If you missed the last one…
Still More Bronze Age Plants II looks at 1974-1976, where there was plenty of plant action. We see several different genres using the floral fiends like jungle comics, superheroes, kid’s comics like Richie Rich, Science Fiction and heroic fantasy, along with the usual Horror anthology stories. Plant monsters were everywhere. (Well, maybe not the Romance comics, but just about everywhere!)
“Challenge From the Stars” (Tara on the Dark Continent #1, 1974) was written by Bill Black. Jungle lords and ladies certainly tangled with killer plants in the early comics of the 1930s and 1940s. (Though Tarzan not so much.) Tara takes us back to that time with this independent comic. In this tale she has to fight the underwater plant before she can get on with the story. The second issue would feature a cover of Tara fighting a plant.
“Garden of Death and Life” (Conan the Barbarian #41, August 1974) was written by Roy Thomas. Conan would fight his share of plants though only once from the pen of Robert E. Howard. This was the blood-sucking vines from “The Garden of Fear” that was turned into a Conan adventure in Conan the Barbarian #9 (September 1971). Roy Thomas would write a few of his own like this one using a killer tree. John Jakes’ Brak and Frank Frazetta had done the S&S version back in 1970. John Buscema gives us an even bigger tree.
“A Garden of Hellish Delights” (Psycho #23, January 1975) was written by Al Hewetson. This rather cynical tale follows a man and his garden. Earnest Grumph loves Angela almost as much as his plants. The plants kill daddy and the two marry. Jump forty years and they have become hateful and bitchy. The plants kill Angela too. Earnest happily dies among his plants to feed them with his body. Man gets plants, man loses plants, man get plants back?
“Dead Man’s Tree” (Ripley’s Believe It or Not!# 52, February 1975) was written by an unknown author. A man hangs himself by accident while escaping a slave posse. His ghost haunts the tree. Moral of the story: don’t wear scarves.
“The Coming of Morlock” (Morlock #1, February 1975) was written by Michael Fleisher. This comic ran for three issues at the Seaboard Company. Morlock is a plant man created by a slain botanist. He exists in a near future world where the Thought Police rule. At times Morlock looks like a man with whispy hair but when he hulks out he looks like a cross between a tree and 1950s Horror film creature. Some baddies die when Morlock’s plants turn them into topiary. I believe Morlock was meant to join the ranks of Swamp Thing and Man-Thing.
“Search For ‘The Impossible Man'” (Superman #285, March 1975) was written by Elliott Maggin. At the beginning of this one Superman is attacked by vines. They show him all wrapped up but not how he escapes. There is something going on…maybe in his head!
“Morlock Must Be Destroyed” (Morlock #2, April 1975) was written by Michael Fleisher. In the second issue of Morlock, the new plant man superero takes on some bog creatures that look really hairy.
“Flora the Fantastic” (Richie Rich #134, September 1975) was written by an unknown author. Richie finds a seed and Professor Keenbean zaps it. The plant grows rapidly. He names it Flora. She goes on a rampage and tears up a bunch of money before escaping. All ends well, with Flora becoming a park ranger.
“Valley of the Damned” (Iron Fist #2, December 1975) was written by Chris Claremont. In a flashback Iron Fist goes to a valley inhabited by plant men, the H’ylthari. Sssesthugar and his plant cronies plan to send Danny into the heart of a city of hate , from which there is no return. Rand powers up and punches the plants out. The best thing here is that Gil Kane cover. Like the Conan one above, it is pure magic.
“A Martian Odyssey” (Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction Giant Special, 1976) was adapted from the Stanley G. Weinbaum story by Don Glut. Most of the tale does not concern plants but there is one scene that is important where the human astronaut, Jarvis, almost falls victim to the dream plant. Tweel the Martian saves him. Later, Jarvis returns the favor. Jess Jodloman’s art for this comic was spot on, weird but accessible.
Conclusion
Bronze Age Plant Monsters ran the gamut from superheroes (oddly in dreams and memories) to Sword & Sorcery to Science Fiction. The Horror comics have become fewer but the plants are not any less. By the 1970s, the idea of killer plant had been around about a hundred years. (I mark the original from “The Madagascar Tree” by Edmund Spenser in South Australian Register, October 27, 1874.) After a century, the plant that kills could be found just about anywhere.
Next time… More Superheroes and Star Trek…
