana bayou. Casey the cop finds Anna's body and is shaken by the sight, reminded of his daughter Maggie's death. An ambulance takes Anna to a local hospital, where doctors perform an autopsy. Much to her surprise, Anna awakens to find herself caught in an ever-replaying loop in which she lives out the events leading from her final day to her autopsy, then rewinds to the beginning and starts again. To her horror, she realizes she is stuck in the plots of River Run. To get out and end the cycle, she must find a loophole. Unable to find one on her own, she holds out hope that the Swamp Thing will some day come along and help her find a solution.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #151: "River Run, Prologue-Flotsam and Jetsam"

NOTE: The placement of the above entries is approximate, based on the statement that Anna's death occurred eighteen months prior to the events of issue #151. Note that a discrepency exists as to Maggie's death. She is said to have died a year before #151, but at the time of Anna's death, eighteen months before #151, Casey is already mourning her. To reconcile the inconsistency, I have assumed Maggie died shortly before Anna.

December 31, 1993 A.D.

As the crowds celebrate New Year's Eve in Trafalgar Square, John Constantine, still homeless and defeated, downs a bottle of cheap whiskey and cries.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #71: "Rough Trade"

January 1994 A.D.

In Motherwell, Scotland, a man named Frank loses his job. Over the next three months, he and his wife find it ever harder to provide for their son Jerry.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #159: "Swamp Dog"

Shortly after New Year's Day, a drunk John Constantine thinks about Kit leaving and his friend Davy dying, then passes out along the bank of the River Thames, not far from Hornchurch. In his stupor, he fails to notice the grass-obscured skeleton and plane of Jamie Kilmartin, a British pilot shot down by German fighter planes in 1940, lying nearby. As he sleeps, Constantine dreams of Kilmartin's final day alive, when he found Squadron Leader Grant drinking beneath a plane. Grant had offered him a drink, mourning the soldiers he'd seen die. When Kilmartin had said everyone must accept death, Grant had lost his cool, saying it's vital to fight death as long as possible. The next day, German pilots had shot Kilmartin down in this same spot. Constantine eventually awakens from the dream, sees the skeleton and plane wreckage, and recalls Grant's message. Returning to the city, he touches the mind of a passing gentleman, giving him the urge to hand him his checkbook and wallet. Constantine gets a hotel room, showers, shaves, and has his clothing and trenchcoat cleaned. He then returns to the river with a shovel, giving Kilmartin a proper burial and freeing the youth's spirit to ascend to Heaven.

John Constantine, Hellblazer #71: "Rough Trade"

FEAR NOT, DEAR READERS: More Hellblazer entries will be added soon!

Swamp Thing, his form altered by the magic of the Tuatha de Daanan, returns to Louisiana, where his appearance startles both Labo and Tef�. Not even Abby recognizes him, and his duplicate denies the truth of his claims when Alec admits what he's done.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #131: "Folk Remedy"

The two Alecs face off as a confused Abby watches in fear. The double reveals Alec's broken promise, saying he has no right to claim as his own a family he abandoned. Unable to deny the claim, Alen attacks his doppelganger. At the Houma Police Department and Municipal Center, Ben Barron visits Officer Rawls with Mrs. Stanley of Child Welfare to get his help in serving child removal papers. Rawls knows he could never take Alec's child from him, but he must obey his sworn duty. As Alec and his double battle, the resultant release of elemental energy has repercussions across the Green: swamp plants attack Labo and other Cajuns; a vine ensnares a dog named Yeller; a singing dasiy named Thunder Petal is infused with power far beyond his fellow daisies; in Gotham City, Poison Ivy mourns as her beloved plants cry out in agony; a bird's nest in New York City tries to eat its occupants, startling Black Orchid, while Jason Woodrue watches in surprise as his bag of peanuts attacks a group of squirrels; in London, John Constantine's cigarette comes alive; in Terrebonne Parish, the lettuce in Lester Boudreaux's sandwich smothers him to death; and as Rawls takes Barron and Stanley on a swmp boat to Alec's house, the trees come alive, causing the social worker to fall overboard and into the jaws of an alligator. The elementals continue to fight, neither gaining the advantage since the double is more than just a copy―he is the part of Alec that loves his family. On Lady Jane's advice, Alec stops fighting and pulls his other half back inside himself. Abby is shattered by what she sees, unable to accept that Alec was so deceptive with her. Slapping him and telling him to go to Hell, she storms off to find Barron and Rawls waiting with the removal papers. A moment later, a loud laugh fills the swamp. It is Thunder Petal, who has grown to a monstrous height.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #132: "Home Body"

Years after meeting Chester Williams, the puppet elemental known as Brother Power becomes an unwilling member of Mr. Cull's Circus of the Soul. No matter what evil he faces in this freak show, Chester's advice to "look out for number one" inspires him to keep going. Rising up against his oppressors, Brother Power escapes and seeks out his best friend, Cindy.

Vertigo Visions-The Geek, Corruption of the Innocent #1: "Homelands of the Dolls"

As Abby and Rawls watch in shock, Thunder Petal eats Ben Barron and destroys the Holland home. The daisy rampages through the swamp, and as Rawls runs for his boat, Abby asks him to take her with him. Meanwhile, at Sunderland HQ in Washington, Dr. Polygon informs Connie he is ready to bring her father back to life. They have only a fifteen-second window for the ritual, which requires the deaths of several unbaptized babies. As Connie recites a Latin invocation, he kills a bound sacrifice and pours the blood into the cryogenic chamber. As the once-dead general rises from his deathbed, no one knows his body contains the spirit of Anton Arcane, not Carlton Sunderland. Thunder Petal, brimming with energy, beats Alec back. Not part of the Green, he is beyond Alec's control. Lady Jane says only Tef� can un-make what she has created. Tef� steps in the giant flower's path. He picks her up, and she chastises him with a disapproving "Bad flower!" Heartbroken at having angered his maker, he sadly tries to run away, but Tef� destroys him with her mind. Relieved, Alec tries to talk to Abby about recent events, but she is already gone. As Jo-Jo helps Chester move his belongings to Carl and Troy's home in New Orleans, she asks if they have room for one more, which they do.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #133: "Daisy Chain"

