If you missed the last one…
Even more Plant Monsters in comics offers you thirteen more vegetative horror tales from the 1930s to the 1970s. We have posted several similar posts over the last few years but these plant beasties keep turning up like dandelions in my lawn! I was surprised to find more in the black & white magazines, but there they were. Unlike previous times, the most common date is not May but April. Still part of allergy season!
Golden Age
“Flash Gordon” (April 15, 1934) was written and drawn by Alex Raymond. One Sunday Flash encounters a killer vine.
“The Slave Raiders” (Jungle Comics #1, January 1940) was written and drawn by Fletcher Hanks. What can I say? Bad white hunters are judged by a gorilla then consumed by a killer tree. They just don’t write them like that anymore!
“Seeds of Doom” (Marvel Mystery Comics #26, December 1941) was written by an unknown author. A scientist asks the question: What would happen if I planted these alien seeds? Nothing good. The plants go on a rampage. The Vision fights them but it is Professor Norsen who destroys them with a sharp spike. They explode like a balloon.
“Jo-Jo” (Jo-Jo Comics #7a, July 1947) was written by an unknown author. Another mad scientist operating in the jungle. Jo-Jo stops his pet leopard from eating him but the scientist’s own creation is another matter.
“The Green Horror” (John Wayne Adventure Comics #23, November 1953) was written by an unknown author. Despite the cool title this one proves to be quite ordinary. The grass offers a place to fight bad guys without being seen. The only danger is snakes. “The Green Horror” is a far cry from Stephen King/Joe Hill’s In the Tall Grass (2012).
Silver Age
“The Haunted Tree” (Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #211, April 1958) was written by an unknown author. Even little kids know there is a rabbit inside that tree.
“The Powerful Plant” (Spooky #68, June 1962) was written by an unknown author. This plant looks like an earthworm because it is a Wormwood plant. The odor from this plant bothers other flowers.
“Hideout on Fear Island” (House of Secrets #64, January-February 1964) was written by Bob Haney. A village is devoured by the jungle. Later a giant robot that looks like a conquistador also does. Then our hero flies on a giant birds, just your regular day in the jungle. Odd that this first appeared in a Horror comic, but during the Silver Age these titles often struggled under the Comics’ Code and seemed more like superhero comics. It was easily reprinted in World’s Finest in the 1970s.
Bronze Age
“The Root of Evil” (Eerie #46, March 1973) was written by Mike Jennings. Hunch-backed mad scientist creates a plant that becomes a man and a man that becomes a plant. Of course, it’s over a girl.
“A Garden of Hellish Delight” (Psycho #23, January 1975) was written by Al Hewetson. A rather bleak tale of a young gardener and his bride growing old and bitter and ending up as fertilizer.
“The Wakely Monster” (Monster Hunters #3, December 1975) was written by Nick Cuti. Something has been killing off the members of the Wakely family. When Martin Wakely is sentenced to the electric chair his planty nature is revealed then broiled. Barbeque sauce, anyone?
“Hanging Offense” (Creepy Things #5, April 1976) was written by Paul Kupperberg. A scientist steals another’s research then murders the man. His ghost returns in tree form for revenge. A plot as familiar as aged hickory.
“Were Woods” (Ghost Manor #31, October 1976) was written by Joe Gill. Jim Fairfax was the only person to survive the deadly Were Woods. Even bulldozers couldn’t destroy that evil forest. And in the end, even Jim doesn’t escape. Great Steve Ditko art in this one.
Conclusion
Once again, with comics from the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages, we see a familiar progression. In the Golden Age, comics weren’t afraid to make their vines and flowers attack people. This was a time of anything goes, as writers worked out the business of comics. By the Silver Age, things become much more civilized, until the 1970s when the relaxing of the Comics’ Code allowed new authors to write the same old Golden Age tales again. Everything old is new again! It is the cycle of rebirth we see every Spring!
I don’t know if I will find anymore of these comics but Even Even More Plant Monsters in Comics is not out of the question. The comics love a good plant monster as do I. I don’t know if it’s because killer vines are easy to draw or what it is. From Star Trek to Bugs Bunny to Marvel, DC and Fawcett superheroes and all those Horror comics, the flora of Earth (and other planets) will always be perennial in the four color pages.
Next time…You guessed it!
