If you missed the last one…
More Silver Age Plant Monsters, because they just never seem to run out! Here’s a baker’s dozen more botanical baddies to enjoy. The usual crop of killer trees, hungry blossoms and space creatures. Since these are from the Silver Age of Comics (1956 to 1969), there are few gruesome gardens but plenty of Science Fiction flora. Take The House of Mystery for example. What had begun as a Horror comic, by the Silver Age, was pretty much another SF comic. Later it would be superheroes. Fortunately in the Bronze Age it returned to Horror with classic art by Berni Wrightson, Neal Adams, Tom Sutton and Mike Kaluta. Here we have the realism artwork of Murphy Anderson as well as the occasional treasure by Steve Ditko.
“The Useless Ones” (World of Fantasy #1, May 1956) was written by an unknown author. A man of Science feels pity for old people, who just puttering the garden all day. Except when one of their plants is a terrible new danger to humanity!
“The Plant God of Massau” (The Phantom comic strip, 1958) was written by Lee Falk. This run of comic strips has the Master of the Jungle deal with a tribe who worships a man-eating plant as a god.
“The Cosmic Plant” (The House of Mystery #89, August 1959) was written by an unknown author. A plant from space seems unimportant until it threatens the infrastructure, taking out roads and railroads. Good thing scientists can kill it with a gigantic version of killing a bug with a magnifying glass.
“The Plundering Plant” (Detective Comics #277, March 1960) was written by Jack Miller. An ancient plant was placed in a glass jar for his king. When a thief learns of the root, he steals it to break through the wall of the bank. But it won’t stop there, taking out more buildings. Roy Raymond, TV Detective, saves the day with mercury!
“Creatures of Camouflage Forest” (The House of Secrets #47, August 1961) was written by Jack Miller. Mark Merlin solves the mystery of the forest of mimicking monsters. The killer plants belong to a saucer flying alien who is their prison guard. The shape-shifters were taken to a remote forest on earth but the alien will move them since humans have found them.
“The Seeds From Space” (Space War #15, March 1962) was written by Joe Gill. Spacemen are chased by a giant plant alien then head home to Earth. Seeds from the monster come back with the spaceship. A farm is attacked by the seedling. Fortunately, lazy Henry burned down the barn with a cigarette and killed the monster.
“The Space-Roots of Evil” (Strange Adventures #139, April 1962) was written by Gardner F. Fox. Another spaceship brings back spores from space. The seeds grow into hugely damaging roots. The application of red paint works to block their breathing holes and kill them. Fox is an old Pulpster who wrote thousands of comics, many for DC. He wrote several “invasion” story lines for Strange Adventures.
“The Mighty Oak” (Strange Tales #100, September 1962) was written by Stan Lee. This short five-pager has an oak brought to life by atomic bomb testing. The tree takes out a tank. The story ends with the narrator waiting for the Mighty Oak to take over the world and make it better.
“The Plant That Hated Humans” (Strange Adventures #150, March 1963) was written by John Broome. After a nuclear war, the plants revolt against the farmers, spraying them with poison gas. The knight are called in when the plants forms an army. Defeat for the green revolutionaries comes when the knights empty a reservoir, drying out the land. The plants wilt and are defeated. This one reminds me of Edmond Hamilton’s “The Plant Revolt” from Weird Tales, April 1930. Broome wrote a few tales for the Pulps before devoting himself exclusively for DC Comics.
“The Doom of the Crusher Plant” (The Sea Devils #18, July-August 1964) was written by an unknown author. This story is actually the third section of a three-parter. In the opening two sections the Sea Devils go to an underground world filled with dinosaurs. In the third section they encounter the killer plant. Biff and Nicky destroy the plant and save their friends by leading a dinosaur into the plant’s home.
“The Man-Eating Plant” (Indrajal Comics #7, September 1964) was written by Lee Falk. The art by Wilson McCoy was reprinted from the comic strip but in color.
“The Potted Plant” (The Munsters #10, December 1966) was written by an unknown author. Herr Burgomeister’s son loves monsters. To find him a healthier hobby, dad buys him a plant. It turns out to be a Venus Flytrap. They return the flesh-eater for a creeping vine. Like a good Sgt. Rock comic, it is fun to do the word balloons in an outrageous accent.
“My Enemy…The Jungle!” (Bomba the Jungle Boy #3, January-February 1968) was written by George Kashdan. Viracocha is a sorcerer who comes to the village of San Topa. He can control the trees. Bomba and Tina get on the wrong side of the sorcerer and are attacked. Bomba figures out the Achilles’ Heel of the plant-men. He shoots arrows at their roots. Viracocha gets the bum’s rush out of the jungle.
“The Flowers That Boom in the Spring” (The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #114, September-October 1969) was written by Alan Riefe. Jerry creates a plant monster by feeding it water from a strange bottle. This will not get him the girl but a lot of women mad at him and ultimately in an exploding lighthouse. The story finishes with him in a boat with a sign that says “Keep off the grass”. His plant-growing days are over.
Conclusion
More Silver Age Plant Monsters shows us that these comics did not invent plant monsters. We don’t see anything here that the Golden Age hadn’t done (and better). What we do see for the first time is plant monsters for humor. (We also learn that the best way to kill plants is to cut off their air supply.) The cliche killer tree branches or vines have become stock and require little explanation. You can see such things on the movie screen in 1962’s The Day of the Triffids, for example. The comic reader of the 1960s was ready to laugh as much as anything at the idea of giant killer plants.
Next time.. Return the Age of Botanical Bronze!