Abby and Chester leave Houma, and as she describes her feeling of betrayal, Chester empathizes all too well, remembering Liz. They arrive in New Orleans, where Abby is amazed at the size of Carl and Troy's place. An architect and a troubleshooter for a computer consulting firm, they've done well for themselves, and Abby admits to enjoying a return to the real world. Alec appears at Chester's house, startling Jo-Jo as he hammers a "For Sale" sign out front. Jo-Jo says Abby has gone and is not planning to return. Alec visits Chester's new home, but she is too furious to talk and makes him leave. She still loves Alec, she admits to Chester, but life with him has been so terrifying for so long―facing such enemies as Arcane, Dark Conrad and Dennis Barclay―and she just can't take it anymore. In a moment of passion she kisses him, but pulls away to avoid ruining their friendship. He lets her take his bedroom, wishing he could join her. At Sunderland HQ, Connie and Polygon wait as a doctor examines the general. He gives Sunderland a clear bill of health, and she tells him to destroy all evidence of the exam. Her father is glad to see her, knowing his resurrection will bring his enemies out in droves. Thus, though he will control bio-engineering and plot Swamp Thing's destruction, she must continue to handle all day-to-day affairs of the corporation. He asks that Polygon help with his new project―as a test subject. Connie is excited to see her father back to his old self again, unaware it isn't even his old self, but Arcane's. Abby tries to find a job in New Orleans, first as a nurse at the Doc 'n a Box clinic, then at a flower shop. Desperate, she takes work as a waitress at the topless Club Pulse. To her humiliation, among her first customers is John Constantine.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #134: "She's Leaving Houma"

NOTE: Sunderland died in issue #21, which occurred in 1984, though issue #121 places his death in 1985. Either way, this issue complicates matters further by claiming only five years have passed since his death instead of the eight or nine that have actually passed.

As Lady Jane reads Beauty and the Beast to Tef�, the child pictures her mother and father playing the respective title roles. The parallels between the two couples are quite striking.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) Annual #7: "Beautty and the Beast"

NOTE: This tale must occur before issue #136, in which Tef�'s appearance will be altered. I have placed it after #134, as this is the nearest available placement before the alteration, but there is room for debate.

Alec wallows in the Green, unable to believe Abby has left him after all the times he almost lost her to death, or worse. A voice mocks his self-pity, and he turns to see a ghost floating nearby. Calling himself Greensleeves, the ghost says he is kin to Alec and needs his help. Alec is surprised to see a spirit travelling the Green. Greensleeves says he's the exception to the rule since Alec inadvertently made him a ghost in the first place. Once a man named Alan Helstrom, lead guitarist for an up-and-coming rock band called the Healing Faith, he was thrown from the band's tour bus and set afire following a tragic accident. Landing in a nearby lake, he died in the ambulance and was about to become host to the Sprout when EMS workers revived him, leaving his spirit in a sort of limbo. Ever since, his body has remained in a lifeless coma while his spirit has traversed the Green, unable to take physical form or get the attention of Alec or the Parliament. Now, having finally connected with an elemental, he asks Alec's help in ending his torment. He takes Alec to Linhart General Hospital in Paoli, Pennsylvania, where Helstrom's girlfriend Lauren is visiting with a bouquet of roses. Entering the room through the roses, Alec disconnects the musician's life-support and lets him die. As the grateful ghost ascends toward the light of Heaven, Alec hopes he, too, will find such peace.

Vertigo Jam #1-Louder Than Noise: "The Ghost in the Green"

NOTE: Tef� was born in issue #90 of this series, which occurred in 1989. She is said in this tale to be three years old, placing her fourth birthday later in the year.

Constantine and his companion enter the dressing room to find Abby changing. Stunned that she left Alec, he cuts short his quips. As Abby storms out of the club, the owner says she owes $75.00 for spilling a drink on her costume. Constantine's companion, Donatien "Don" Alphonse Reynard, pays the man. In D.C., Connie's mother, Bubbles, stops by to visit on the way to see her Aunt June in New Jersey. Bubbles, once part of the general's secretarial pool, is horrified to learn that Connie has revived her late husband. Summoned to deal with a screw-up involving a covert Central American project, Connie leaves her parents to catch up. As Connie leaves, Bubbles demands to know wo he is. Having forced the general to marry her to avoid a sexual harrassment suit after he impregnated her, she doesn't believe his "loving husband" routine. She drives away to warn Connie via phone, but Arcane fills the car with insects, causing her chauffeur, Jacques, to crash into a truck and kill them both. Don visits Abby's home bearing flowers, and she accepts an invitation to coffee, curious how a nice guy like him could be friends with Constantine. A wealthy man, he sometimes pays the mage to procure occult objects d'art for his collection. Admitting attraction to her, he offers her a job cateloging his acquisitions. Sunderland, meanwhile, offers Polygon a permanaent position with the company, then cuts short the magician's celebration by injecting him with an anaesthetic. Polygon awakens in agony as the general performs surgery to make him one of Arcane's newest Un-Men. Constantine and Don meet for drinks at Flannery O'Connor's Irish Pub in New Orleans. Don asks whether or not Constantine ever slept with her; his response, "Not really," leaves Don perplexed. Back in the swamp, Lady Jane puts Tef� to bed, then enters the Green to console Alec, who has begun to take root in misery. She says the Green is a fine, private place, but that "none there do embrace." Offering comfort, she breaches Parlimant code by taking him into her loving arms.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #135: "Marital Problems"

As their husks stand inactively in the real world, Alec and Lady Jane make love in the Green. He finds the experience of intimacy with one of his own kind exhilerating. Unable to get their attention to show Alec pictures she has drawn, Tef� sobs quietly in a clearing until a voice summons her.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #136: "Cross-Pollination"

Tef� turns to find a boy resembling Peter Pan smiling at her. He is Puck, a mishief-maker immortalized in William Shakespear's A Midummer Night's Dream. Hearing how the adults have all gone away and left her, Puck offers to take her to a place no grown-ups ever go. She happily accepts, and together they open a doorway to an alternate-dimensional land called Free Country.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) Annual #7: "A Child's Garden Revisited"

NOTE: A Children's Crusade crossover.

There, Tef� is drawn into the so-called Children's Crusade to save Free Country. Suzy the Black Orchid; Maxine Baker, daughter of Animal-Man; Dorothy Spinner of Doom Patrol; and young mage Timothy Hunter are also drawn into the Crusade in their own separate adventures.

