If you missed the last one…
As we go on searching for strange and terrible plants, finding more obscure stories that we missed, the selections become odder. This time we have early Jack Kirby, two text stories, a children’s story, the usual Horror comics, British annuals and a pile of DC and Marvel superheroes. (Is there any superhero who hasn’t punched it out with space vines or rampaging vegetables?) I shouldn’t be surprised that there are more plant monsters in the comics. They just keep coming. Here’s another crop…
Golden Age
“Comet Pierce” (Red Raven Comics #1, August 1940) is a love story set in space that has two plant monsters in it. Comet Pierce is in a rocket race but is attacked by a plant. Someone shoots the thing and he makes it to the hospital. There he gets kissed by a beautiful blond, who leaves him a new engine. He races off into space to find her. A second plant gets zapped and Comet finds his love.
“David and the Dragon” (Fairy Tales #10, April-May 1951) We’ve looked at this one before when posting about dragons but before David encounters the scaly one he has a run-in with a talking tree. This Old Man Willow wannabe is called the Wishing Tree. David wishes for a meal then has to deal with dragons.
“The Clutching Weed” (Adventures Into Darkness #7, December 1952) was written by Russ Hill. A young man swimming in New Jersey encounters weeds and an undertow. There is a suggestion of evil only.
“The Witch of Death!” (Witchcraft #5, December 1952-January 1953) A comic mostly about witches with killer cats and scarecrows but the witch’s hut is protected by moving trees.
“Flower of Evil” (Out of the Shadows #13, May 1954) was written by John Michel. Lamson goes to Long Island when his friend doesn’t reply to letters. Arriving at the house, he finds Grandell a skeleton! On the table is a magic book. Grandell was experimenting with plants and the occult. The shelves are filled with evil plants. But it is the house that changes shape and finishes off Lamson, having become a giant mouth. This one reminds me of Manly Wade Wellman’s Gardinel, the pitcher plant-like monster that poses as a house for unwary travelers. John Michel was John B. Michel, the Pulp Science Fiction writer, who left SF to write for children.
Silver Age
“The Green Man” (This Magazine Is Haunted #14, December 1957) was written by Joe Gill. An orphan refuses to eat any food but doesn’t die. He goes on a search for his ancestors but turns green. He concludes he is a plant man. All talking heads, this good story idea has no legs. What else should I expect? Plants don’t move around much.
“I Inherited the Isle of Illusions!” (My Greatest Adventure #47, September 1960) has a man inherit an island with a castle. The place has boulder monsters and killer trees but the real deal is a friend trying to steal a way of turning things into gold.
“The Coming of Plantman!” (Strange Tales #113, October 1963) was written by Stan Lee and Jerry Siegel. We’ve had Plantman before but this was his origin story. Sam Smithers is a gardener who gains the power to control plants. He dresses in a green coat with a green fedora. The Human Torch has to save his new girlfriend from the foliage fiend.
“On a Clear Day You Can See…the Leviathan!” (Sub-Mariner #3, July 1968) was written by Roy Thomas. Plantman sics Leviathan, a giant plant monster, on Namor and his buddy. We also get a cactus that shoots needles. Plantman changed his outfit since Strange Tales #113.
“Who Stole My Super-Powers?” (Superman #220, October 1969) was written by Jim Shooter. Superman loses his powers. Who is behind it? The most dangerous plant in the universe! I couldn’t help thinking of Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Planet Entity” (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Fall 1931) on this one.
Bronze Age
“The Lurker in the Swamp” (Mystery Comics Digest #7, September 1972) was written by Don F. Glut. Martin Kraz is a robber who has just finished a prison term. He returns to the swamp to dig up his stolen loot. The swamp is reportedly haunted. Kraz meets the lurker, a shambling swamp thing that looks a bit like Swamp Thing. The lurker throws him into a bog hole.
“The Saviour of the Nation” (TV21 Annual, 1973) has a giant killer plant resisting attacks by the army. In the end, it is pickles that kill it. The black and white and blue color is different.
“Say It With Flowers!” (Micronauts #21, September 1980) was written by Bill Mantlo. The Micronauts encounter Plantman– yes, that Plantman– in a flower shop. The villain uses the plants to attack the owner. I suspect Marvel was trying to bolster the comic by having guest villains from the larger MCU. I don’t think this worked too well. I remember loving this comic but thinking of it as an SF series, not a superhero series.
“Up From the Depths” (The Avengers #231, May 1983) was written by Roger Stern. Plantman returns to take on the Avengers. To do this,h e creates a gigantic treeman.
“The Phantom of the Gamma-Rays” (The Defenders #132, June 1984) was written by Peter Gillis. Ephraim Soles eats a gamma-ray mutated plant and turns into a giant, changing plant thing. Iceman thinks he has stopped it by drying it out but Soles mutates into a seed and escapes on the wind.
Conclusion
We all know that plants didn’t disappear from the comics the second the clock hit midnight on January 1, 1986. After the Bronze Age (and some disagree where exactly that begins and ends), we get some great plant monster comics like this one.
“Impressions” (The Age of Heroes Special #1, 1997) was written by James Hudnall. A blind warrior takes on goblins and plant monsters in this Sword & Sorcery tale.
Until next time….
You can’t beat monster plants. Fact!