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Originally Posted by Sledge Hammer!
By a whole month (according to cover dates, which are rarely accurate anyway). Which means Swamp Thing would have to have been already created and written by the time the Man Thing issue hit stands. Hence not a rip off unless there's some kind of corporate conspiracy going on.  |
Either one is not that original. This is from Wikipedia:
The best-known precursor was the shambling muck-monster The Heap, who first appeared in a 1942 Hillman comic. But the Heap (and consequently, both Swamp Thing and Man-Thing) may owe its existence to a 1940 horror story by Theodore Sturgeon titled "It", in which a shambling monster, made from decaying plant life and a human corpse, creates havoc for a farm household.
- The Brazilian character Morto do Pântano ("Swamp Deadman"), created by Eugenio Colonnese two years before Swamp Thing, resembles in many ways Wein and Wrightson's creation.[citation needed] "Parliament of the Trees", a Moore-scripted Swamp Thing episode from 1986, includes visual nods towards these other "muck monsters" when various past and present plant/human "tree spirits" assemble together in the Amazon Rainforest. The Heap was mentioned by Alan Moore in his introduction of the Parliament of Trees, though never by name.
- DC Comics rival Marvel Comics had a strikingly similar rival to Swamp Thing in the 1970s with the Steve Gerber-scripted Man-Thing (Dr. Theodore Sallis). Due to the close premieres of each comic (Man-Thing appeared a month earlier; DC has longer lead times but the Olsen story was routine rather than a new character launch, which would take longer), it is unlikely that either comic was directly derivative of the other -- although in an interview Gerber noted that Wein and Man-Thing co-creator Gerry Conway were roommates, and had simultaneously came up with similar characters by coincidence. Gerber later asked Wein to describe the premise of Swamp Thing, and rewrote it to be as different from Wein's creation as possible. In between the Olsen story and the first Holland story, Wein wrote the second Man-Thing story, with art by Neal Adams. It was intended for Savage Tales #2, but when that magazine-size Comics Code-free comic went on hiatus, it was delayed until Astonishing Tales #12, after a relaxing of the code made Man-Thing (far less human and more violent than Swamp Thing) a permissible character, and after Swamp Thing #1 appeared. Holland's origin is much more similar to Sallis's than Olsen's, though Sallis was presented as a much less moral figure than Holland, particularly as the series went further into his backstory. Man-Thing, too, was depicted in the Parliament of Trees.
- Both the Swamp Thing and Man-Thing bear striking similarities to the Glob, a creature that first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #121 and later fought Man-Thing, The Thing, and Captain America.
- Long-time DC comics villain Solomon Grundy shares an origin similar to the swamp monsters mentioned above, although his appearance differs greatly. During his run on Swamp Thing, Rich Veitch indicated that Grundy was "meant" to be a plant elemental, but his development was stunted and incomplete.
- Less important swamp monsters in comics include Steve Bissette's own Bog Swamp Demon from Hall of Heroes, who originally appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and thus possibly related to Muckman; and The Bog Beast from Larry Lieber's Atlas/Seaboard Comics. The Bog Beast is an alien created by John Albano and Jack Sparling who appeared in Tales of Evil and Weird Tales of the Macabre.
- A very similar creature composed of plant life is featured in a Johnny Quest episode.