The Children's Crusade #1

Puck gives Tef� a tour of Free Country starting with Candyville, where she meets a gingerbread man named G.B., then on to Toy Town, reuniting her with Dollie, lost during the Bad Man incident. Dollie and Puck take her to a petting zoo to meet Maxine Baker, daughter of crimefighter Animal Man. Most kids live on their own here, or in gangs; the youngest are cared for at Grandma's House. Grandma makes fresh lemonade and introduces other young children including Eric, whose parents died in the Nazi Holocaust; Alan, whose junkie mother kicked him out onto the streets of Washington D.C. when he was ten; Amanda, molested by her step-father after her dad committed suicide following a stock market crash; Bryce, who used to push coal carts in the Newcastle mines; Wesley, an autistic; and Josh, whose mother punched out all his teeth. The girls learn of Free Country's origins during the Children's Crusade of 1512, then the Dish and the Spoon summon them all to an emergency meeting at Storybook Castle. Princess Maya says Free Country is under attack; the Rock Candy Ruby, a sacred talisman keeping the land alive, has been stolen by Thundermugg, King of the Gobble-You-Ups. Without it, Free Country will wither and die, returning them to the adult world. Tef� and Maxine agree to help, with Puck, Dollie and others joining the cause. Crossing the River of Clashing Knives, they climb Wolfhackle Mountain to Thundermugg's castle but are beset upon by Gobble-You-Ups and bandersnatches. Dollie is injured, the others captured, leaving Tef� alone in the woods. Climbing to the castle, she summons an army of vines to fight the King as Maxine uses her powers to calm the creatures. Puck finds the ruby but the land has already grown blighted, so Tef� and Maxine repair the damaged vegetable and animal kingdoms. The girls are awarded the Order of the Children's Crusade and Free Country citizenship, but are disillusoined to learn the battle was a game, Thundermugg just a character played by a child named Nibb. Free Country really is in danger, Nibb says, from over-population, and the kids had hoped Tef� and Maxine could revitalize it. However, Tef� suddenly falls ill. Using her powers, Maxine discovers Tef�'s plant half is dying due to separation from the Green. Her face loses its human appearance, distorting in the same manner as her father's, so Puck returns her to the adult world, where she is revitalized and happily resumes drawing pictures for Alec.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) Annual #7: "A Child's Garden Revisited"

NOTE: A Children's Crusade crossover.

As Alec and Jane travel the Green in passion, trees and plants around the world entwine in their likenesses. Carl helps Abby get ready for a dinner date with Don Reynard. She admits this is her first real date, for her time with Matt Cable consisted of pursuing Alec and being chased by all manner of beings, while her years with Alec have been even stranger. When Don arrives, Carl forces her to get past her fear and go out with him. Over dinner at Commander's Palace Restaurant in New Orleans, her time with Don is interrupted by a Kolchak-esque reporter who asks about her involvement in the disappearance and homocide of Ben Barron, as well as the "vegetable freak-out" a few days before. Her mood ruined, she asks Don to take her home, admitting the nature of her relationship with Alec. She leans to kiss him tonight, but a policeman knocks on the window, attempting to arrest her. Suddenly, a strange creature breaks the cop's neck, abducts Abby and runs off, leaving Don in a confused panic. The creature, an Un-Man, carries her to a Sunderland truck, where Polygon awaits. He, too, is an Un-Man now, with several pained faces attached to his own. Don finds Constantine in a strip bar and tells him what happened. In the morning, Constantine leads Don through the swamp to find Alec and Lady Jane still intertwined. Interrupting them with a smirk, Constantine brings Alec up to speed. Finding Tef� in the bushes, still drawing pictures, they are stunned at the change in her appearance. Lady Jane attributes the alteration to her elemental nature having suddenly manifested itself. Back at Sunderland, Abby awakens tied to a chair, realizing the man staring down at her is not General Sunderland but her demon uncle, Anton Arcane.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #136: "Cross-Pollination"

Following the death of the tyrant Thunder Petal, the singing daisy civilization prospers. Free to do as they please, the daisies construct buildings to live in, herding rodents and tending fields for food, and developing other advanced technologies. Leaving behind their primitive worship of Tef�, they mirror mankind's development on a microcosmic level, growing from a psuedo-Egyptian world of pyramids and slavery to an industrial age with smithing, locomotives, automobiles and even futuristic airships, all on a daisy-sized scale. One day, a daisy scientist named H. Atom journeys to the swamp's edge, where a monstrous sign reads "Coming Soon: Meadowbrook Shopping Mall." Convinced the end of the world is near, he warns his fellow daisies but meets only laughter. Unable to save them, he builds himself a rocket, which amuses the other daisies. In the end, this rocket allows him to escape Earth as bulldozers forever destroy the daisy civilization.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) Annual #7: "Rise and Fall"

Connie Sunderland finds her father (Arcane) taunting Abby and questoins the wisdom of keeping her alive. This infuriates Arcane, who loses his Sunderland fa�ade and threatens to kill her for daring to question his orders. Leaving the room, she runs into Polygon, who tries to cheer her up. To his dismay, she spurns his affection. Projecting his new form to Alec's home, Arcane revels in having captured his niece. He orders Alec to bring Tef� to Sunderland HQ in Washington; otherwise, he'll turn Abby into the first Un-Woman. Arcane vanishes, and Alec considers how best to transport the child, accepting Don's offer to use his private Leer jet in New Orleans. Constantine recalls six months prior, when Sunderland inquired about Polygon. He'd first met him years before, when the mystic was selling spiritual ergonomics to yuppies looking for an edge over their colleagues. Arogance, greed and slipshod research led to his accidentally killing a customer by tapping into repressed psychic powers and causing her to combust. A few years later, he applied to the Magi Guild, but Constantine, Dr. Fate and the Phantom Stranger voted him down. Connie, determined not to let her father's fascination with Abby take him from her, tries to kill Abby, but he stops her and beats her as he did when she was a child. As Constantine arrives with Don and Tef�, Alec and Lady Jane grow bodies from the plants in the office. Polygon tries to take Tef�, but Constantine decks him. Alec refuses to cooperate unless he sees Abby. Arcane brings them to a lab containing a cloned baby, where a veiled Abby stands flanked by Un-Men. He orders Tef� to accelerate its growth or watch Abby die. Tef� complies, growing Arcane a strong, vigorous body. Entering the vessel, Arcane lets the general's carcass drop, revealing Sunderland still serves as Lord Nekros' toilet brush in Hell. He lets Alec have Abby back, laughing maniacally when Alec sees that half her face has been hideously disfigured.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #137: "Dead Relatives"

NOTE: In threatening to make Abby the first Un-woman, Arcane apparently forgets the females he created back in the 60s, in American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men. We can overlook his forgetfulness, though... he's been through Hell in recent years.

