The creature, called Swamp Thing, was originally conceived as Alec Holland mutating into a vegetable-like creature, a "muck-encrusted mockery of a man". However, under writer Alan Moore, Swamp Thing was reinvented as an elemental entity created upon the death of Alec Holland, with Holland's memory and personality intact. He is described as "a plant that thought it was Alec Holland, a plant that was trying its level best to be Alec Holland."

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing had a profound effect on mainstream comic books, being the first horror comic to approach the genre from a literary point of view since the EC horror comics horror comics of the 1950's, and broadened the scope of the series to include ecological and spiritual concerns while retaining its horror-fantasy roots.

• Introduced a new character, John Constantine, with this issue.  Constantine would soon have his own title, Hellblazer and go on to be DC/Vertigo's longest running book, and become a feature movie with Keanu Reeves. 

While suffering from the bad side-effects of hallucinogenic drugs, Harry Osborn witnessed the "death" of his father (as the Green Goblin) while battling Spider-Man. The experience cracked his sanity, and after removing the Green Goblin costume from his father's body, Harry took on the mantle of the Green Goblin himself. Shortly thereafter, he discovered that his roommate Peter Parker and Spider-Man were one of the same, and so was born one of Spider-Man's worst and most tragic enemies.

The Goblin's primary means of transportation is a turbo-fan powered glider called the "Goblin Glider" which is capable of great maneuverability and speeds up to 90 miles per hour. The Goblin used a variety of concussive and incendiary grenades fashioned in the shape of miniature jack o'lanterns as well as gas and other variety of bombs with a light plastic mantle that looked like a wraith when thrown. Finally, the Green Goblin's gloves were capable of channeling electrical blasts of up to 10,000 volts.

Origin is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics from November 2001 to July 2002, written by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins, and illustrated by Andy Kubert (pencils) and Richard Isanove (color).

Origin tells the story of the origin of the superhero Wolverine, best known as a member of the X-Men. Since the character first appeared in the early 1970s his history had often been shrouded in mystery, with bits of information revealed piecemeal over time (notably in Weapon X), but this series was the first to reveal Wolverine's early days and his original background.

The Uncanny X-Men, first published as simply The X-Men, is the flagship Marvel Comics comic book series within the X-Men franchise. It features an eponymous group of mutant superheroes. Published continuously, with one nine-month break, since issue #1 (Sept. 1963), it has spun off numerous franchise series including Astonishing X-Men, New X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force, the simply titled X-Men, and Generation X.

The X-Men are fictitious mutants who, as a result of a sudden leap in evolution, are born with latent superhuman abilities which generally manifest themselves at puberty. Many ordinary humans harbor an intense fear and/or distrust of mutants (often referred to as Homo superior), who are regarded by a number of scientists as the next step in human evolution and are thus widely viewed as a threat to human society.

In the late 70's the series was revived, illustrated by Dave Cockrum and later John Byrne and written by Chris Claremont, who would become the series' longest-standing contributor. The run met great critical acclaim and produced the "Proteus Saga", "Dark Phoenix Saga", and later the early 1980's "Days of Future Past", arguably some of the greatest story arcs in Marvel Comics, as well as X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, the basis for the 2003 movie X2. Other characters introduced at this time include Mystique, Multiple Man, the Hellfire Club, and Moira MacTaggert along with her genetic research facility Muir Island. In the 1980s, the growing popularity of Uncanny X-Men and the rise of comic book specialty stores led to the introduction of several spin-off series nicknamed "X-Books",

History of the DC Universe is a two-issue comic book limited series created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, and published by DC Comics following the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was an attempt to summarize the new history of the DC Universe to establish what was canonical after Crisis reformed the multiverse into a single universe.

The loose plotline of the series involves the character Harbinger chronicling the past, present, and future of the post-Crisis DC Universe. The history is mostly told through one- and two-page splash pages, accompanied by brief prose. At the end of the series, Harbinger places the history in a capsule and launches it into space. In the subsequent series Millennium, this history is intercepted by the Manhunters and used against Earth's superheroes

This is the Image publication- First Printing

What is the color of magic?

The Hero Discovered Mage, written and illustrated by Matt Wagner, was published by Comico from 1984 to 1986. Despite advertisements saying that a sequel was "coming soon", The Hero Defined did not appear until 1997, published by Image Comics (Comico had gone bankrupt in 1990, and it had taken some time for Wagner to regain the rights to the series).

