It Begins!

The granddaddy of all swamp monsters likely dripped from the pen of Theodore Sturgeon in the pages of the August 1940 issue of Unknown magazine. A book with little regard for covers to begin with, this title didn't even feature the short story by Sturgeon on its lackluster green cover.

The story is an atmospheric masterpiece and tells of a weirdly animated being which doesn't seem to understand its own genesis which comes to "life" in the remote mountains and encounters a family already torn by some degree of mistrust. The creature kills a dog and potentially many others but in the end comes to an ignominious demise, its origins suggested but never stated directly. The creature was a strange blend of human remains and plant life blended into a synthesis which suggested a brute intelligence and life.

The story was adapted to comics form by Roy Thomas with Marie Severin and Frank Giacoia on the artwork for the 1972 debut issue of Supernatural Thrillers. To be frank, the artwork does not serve the grim and moody atmosphere of the story all that well. But the story is one with a vast reach beyond this single adaptation.

It was later reprinted in 1975 in the black and white pages of Masters of Terror with the somewhat misleading but still evocative Jim Steranko cover for Supernatural Thrillers reinterpreted by Gray Morrow for the cover of this presentation. I wish either Steranko or Morrow, preferably the latter had been tapped to do the artwork on this story. It would have been more successful. But that said, this story's reach is still amazing as it clearly seems to have inspired the creation of The Heap in various pages of Hillman Comics and the Heap gave rise indirectly to both the Swamp Thing at DC and the Man-Thing at Marvel. Without "It" none of these mucky swamp critters would likely exist.

Thanks Mr. Sturgeon. If you'd like to read the story for  yourself check out this intriguing PDF presentation of the original Unknown pages.

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