Alec delivers what should be a devestating blow to Arcane, but the demon's strength has fortified his body. As Un-Men attack, Tef� evens the odds by destroying some of the creatures. Don tells Abby he doesn't care what she looks like as long as she's alright. An Un-Man tries to kill him, but she grabs his gun and shoots it, falling into Don's arms with a passionate kiss. Connie Sunderland, horrified that her plans have fallen apart, enacts the plant's self-destruct order, Code Mishma. With ten minutes to get out of the huilding, she runs into a savage Un-Man in the hall. Alec and Arcane battle until Arcane unleashes an infestation of insects to destroy his body from within. In response, Tef� causes Arcane to rapid-age until once again he is old and frail. Growing a new body, Alec bursts Arcane's chest open. Back in demon form, Arcane tries to inhabit Constantine but the mage fights him off. This use of demonic power alerts Agony and Ecstasy, who drag Arcane screaming back to Hell. Suddenly, explosions rock the building. They run for cover outside, where Tef� grows Abby a new body. Seeing Tef�'s altered form, Abby reacts in revulsion, rejecting the girl as her own. This upsets Tef�, who clings sobbingly to Lady Jane. Alec tries to intervene, but Constantine advises that he give Abby space to recover. Don leads her away, promising to take care of her and get the murder charges dropped. Polygon risks his life to save Connie's life, and for the first time she treats him with compassion, promising that some day they'll have their revenge. Back to Louisiana, a member of the Parliament tells Lady Jane that to atone for her transgression and avoid exile, she must enact their secret plan. With no choice, she tells Alec she must return to the Parliament, for their love-making was against te laws of nature. Furthermore, Tef� must go with her so the Parliament can protect and teach her. Over Alec's protests, Lady Jane and Tef� melt into the Green, leaving him utterly alone.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #138: "And in the End"

Arcane loses his demon status, resuming his earlier place in Hell among the damned souls.

Swamp Thing (Series 4) #10: "Love in Vain, Chapter Two"

NOTE: This is supposition, intended to explain why Arcane is being tortured in Hell in series 4 even though he was made a demon in issue #96 of series 2.

Back in Hell, Arcane meets Father Kelly, a Catholic priest tricked into damnation by a Retriever demon in 1979. Serving as Hell's Missionary, Kelly has spent the years since his fall spreading the Word of God among the damned. Amazingly, Arcane hears the Word and is saved, turning toward the Light and repenting for his sins.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #168: "Trial By Fire, Part 3-The Last Temptation of Anton"

Arcane is admitted into Heaven and makes his home on its Western Slopes.

Swamp Thing (Series 4) #12: "Love in Vain, Chapter Four"

There, Arcane fashions for himself an allegorical Heaven and an allegorical God to serve as the focus of his newfound goodness. His power being so potent, the allegories take on a life of their own and become real constructs.

Swamp Thing (Series 4) #11: "Love in Vain, Chapter Three"

The Parliament of Trees begins instructing Tef� in her true reason for existence. One of the most important lessons they impart is to "avoid anger, for anger is like wildfire."

Swamp Thing (Series 4) #1: "Bad Seed, Part One"

NOTE: The Parliament's advice to Tef� is ironic, given that at the end of Series 2, they themselves will burn up in an angry wildfire.

After leaving Alec, Abby sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Pimm, who gives her a prescription to bury memories of her life in the swamp. The medication is successful, and she begins a new life with Don Reynard.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #141: "Bad Gumbo"

NOTE: Dr. Pimm must be quite old, as he treated Nelson Strong some fifty years prior.

One night, while making love to Don, Abby notices Alec spying on her, his face visible in the bedpost. However, he does not realize she noticed his presence.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #161: "Atmospheres, Part 2-Many Happy Returns"

Connie Sunderland, following her encounter with Swamp Thing, begins to see the world differently. In time, rather than plotting revenge with her servant Polygon, she instead abandons her corporate life and joins a cult of zealots dedicated to worshipping the elemental.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #166: "Trial By Fire, Part 1-Golden Days Before the End"

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, a gas station owner named Harry returns home after a walk with his dog Prince. Harry's wife realzes something is wrong when he and Prince walk right by her and their kids, and into the shower. Their skin covered with fungus, they turn and breathe on the family, infecting them with the same spores they have inhaled. Shortly thereafter, the mystical Black Orchid and her human companion, Sherilyn Sommers, pass through the region. Stopping at Harry's Gas Stop, Sherilyn fills the tank and goes to pay. What she finds is sickening: Prince's body, almost entirely consumed by fungus. Part of the Grey, the fungus is outside Orchid's ability to control. Putting the dog out of its misery, the women travel on and, despite a recent dought, find the countryside filled with strange alien mushrooms. Orchid says they are not a part of nature and that they'll continue to spread if unchecked. The fungus begins pouring in through the car, forcing them to escape on foot. The area is quiet and devoid of all plant and animal life save for ever-spreading fungus and lichens. Orchid senses a powerful mind and the fungus's extraterrestrial migration. A bear attacks, half-crazed as fungus absorbs its body. The women run for cover but Sherilyn inhales spores and falls sick. Close to the source, Sherilyn begins speaking strangely, channeling the Grey's group consciousness. Orchid whisks her back to the car, shooting it to cause an explosion. This starts a forest fire, purging the area of fungus and restoring Sherilyn's health, but as they leave the area, two nearby hitchhikers pick the few remaining mushrooms for halucinogenic purposes.