Wagner wrote and drew both series, with Sam Kieth as inker for part of the first, and Jeromy Cox as colourist.

The Hero Discovered follows Kevin Matchstick, an alienated young man with an uncanny resemblance to the author, as he meets a wizard called Mirth, discovers he has superhuman abilities, gains a magic baseball bat and defeats the nefarious plans of a being called the Umbra Sprite. He ultimately discovers that Mirth is Merlin, the baseball bat is Excalibur, and he is, in some ambiguous way, King Arthur. It is a story of existentialist engagement and can be read as an allegory for Wagner finding his own voice as an artist. Also, all the chapter titles are lines from Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the chapters bear more than a passing resemblance to events in the play.

The Shadow is a fictional crime fighter created by Walter B Gibson. The character is one of the most famous of the pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. Made even more famous through a popular radio series, the Shadow has since been featured also in comic books, comic strips,television, and at least seven motion pictures. Regardless, the Shadow is best regarded for its radio years, in which pulp crime fiction received perhaps its most compelling broadcast interpretation.

In the early eighties, Howard Chaykin set comics on their ear with the ground-breaking American Flagg!, a series that didn't just synthesize many of his themes into one cohesive work, but also brought page design, lettering and space into the overall effect of a book in a way that few had attempted. In the mid-eighties, DC tapped Chaykin to reinterpret the classic pulp hero The Shadow for a modern audience.

Even after decades, the unmistakable introduction from The Shadow has earned a place in the American lexicon:

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"

Grendel is a long-running series of comic books originally created by American author Matt Wagner. First published by Comico, Wagner has now moved his character to Dark Horse. Originally a noir comic concerning a criminal mastermind, it has evolved into, in Wagner's words, a study of the nature of aggression.

The first Grendel was Hunter Rose, a youthful genius who wrote novels by day and ran a criminal empire by night. He first appeared in 1982 in the anthology Comico Primer, followed by a three-issue black and white miniseries in 1983, and his complete story was reworked and told in Grendel: Devil by the Deed, serialised as a backup story in Wagner's series Mage and since collected into a 48-page prestige format one-shot. Wagner returns to Hunter Rose from time to time, such as in the two Batman-Grendel crossovers, and occasional miniseries of short stories.

There followed an ongoing series, which lasted 40 issues. It was written by Wagner and drawn by a variety of artists, including the Pander Brothers, Bernie Mireault, Tim Sale, John K. Snyder III and others. It began with a story set in the near future, with Hunter's granddaughter Christine Spar taking on the identity of Grendel to pursue a mission of revenge, but ultimately being consumed by it. The identity passed briefly, and tragically, to her deluded boyfriend Brian Li Sung. After a brief return to stories of Hunter Rose (actually two fictional novels written by Captain Wiggins, a supporting character from the Christine Spar arc), Wagner then spun the series further into the future, with the Grendel identity affecting a variety of people, and ultimately a whole society.

Camelot 3000 is a 12-issue comic book limited series (billed by DC as a "maxi-series") written by Mike W. Barr and penciled by Brian Bolland, and published by DC Comics from 1982-1985 as one of its first direct market projects, and as its second maxi-series.

 It follows the adventures of King Arthur, Merlin and the reincarnated Knights of the Round Table as they reemerge in the future world of 3000 to fight off an alien invasion masterminded by Morgan Le Fay.

 Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot are presented more-or-less traditionally as the doomed triangle of lovers. Sir Galahad is changed from an idealized version of the Christian knight to a samurai and devout adherent of bushido. Sir Percival, the foolish man slowly wise is genetically altered into a monstrous giant but retains his gentle manner. Sir Kay the court churl reveals to Arthur that his characteristic obnoxious demeanor was in fact an adopted mannerism coined with the intention of reducing tensions between the members of Arthur's court, who were subsequently united by their mutual dislike of Kay. Modred is the son of Morgan La Fay in this version. The two function as villains but lack the depth of characterization seen in the other characters.

 The most original treatment in the work of any of the Arthurian characters is that of the figure of Sir Tristan, who is unexpectedly reincarnated as a woman. His transformation forces him to reexamine his previous conceptions of gender roles and his own sexuality. Though his relationship with Isolde is tested by his new identity, their enduring love for one another eventually triumphs, and the two become lovers.

Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland received widespread recognition from their peers for their work on Camelot 3000, including a 1985 Jack Kirby Award nomination for Best Finite Series.

Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host character, Cousin Eerie. Its sister publications were Creepy and Vampirella.

The first issue, in early 1966, had only a small limited 200-issue run of an "ashcan" edition. Official distribution began with the second issue (March, 1966), priced at 35 cents. Behind the Frank Frazetta cover were graphic horror tales edited by Goodwin and hosted by the lumpish Cousin Eerie, a curious character created by Jack Davis.

A variety of editors would continue to manage Eerie after Goodwin's second departure including Billy Graham and J.R. Cochran. William Dubay, who first joined Warren as an artist in 1970, would become editor of the magazine for issues 43 through 72. During this period the frequency of Eerie and Warren's other magazines was upped to nine issues per year. Color stories would begin appearing in Eerie starting with issue 54 in February 1974. Another major development occurred in late 1971 when artists from the Barcelona Studio of Spanish agency Selecciones Illustrada started appearing in Eerie and other Warren magazines, reaching a dominant presence in the 1970s. These artists included Esteban Maroto, Jaime Brocal, Rafael Aura Leon, Martin Salvador, Luis Garcia, Jose Gonzalez, Jose Bea, Isidro Mones, Manuel Sanjulian and Enrich Torres. Additional artists from S.I.'s Valencia Studio joined Warren in 1974 including José Ortiz, Luis Bermejo, and Leopold Sanchez. Towards the end of Dubay's time as editor, artists from Eerie's first golden era including Alex Toth and John Severin returned. Notable writers during Dubay's era as editor included Gerry Boudreau, Budd Lewis, Jim Stenstrum, Steve Skeates and Doug Moench.


Dubay would resign after issue 72 and was replaced by Louise Jones, his former assistant. Jones would edit the magazine until issue 110 in April 1980. Former DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino would also join Warren shortly after she became editor. Much like the wave of Spanish artists that dominated the magazine throughout the mid-1970s, a number of artists from the Philippines would join Warren during Jones's period as editor including Alex Nino, Alfredo Alcala and Rudy Nebres and would remain at Eerie until its end in 1983. "The Rook", a super hero who first appeared in issue 82 in March 1977, would appear in nearly every issue of the magazine over the next two years and would eventually be given his own magazine. While he had resigned as editor, Dubay remained with Warren and became their dominant writer during this period. Other dominant writers during this period included Bruce Jones, Bob Toomey and Roger McKenzie.

The Rook is a time-traveling comic book character whose adventures were chronicled in various issues of Eerie magazine published by Warren Publishing in the 1970s and 80s, before getting his own title. He was created by writer Bill DuBay.

The Rook is actually a scientist named Restin Dane. Dane comes from a family of scientists whose members include the unnamed protagonist of the novel The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Dane gains his nickname from the fact that his time machine resembles a giant chess rook. Dane takes to wearing Western style clothing and a gunbelt. His first adventure is to travel back in time to the Alamo to save an ancestor.[1] He succeeds in saving his great-great-grandfather Bishop Dane, who accompanies him on many of his adventures, along with two robots he built.

The Swamp Thing is a fictional character created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson for DC Comics, and featured in a long-running horror-fantasy comic book series of the same name. The character is a humanoid mass of vegetable matter who fights to protect his swamp home, the environment in general, and humanity from various supernatural or terroristic threats. The series was continued by a number of writers, notably Alan Moore, whose reinvention of the character was particularly influential. Under his pen, the character became a psychologically complex creature immersed in an auto-referential journey to determine his capabilities, the degree of his "humanity", and his place in the world.

The creature, called Swamp Thing, was originally conceived as Alec Holland mutating into a vegetable-like creature, a "muck-encrusted mockery of a man". However, under writer Alan Moore, Swamp Thing was reinvented as an elemental entity created upon the death of Alec Holland, with Holland's memory and personality intact. He is described as "a plant that thought it was Alec Holland, a plant that was trying its level best to be Alec Holland."

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing had a profound effect on mainstream comic books, being the first horror comic to approach the genre from a literary point of view since the EC horror comics horror comics of the 1950's, and broadened the scope of the series to include ecological and spiritual concerns while retaining its horror-fantasy roots.

• Signed by Steve Bissette

Conan The Barbarian

"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."

