The Terror Garden has looked at plant monsters in past posts. Today it is “The Growing Terror” from Suspense #19 (June 1952). (And as I observed elsewhere, plant monster stories tend to show up in May or June, during allergy season.) This was published by the early version of Marvel Comics. The author is not known but the artist was Fred Kida.
Thaddeus Vine is a quiet old man who loves plants. In fact, he has created a powder that grows large, beautiful specimens. Unfortunately, the bully at his work, Mike finds him with his plants instead of doing his job as assistant gardener at the cemetery. Mike brutally kills his giant rose. But Thaddeus doesn’t have to get revenge because the plants will do it for themselves. (That is the last we see of Mike. The less said the better!) That night Northville is overrun by moving, fast-growing plants.
Thaddeus is a humanitarian at heart, even if he prefers plants to people. He goes to Washington, DC to give his secrets to the government. His reception is to be thrown into an insane asylum. After two days of questioning, Vine is released as a harmless kook. He uses his powder to prove them wrong. Soon, DC is overrun with greenery.
The powder proves even more powerful than Vine thought. He decides to try again, to speak to the mayor of the city. For second time, Thaddeus ends up behind bars. He uses the powder to break out of jail. He goes on a planting spree that will lead to the entire world being covered in hostile plants.
The Growing Terror covers every corner of the globe is attacked and claimed…
In only a week, humanity has been wiped off the face of the planet. Only five people remain, hiding in the Arctic where the plants have not yet come. The survivors must figure out how they will re-enslave the plants.
A sixth person arrives. It is Thaddeus Vine. The plants are his friends and will not harm him. He offers to broker a peace between plants and humans, one in which they share the world. The leader of the refugees thinks Vine insane and shoots him. From his dead body grow the plants that will now take over the Arctic. The end of all humankind.
Science Fiction and horror stories about plants taking over an entire planet date back to at least Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Planet Entity” (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Fall 1931), though Brian W. Aldiss’s “Hot House” series (F&SF, February 1961) may be more familiar. In both cases, a single plant has claimed the entire planet. Plants attacking people on a global scale goes back a little further to “The Plant Revolt” (Weird Tales, April 1930) by Edmond Hamilton. He also did the awesome “Alien Earth”(Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1949) where humans slow down to the point where they can see plants fighting each other in real time.
I suspect the inspiration for “The Growing Terror” may have been The Thing From Another World (1951) based on John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1938) I say this because of the Antarctic setting, which the last scene in the comic seems to mimic (though moved to the Arctic). The writer has a downer ending that wouldn’t appear in the film until the remake by John Carpenter in 1982. Both the Campbell story and the 1951 film end with humanity winning the day. The comic’s author, who has portrayed humanity as unkind and unworthy, ends with the very unlikely scenario of plants growing in ice. Thaddeus Vine has his revenge, even if it smacks of Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Seed From the Sepulchre” (Weird Tales, October 1933) and Vine becoming his namesake.