Black Orchid #3: "The Tainted Zone"

Black Orchid visits Alec to share information she has gained in her travels. Driving from Chatanooga, Tennessee, to Louisiana, she and Sherilyn Sommers meet Labo in the bayou and ask for directions to Alec's home. Labo rows them there himself, offering to retrieve them the following day. Where once stood Alec's house is now a vast barrier of vegetation to keep out intruders. Sensing Alec needs help, Orchid ignores the warning and trudges deeper into the swamp. Inside, they hear the sound of an oil pump, but no natural sounds at all, as if all the animals have fled. The pump has been built the same way Alec grows new bodies. Moving on, they see similar constructions of Mutt, the dog Alec Holland took in before his death, and an office setting. This, they realize, is Alec's subconscious mind at work, his Ego maintaining order via symbolism. Empathetic, she vows to figure out what his mind is searching for. In a scrapyard of discarded ideas and philosophies, they see a coffin holding a stencil of the word "exit"―a pun for "existentialism," a belief system Alec clung to as a young biologist. On a bush covered with human faces, Sherilyn recognizes Abby from an old National Enquirer piece. Other faces include those of Linda Holland, Lady Jane and Alec's mother, Alice Holland. They take a break, and as Orchid rests, visions of Arcane and a werewolf attack Sherilyn before being re-absorbed into the ground. The mind is layered, Orchid says, and to discover the cause of Alec's disturbance, they must cross the divide from the left hemisphere to the right. Next stop: the unconscious mind.

Black Orchid #5: "The Mind Fields, Part One"

NOTE: Although this issue is said to occur in November 1993, that is contradicted by the fact that John Constantine, who was homeless from May 1993 to January 1994, appears in Swamp Thing #132 back on track, placing that issue (and those thereafter) after January 1994. As such, I am ignoring the November placement.

The plant-like dog leads Black Orchid and Sherilyn into the right brain, which rejects their reality and attacks with vine-like grass. Orchid flies Sherilyn to safety near a road filled with artwork that moved Alec Holland. Entering his Id, they rest in a peaceful field until Arcane interrupts their tranqiuity. The image of Arcane rots away, revealing the face of an elderly man before disintegrating. Once more the plants attack, forcing them to run. The dog, his appearance altered to that of Alec's childhood pet, returns to guide them to a cave filled with sexual imagery, symbolizing the libido. Beyond, a multitude of Alecs, each different in make-up, fight an eternal battle, representing inner aggression. They come to a tree bearing carvings of his mother Alice, his father Larry and Alec as a child. Orchid understands the relevance: Alice died when Alec was very young, and her scientist husband buried himself in his work, largely ignoring him. Turning to science and art, Alec locked away the pain his parents caused, but as he grew older, he saw his father in every face he met. Only his dog, and later his wife Linda, helped him heal. In the realm of the Superego, they find a masculine warrior version of Alec, brandishing his power as though a god sent to judge humanity. Narrowly escaping his wrath, they follow the dog, now a child's pull-toy, to a spring representing Alec's stream of consciousness. Orchid dives in, hoping to wake the Bog God, and as he appears before them in fury at being disturbed, he recognizes her and breaks down in tears. She comforts him through the night, offering much-needed friendship, and in the morning Labo ferries them back across the swamp. Alone once more, Alec explores the images his grieving subconscious has created, taking solace in Black Orchid's reminder that as long as Earth endures, there will always be one mother who is there to nurture him.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #139: "The Mind Fields, Part Two"

Alec finds Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy) in the swamp and reminisces about their old times together. She claims to have reformed, but he is skeptical. In truth, she has grown a deadly Venus Flytrap, which attacks him. Ivy taunts him as he battles the plant, reminding him that he slept with her and betrayed his wife Linda. Sending thorns to tear her coat, he reveals her Ivy costume underneath and tries to leave but is lured into a magic circle of mushrooms. She has made a deal with his fellow Erl-Kings, she says, who taught her to steal the power of an Earth elemental. She starts the spell, but the rush of power disorients her and she breaks the circle. This disruption in her magic frees Alec. She tries to run away but the Erl-Kings punish her for her failure by turning her into a tree.

Vertigo anthology: "Daphne" [unpublished]

NOTE: This story, written and illustrated by David Sexton, was slated to appear in an anthology edited by Neal Pozner. Following Pozner's death in 1994, the project was shelved. It is unknown when the anthology would have been published, but given the events of issue #140 and beyond, this seems the most logical placement.

Foreseeing that Alec Holland could be the elemental destined to unite the Parliament of Trees and the Parliament of Stones, three magicians (Don Roberto, el Seňor Blake and the Traveler) begin preparations for the birth of the star-child, a baby whose birth has been prophecized to bring with it a new way of thinking to enlighten all the people of Earth.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #171: "Trial By Fire-The End"

Alec Holland awakens in a bed in Peru, back in human form and badly confused. Lawrence Weinberg and Ann Palmer, Berkeley anthropologists sent to record indiginous shamanic techniques before the area is leveled by bulldozers, tell him he traveled to Peru four months prior to research native plant hallucinogens, but an overdose left him in feverish delerium for three weeks. He reads his journal, which tells of a shady medicine man named Don Roberto, Alec's quest to form a symbiosis between man and plants, and the effects of his experiments with stropharia Cubensis mushrooms. In the next bed, a bandaged man goes into convulsions and is carted off. Four days later, Alec goes for a hike with Ann and Lawrence, recalling how he hallucinated spending years as a plant god. Convinced this is a sign symbiosis is possible, Alec visits Don Roberto, who gives him a shamanic drug containing Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), used by his people to see "the other side of the world's spirit." After an intense trip, Alec returns to his lab, where Mike, the hippie third member of the Berkeley team, spills ink on a drawing and triggers a powerful memory in Alec's mind. In New Orleans, meanwhile, Abby sits up next to Don, awakend by Matt Cable's voice urging her to run. Seeing Matt as the Sandman's Raven for the first time, she is badly shaken. In a nearby home, Chester's friends John and Lucy get stoned while watching a movie. Lucy vomits repeatedly, but stll John tries to seduce her. From their rolled marijuana, the Swamp Thing forms a new body. Mindless, irrational fury guides his actions as he fills the room with a swarm of insects, killing them both and trashing the entire house.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #140: "Vegetable Man"

NOTE: Alec's journal is dated October 1993. However, this tale occurs after the two-part Black Orchid crossover, which occurs in November. As such, I have opted to disregard the October placement, chalking it up to a facet of Alec's hallucinations.