Robert E Howard
 

Conan is a Cimmerian, a barbarian of the far north. He was born on a battlefield and is the son of a blacksmith. By age fifteen he was already a respected warrior, participating in the destruction of the Aquilonian outpost of Venarium. After this he was struck by wanderlust and began the colorful and exciting adventures chronicled by Robert E. Howard (and subsequently, after Howard's death, by others), encountering fabulous monsters, evil wizards, and beautiful wenches and princesses - he has travelled throughout the world and been a thief, outlaw and mercenary. In his forties he finally succeeds, becoming King of Aquilonia, the most powerful kingdom of the age, having strangled the previous ruler on the steps of the throne. Although Conan's adventures often result in him performing heroic feats, his motive is more than often his own survival, enrichment or rise to power and he thus displays many of the characteristics of an anti-hero.

The Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in the comic book Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), the first of a three-issue arc fans and historians call "The Galactus Trilogy".

Originally a young astronomer of the planet Zenn-La, in order to save his home-world from destruction by a fearsome cosmic entity known as Galactus, Norrin Radd made a bargain with the being, pledging himself to serve as his herald. Imbued in return with a tiny portion of Galactus' Power Cosmic, Radd acquired great powers and a silvery appearance. Galactus also created for Radd a surfboard-like craft — modeled after a childhood fantasy of his — on which he would travel at speeds beyond that of light. Known from then on as the Silver Surfer, Radd began to roam the cosmos searching for new planets for Galactus to consume. When his travels finally took him to Earth, the Surfer came face-to-face with the Fantastic Four, a team of powerful superheroes that helped him to rediscover his nobility of spirit. Betraying Galactus, the Surfer saved Earth but was punished in return with everlasting exile there.

Cerebus is, as some of you know, an Aardvark. Over the years, the author, Dave Sim, has let us follow this odd creature through his adventures as a barbarian, mercenary, drunk, Prime Minister and even, Pope. Cerebus is a man, excuse me, an Aardvark, of big ambitions. His ambitions involve grabbing as much gold as possible.He does well. Cerebus is a morally ambiguous character, at times sympathetic, at others callous. He is often foul-mouthed and uncouth, has a vicious temper, and loves getting drunk. Cerebus is a warrior by heart, his favorite weapon is his sword. His most unusual weapon: the dreaded pig snout punch.

Cerebus the Aardvark (or simply Cerebus) is an independent comic book, written and illustrated by Canadian artist Dave Sim, with backgrounds by fellow Canadian Gerhard. Now complete, it marks the longest-running English-language comic book series ever by a single creative team and one of the longest works of fiction in literature. Sim began the series in 1977, running for 300 issues and 6,000 pages, through March 2004.

Mike Grell was already well established as a writer and artist of some repute when LONGBOW HUNTERS was originally published in 1987, with such renowned works as THE WARLORD and JON SABLE: FREELANCE behind him. Taking the impetus from editor and friend Mike Gold, Grell opted to redefine Oliver Queen as an 'urban hunter', and thus deal with real-world issues - a sharp contrast to the super-villains and alien invasions that were commonplace during Green Arrow's adventures up until that point.

In this three-issue prestige format limited series, Green Arrow abandons gadget arrows and fights crime in Seattle, Washington, where he now lives with Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance). The series took on a more gritty, violent, and urban tone, befitting the series' mature audience label.

The art, though, is the real attraction of LONGBOW HUNTERS - Grell employs various techniques (drawing on cardboard, use of white space) to great effect, leading the eye with ease. While Grell's technique may be seen as old-fashioned by today's standards, the lack of flash and glitz in the storytelling helps the story, rather than hides it. The subdued colours used by Julia Lacquement compliment Grell's art excellently - placing substance over style.

Batman is a figure of pure terror in Jeph Loeb's and Tim Sale's Dark Victory. Batman: Dark Victory was a 14-part comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Tim Sale. The series is a sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween and was published originally from 1999 - 2000 by DC Comics. The plot centers on a series of murders involving Gotham City police officers by a mysterious serial killer only known as The Hangman. Central to the storyline is a territory war between Two-Face and the remnants of the Falcone mob led by Sofia Falcone. The villains come beautifully alive with the drawing of Sale and the writing of Loeb.

The story is also a re-telling of the origins of Batman's sidekick Robin and his adoption by Bruce Wayne. The story brings closure to many characters introduced in Frank Miller's Batman: Year One.