If you missed the last one…
More Bronze Age Plant Monsters…because I keep stumbling over more of them. (I know that first one is technically a Silver Age comic, but hey, it’s almost 1970!) You would think that a comic idea that goes back to the 1950s (and before!) would have run its course but the killer plant is just so much fun! Here are a baker’s dozen more from Marvel, Gold Key, Charlton, DC, Warren and even an independent comic. Do I think I have finally cornered all the budding little horrors? Never!
“The Petrified Creature” (Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #26, June 1969) was written by an unknown author. Chatham and Wilks come to the Schwanberg area looking for valuable aluminum deposits. The mountain is guarded by the Petrified Creature. The two men hear the history from an old Gypsy woman then meet the creature. On their second try, they flee from the beast during a rain storm. Lightning destroys the petrified horror.
“The Man-Plant From the Tomb” (Web of Horror #2, February 1970) was written by Otto Binder. Archaeologist Dane Crawford takes seeds he found in an excavation to a lonely greenhouse in New Jersey. Orville Maxon, the greenhouse owner, recognizes the find as “The Seeds of Eternal Life”. Maxon murders the scientist but his skeleton, animated by the plant, seeks revenge. One of the very first plant monster stories featured seeds from a crypt. Binder, a Science Fiction writer, was probably familiar with Louisa May Alcott’s “Lost in a Pyramid or The Mummy’s Curse”.
“The Boy Who Loved Trees” (Vampirella #9, January 1971) was written by Gardner F. Fox and Barry Windsor-Smith. Eddie Barrett has it pretty rough. Everybody in town thinks he is a simpleton. Except he can see the dryads living in the local trees. When bully, Burt Chapman, has it in for Eddie, he brings his gang to do damage. The next day they find Burt and his boys hanging from trees. This feels like a rewrite of H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Terrible Old Man” run through an Algernon Blackwood filter.
“Killer Plants!” (Creepy #38, March 1971) was written by Clif Jackson. The connection between cavemen and plant monsters is strong. Not sure why.
“The Hungry Garden” (Ghostly Haunts #34, August 1973) was written by Joe Gill. Dr. Pryboff keeps a garden full of killer plants. When the neighbors, Jim and Jeanne Winant, lose their dog, Rex, in the tangle, Pryboff saves them by spraying the plants with nerve gas. (Strangely, it has no effect on people or dogs.) Pryboff, having saved them, then tries to feed the couple to his darlings. The dog intervenes, knocking the doctor in instead.
“Enter: The Scarecrow” (Dead of Night #11, August 1975) was written by Scott Edelman. This lengthy plot is not really about plants but paintings and secret cults. But the Scarecrow does dispose of his rival, Gregor Rovik, and save the lovely, Harmony Maxwell, using trees.
“The Tree-Man” (Midnight Tales #18, May 1976) was written by Wayne Howard. A scientist named Martin creates a machine that brings trees to consciousness. He names the tree-man Dendron. He teaches Dendron all about history and how terribly humans have behaved. But the tree-man disappears. Wood-nymphs show up. They have turned Dendron back into simple wood and destroyed all of Martin’s research. (He gets a scolding when he said it was all in the pursuit of Science.)
“The Root of Evil” (Haunted #30, November 1976) was written by an unknown author. A familiar revenge tale of the man who marries the woman for her money. Lightning again, as the tree under which the skeleton lies, crashes down on Rod, the murderer.
“It’ll Grow On You” (Secrets of the Haunted House #7, August-September 1977) was written by Ed Fedory, E. Nelson Bridwell and Martin Pasko. When a man named Merrill comes to buy a house he gets the history behind the place. Dr. Jane Koble tells him how her colleague, Jonathan Karlson, was working on a cure for fungal disease. The man gets infected with a rapidly growing fungus and becomes a shambling monster. It is Jane who has to shoot him, spreading the disease with the explosion of the gun. Who will be the next victim? The spirit of William Hope Hodgson’s “A Voice in the Night” lives here.
“The Phantom Flower” (Ghosts #66, July 1978) was written by Robert Kanigher. Sean Ryan murders his rival at the rose growing contest only to be haunted by the dead man. Revenge comes from the grave and a flower spawned from both men wins the contest. Not really a plant monster but the theme of skeletons and plants is quite intertwined. The cover promises something that doesn’t happen.
“The Strangling Oak” (Ripley’s Believe It or Not #80, August 1978) was written by an unknown author. This Medieval tale is about two rivals (go figure!) named Owen Glendower and his cousin, Howell Sele. Howell tries to murder Owen for his chieftianship but fails. He becomes a hunted man, hiding inside a hollow tree. Howell’s ghost haunts the tree, making it a local terror. Years later, Glendower’s heir has a run-in with the tree before chopping it down. Dull, but a bit more violent than most Gold Key “Mystery” stories.
“The Ghostly Garden” (Ghosts #86, March 1980) was written by George Kashden. Paul Verrand, a rich man of Paris, murders his gardener, Henri, when he discovers his boss with another man’s wife, Michelle. Paul buries Henri’s body under the rosebush. Later, when the lovers have another assignation, the roses come for them, strangling both to death.
“Dig the Plant, Man!” (Secrets of the Haunted House #43, December 1981) was written by Rodin Rodriguez and Robin Snyder. The diary of Dr. William Poteet tells how the Vulcanologist found a strange flower and nursed it back home. The plant grows and grows, posing a threat to nature. In desperation Poteet burns down the house. The smoke from the building spreads the seeds far and wide….
Conclusion
The themes here are pretty standard plant monster stuff. This crop has many rivalries and killer gardens. The biggest surprise for me was to find Barry Windsor-Smith in a Warren comic. This comic may have been done before he got really busy with Conan the Barbarian. I am surprised Warren didn’t do many more plant monster stories. I may just need to find them. Here’s hoping…
Here’s a little extra until next time.