Unbeknownst to Alec, the Berkeley team are not real, but rather creations of Don Roberto, who has fashioned them out of dolls for the duration of his plans for Alec.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #143: "Desert Hearts"

The crazed Swamp Thing meets Labo in the bayou and nearly beats him to death. The creature goes on to kill two Cajuns playing chess, Fran�ois and Coon-Ass, destroying their farm and slaughtering their wives and children. As the mindless murdering continues, the survivors spread the word: Bon Gumbo has gone mad. Pulling himself to shore, Labo runs home to find the creature about to kill Ada and their kids. Labo tries to ward him off with fire, but the Swamp Thing brutally finishes him off. At Don's home, Abby receives a phone call from Tef�, saying Alec has become "two Daddies," one good and one bad. The bad, Tef� says, is coming to kill her. She seeks comfort from Don, who upsets her by asking if she has stopped taking her medicine. At her anger, he apologizes for his insensitivity. Alec returns to Don Roberto to discuss his drug experience. Roberto says Alec is not a man, and that he dreamt of a beautiful white-haired woman in danger. Alec remembers her name and a shared past. Bidding the anthropologists farewell, he sets out for Louisiana to find the truth behind the visions, worried he's becoming a human-plant hybrid. Back in New Orleans, a News 2 report that the Louisiana Swamp Monster has murdered a new-age couple convinces Abby she must confront Alec. Telling Don she loves him, she drives back to the swamp. Meanwhile, Alec visits a Peruvian bar to find a bus to the United States. A strange man seated at a table, el Se�or Blake, tells him to catch the Soul Train for a one-way trip to anywhere, no ticket needed. Stepping outside, Alec walks to the platform and awaits his ride. On his hands, tendrils of vegetation are breaking through his skin.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #141: "Bad Gumbo"

A total of 64 Cajuns are killed in the course of the elemental's rage.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #144: "A Hope in Hell"

Killing the Cajuns shows Alec how cheap and worthless human life can be. Subconsciously, this gives him a "taste for blood," making it easier for him to kill again in the future.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #166: "Trial By Fire, Part 1-Golden Days Before the End"

Two teens share a joint on a set of train tracks. One youth, Diego, says a ghost train haunts these parts, driven by a skeleton; his girlfriend, Tia, claims to have seen it. A moment later, just such a train comes down the tracks, filled with dead babies and screaming souls. Inside, Alec rides as a passenger, not noticing the passage of time. The scene is macabre: a robotic conductor, a woman giving birth while onlookers wait to eat the baby, another woman with eyes stitched shut feeding raw meat to the bandaged patient from the hospital, and so forth. All the while, his transformation into a plant progresses. Abby stops in Arizona for gas. Filling several cans, she resumes her trip, unaware of a patch of plant life on the back of her car. A man with a trenchcoat, an eyepatch and a gnarled cane approaches Alec on the Soul Train. He is called the Traveler, and he says that to punish Alec for rebelling against the quiet way of the Wood too often, the Parliament of Trees took Tef� away and cast out his human template, leaving a raw, mindless force of nature in his place. Hurled through the ether, Alec's human memories journeyed to the limits of comprehension. Abby, he says, is in danger, for Alec's elemental half plans to kill her. Defying the Parliament, Alec's spirit side grew himself a human body from plant materials. Now he must defeat his other self, traveling not in the Green, which would alert the Parliament to his presence, but to a place in Eastern Europe where the Parliament dares not follow. The Traveler gives him a cigarette lighter and departs, saying he'll know what to do with it. The train becomes a roller coaster, then a video game, as the Traveler watches alongside el Se�or Blake and Don Roberto. Unaware, Alec makes his way to the bayou and finds dozens of slaughtered Cajuns. Just then, the Swamp Thing locates Abby and heads out for her Arizona hotel.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #142: "Soul Train"

Alec calls Abby to warn her but she's already gone. The Swamp Thing catches up with her, grabbing onto her car but failing to notice an oncoming truck. As the vehicle strikes him, the Traveler meets with Don Roberto and el Se�or Blake to decide what to do now that Alec is about to face the first in a series of initiations. As Don Roberto puts to rest dolls of the three anthropologists, the trio disappear from existence, no longer needed for the magicians' plans. For now, the Ordeal of the Bleeding Tree awaits in Germany, which they initiate using a handheld video game. Risking a trip through the Green, Alec experiences that realm in human terms for the first time, visualizing a drive down a highway. He senses Abby's location and the tragedy about to befall her. As Abby shoots the Swamp Thing's hand to pieces, Alec shows up in his car, destroying the creature for only a moment before a new body regenerates. Too stunned to run, Abby watches as Alec battles himself. Punching the elemental's eye, Alec grabs her and tries to run for safety but is ensnared in plant tendriles. Abby grabs a can of gasoline as the creatures punches its hand through Alec's body. With the Traveler's lighter, Alec ignites his alter-ego, burning as one with it. Finally, he forms a new body, his two halves re-joined, and tells Abby not even death can part their love. She rejects him, though, wanting no part his "world of monsters." Meanwhile, in Frieberg, Germany, a hospital patient named Koestler awakens after eight years in a coma, much to the amazement of the staff.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #143: "Desert Hearts"

Possessed by the spirit of John Sergeant (Sargon the Sorcerer), Koestler sits up and looks around. Amused by the excitement of the nurses, he notices that his host body is weak and easy to manipulate, having lain still for so many years. Able to smell the pine of the Schwarzwald Black Forest outside, Sargon finds it no coincidence that he's been here before; clearly, he realizes, he has been sent back to life to save mankind from its own folly.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #149: "The Roots of All Evil"

In Stonehenge, England, an emissary from the Parliament of Trees informs the Parliament of Stones that Alec has passed his first trial―learning to become fully human in appearance―and is hiding in the shade of Germany's Black Forest. Now it's the Parliament of Stones' turn to test him.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #143: "Desert Hearts"

NOTE: The emissary to the Parliament of Trees has apparently jumped the gun a bit, for though Alec will, indeed, visit the Black Forest, he has not even left the bayou yet when the emissary says he's hiding in Germany.

The Cajuns killed in Swamp Thing's rampage are reborn as a grove of sentient trees. Initially horrified at their condition, they hear whispers in the wood of a dark time to come and realize they're much safer as trees than they were as humans. The few surviving Cajuns move up-river to rebuild their lives, but the children visit the trees from time to time to bring food and comfort.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #151: "River Run, Prologue-Flotsam and Jetsam"

Mid-March, 1994 A.D.

A young teenager in Motherwell, Scotland, gives up masterbation for Lent.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #159: "Swamp Dog"

April 1, 1994 A.D.

It's Good Friday, and in Motherwell, Scotland, a nine-year-old boy named Jerry teases his older friend Barry for giving up masterbation for Lent two weeks prior. Returning home, Jerry is horrified to learn that his father Frank has sold his dog, Scooby, to help alleviate the family's poverty.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #159: "Swamp Dog"

NOTE: Barry's age isn't given, but being able to masterbate, he's likely older than nine.

April to December 1994 A.D.

Hoping to defeat the Parliament of Trees in the Black Forest, where their powers are less effective, Alec enters the Green one last time to disguise himself as Matt Cable. He visits Matt's home in Terrebonne Parish, which has remained abandoned for years, avoided by superstitious buyers. There, he finds clothes, money and a passport. Making his way to New York, he tries to maintain a low profile. He catches a bus to JFK Airport, where a police officer who once knew Matt approaches him, but Alec scares him off by flashing red eyes. Back in the bayou, the Marines scour the marshes searching for the Swamp Thing, whom a group of psychics have reported is in a weakened state. His crime: killing 64 Cajuns. As two Marines, Harris and Bogner, debate the futility of fighting a monster, they find one of Alec's husks and burn it. Realizing they're out of their league, Colonel Snyder decides to let the experts handle it. Also searching for Alec are several stilt-legged agents for the Parliament of Trees, who comb the bayou using spider-like wooden bodies. Alec checks into a hotel and snips foliage growing through his skin, then risks a call to Agnes Asherman, his former mother-in-law, asking her help in getting out of the country. The attendant at her home for the elderly, however, hangs up on him, knowing Alec and Linda died years before. Fearfully, he goes to St. Augustine's Parish Church in New York―the same church in which he married Linda―praying she is still safe in Heaven. Father Kelly appears, saying word of Alec's misery has reached Hell so God has granted him an hour at Alec's side. A good man, Kelly was tricked into Hell in 1979 by a demon known as a Retriever; ever since, he has endured Hell's horrors, knowing God has a reason for letting him suffer. As Hell's Missionary, his role is to teach God's word in the Abyss, but without his guidance these past fifteen years, his church and community have fallen into despair. Kelly tells Alec he can't hide forever, suggesting he reason with the Parliament. Alec knows they would simply choose a replacement and never let him go. The Retriever returns to take Kelly back to Hell, but before leaving, Kelly gives Alec $800, raised for charity the night before his damnation. Alec urges him not to go back, for his damnation was by deception. Kelly goes willingly, but the demon tells Alec that though brave, Kelly is misguided―God heeds not the whimpering of the damned. Kelly was released from Hell not by God, he says, but by Hell itself, for an hour on God's Earth makes Hell that much worse. The demon gives Alec a business card reading, "Taste forbidden fruit. Call Linda Holland. Amsterdam." Meanwhile, at a U.S. Army base in Nevada, two officials discuss the Swamp Thing situation. President Clinton is furious about the Cajun murders, as he'd been assured no incidents like Gotham would happen under his watch. To that end, Clinton calls in renowned hunter Nelson Strong to fix the problem.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #144: "A Hope in Hell"

NOTE: Nelson Strong first appeared in a Charlton comic called Monster Hunters.

The search for Swamp Thing is headed by Major North and Clinton's political advisor, Jeschonek. A soldier reports activity in Sector G, indicating Nelson Strong has begun his attack, but when backup arrives, there's no sign of Alec. Strong has destroyed a probe sent by someone else. At New York's JFK Airport, Alec heads for Flight 401 to Amsterdam, hoping no one will notice the foliage growing through his face. To his shock, a customs officer knows him―it's Boston Brand (Deadman) in disguise, warning him to avoid the Black Forest, for the Sorcerer is back and the place will be a Hell-hole. With little choice, Alec proceeds to Gate 4, and the Traveler warns Brand not to interfere in a ritual planned for a billion years. Nelson Strong and his man-servant Haney gaze at the many trophies Strong has collected in his study, including the heads of former military unit, the Creature Commandos (Taylor, a Frankenstein-esque monster; Myrna Rhodes, a Medusa; Griffith, a werewolf; and Sgt. Vincent Velcro, a vampire). At the center is a spot set aside for Swamp Thing. Aboard the plane, a tarot card reader tells Alec's future, stunned when he pulls the Magus, a card not in the deck; a child named Cassie dreams the Parliament of Trees is going to kill them all; a stewardess named Tina loses her lucky charm and panics until a friend, Cindy, helps find it; and a passenger named Gilbert Freeg watches as a brussel sprout jumps off his plate. The lights go out and a member of the Parliament tosses Alec out a window, killing everyone else as the plane explodes. Meanwhile, Strong, age 62, awakens from a nightmare, knowing where Alec is hiding: Holland.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #145: "Big Game"

Amsterdam, Holland, a multi-scarred prostitute shows her cuts and bruises to three drunk young men, luring them in to hire her services. Two of them prod the third, Stevie Chambers, to go with her. Welcoming and warm, she invites Stevie in to cut her with a broken bottle. Her name is Linda Holland and she cannot die. At the site of the plane crash, the Traveler observes from afar as Strong's men search the wreckage. North reports that one passenger, Matt Cable, died five years back; hence, he must be the Swamp Thing in disguise. North wants to move on to Germany, where empaths say Alec has fled, but Strong knows he'll be back and sets traps in the city center. He and North then prepare a liqid nitrogen cannon to finish him off. Alec visits Linda's flat and learns she caters to those who get sexual gratification from murder, which she does five times daily. She does not recognize him, even when he tells her who he is, for her husband died twenty years earlier in a car accident. Unable to accept this reality, Alec kisses her goodbye and prays she's still safe in Heaven, then wanders the gutter, desperate for his former life. The world around him breaks down as he runs from one perversity to another, culminating in a porno theater encounter that leaves him disturbed. Linda meets with the Traveler; her task done, he returns her to the two-dimensional world of her obituary photo, from which he formed her. Alec enters a bar, where a girl with a mohawk makes a pass at him. Her physical contact weakens his control, causing him to lash out in all directions, creating a gas main explosion that alerts Strong's men. As they help put out the fire, Alec cries out in agony for someone to help him. Strong answers the call, gloating at having finally caught his prey.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #146: "Murder in the Dark"

Nelson Strong and company torch a building hiding Alec in an effort to draw him out. Though he tries to avoid trouble, they soak him with painful defoliant, leaving him no choice but to retreat. Watching from afar, Don Roberto wonders how their plans went awry. El Se�or Blake says the Word has vowed to stop them and is worried their plans might threaten the very Heavens. Bound by forgotten laws, Blake challenges the Word to a game of cards, winner take all. Strong's men continue to burn Alec with flamethrowers until he drops on fire into a canal. Regenerating anew, Alec stands ready to fight. Strong freezes him in a block of ice and tells Bogner to sever his head for the trophy wall, but Alec strikes back, killing Bogner and other soldiers from within their own bodies. Strong stands alone before him, having failed to avoid fate. Alec kills a helicopter pilot named Caskey, causing the chopper to explode, and crushes Strong beneath an Amsterdam Transit train car. Strong's essence lives on, though, as he was chosen by the Parliament of Stones as their champion a billion years ago.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #147: "Amsterdamnation"

NOTE: Though this is never explicitly stated, the Word would appear to be Destiny, the eldest of the Endless siblings from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. A reference to Destiny in issue #150, in fact, would seem to corroborate this theory. Some sources say this is not so, but enough evidence exists for the reader to decide for himself.

Strong is chosen to become the Earth Thing because the Parliament of Stones needs as their champion someone who hates the Swamp Thing with every fiber of his being.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #150: "T7he Illumination"

At the Dutch border, a driver waits while his truck is searched. Having lost a friend when a super-villain dropped a hotel on him years back, the man wishes them luck in their search. Unbeknownst to him, Alec is attached to the truck's under-carriage. Major North delivers Strong's severed head to the hunter's mansion; knowing he'd want it this way, Haney hangs it in the spot reserved for Alec. And at midnight, the servant of God known as the Word faces el Se�or Blake for a game of cards, warning that if Blake loses, he shall crush the elemental.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #147: "Amsterdamnation"

Following Nelson Strong's defeat, President Clinton calms the American masses by announcing that the Swamp Thing is no longer a threat to humanity. Some believe him, but many remain skeptical, particuarly the Cajuns of Terrebonne Parrish.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #151: "River Run, Prologue-Flotsam and Jetsam"

Grace "Gracie" Brady, niece and sole relative of John Sergeant (Sargon the Sorcerer), hitchhikes through Germany's Black Forest, an area avoided by the superstitious. She carries a doll for comfort. Back in Gotham City, her husband Paul reports her missing after a week, which raises suspicions among the police. A crude, classless man, he cares little for Grace or her welfare. Passing through the seedy Black Forest, Grace books a room at the Black Lodge and takes a bath, unaware the hotel owner and her son have been forewarned of her arrival by Sargon himself.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #148: "Feeding Habits"

NOTE: Gracie Brady first appeared in The Flash #207, published in June 1971, as a member of the rock band Washington Starship.

Sargon's friend Eygen Grosche once owned the Black Lodge and used to hold great parties there.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #149: "The Roots of All Evil"

Grace recalls how, after Sargon's death, she identified her Uncle Johnny's body and inherited his magical Ruby of Life. Watching as his remains were cremated, she refused to believe he was dead and kept the gem safe for his eventual return. She was right. Sargon's rebirth is ushered in by a revolt by the damned against the living, their first victim the truck driver who gave Grace a ride. On the outskirts of Freiburg, farmer Erving Klimt finds his crops growing in soil filled with blood. Back in Amsterdam, Grace watches a TV report showing Alec's recent battle. All woods into the city are blocked, the death toll in four figures. Recalling Gotham, she moves a potted plant outside her room. The Traveler visits the Parliament of Trees in Brazil, telling Lady Jane the Ordeal of the Bleeding Tree will soon begin and that Alec will find the Sorcerer (the Traveler's old adversary) difficult to defeat. Lady Jane is worried, for though she and other Erl-Kings have tried to pass the trials, none have ever passed the earth level. Grace discovers the Bleeding Tree, and whispered voices urge her to feed it with her blood. Running to a nearby building, the Black Lodge, she recalls Sargon's failed attempt, many years before, to steal a secret from the Vatican's vaults. Inside, she finds Sargon and gives him the magic ruby. As its power courses through his veins, the town of Freiburg comes alive with darkness: Friedrich Krull's dog, missing for two days, returns to kill its owners; Henry Syberberg and his brothers murder their violent father; Klaus and Tascha Grossham drown their crying baby; and in the Red Cathedral, Father Bruegal gets drunk and urinates on the altar. As the town clock strikes midnight, Alec finds Grace's lost doll in the snow.

Swamp Thing (Series 2) #148: "Feeding Habits"

Over dinner, Sargon tells Grace how he "borrowed" his new body from a frail old man and will return it when he's done. She thinks the idea a sick one, but he says not to condemn him, for his actions are not evil―he has returned to save man from eternal oblivion. He tells of his theft in the 1940s of the apple Adam gave to Eve, stolen from the Vatican's vaults and buried for safe-keeping here in the Black Forest. After his death years later, he found himself trapped between the physical and spiritual planes, huddled in the darkness with others who'd failed to reach the Overmind―not demons, just ordinary souls bound to the Earth by ignorance. Moved by their plight, Sargon vowed one day to set them free. Searching through the darkness, he found a way back to the world of the living by inhabiting the body of a coma victim named Koestler. Now that the apple has spawned the Bleeding Tree, or Devil's Oak, he plans to climb until he reaches true enlightment as the new Messiah and forces open the gates of Paradise. Realizing her uncle has gone mad, Grace runs for the door, but he projects himself outside, where an army of living followers await under his magical control. Sbe must be his Prometheus, he says, forever shackled to the mortal plane to carry the burden for all mankind. Though fearful, she accepts the offer, hoping this sacrifice will give her life some meaning. Nearby, Alec finds the dying truck driver, covered in blood and muttering about endangered children. Despite his own problems, Alec sets out to save them. In Peru, Blake and the Word play a hand of poker. As the game progresses, Nelson Strong transforms into the Earth Thing. At that moment, Alec arrives and demands Sargon release the souls, but Sargon hits him with a wall of flame that sends him streaming through the air. Though the two met before Sargon's death, the Sorcerer remembers neither Alec nor his own death. Gathering hundreds of followers, Sargon begins the Illumination ceremony, guiding them to slit their own throats and those of their children. As blood pours into the tree, the dead begin to claw their way out of Hell. Back in Peru, el Se�or Blake loses his first game of poker; he must win one game in three to stay the Word's hand, and now he has only two chances left.