Chad Burdette
DC today announced Swamp Thing 1989 #1, the long-awaited, fully restored, lost issue that begins the conclusion of Rick Veitch’s acclaimed late-1980s run on Swamp Thing.
After more than three decades, Veitch’s ambitious final epic will be released under DC Black Label across four issues, published monthly through July.
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Written by Rick Veitch, with art by original penciler Michael Zulli and inked by Vince Locke, Swamp Thing 1989 #1 completes the comic Veitch and Zulli intended to deliver as Swamp Thing #88.
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One of the most talked-about moments of New York Comic Con 2025 was DC’s confirmation that it would finally publish Veitch’s then-controversial storyline, originally pulled before publication. Now presented with its original trade dress, period-accurate numbering on the cover, facsimile-style paper stock, and vintage ads, Swamp Thing 1989 #1 begins the journey to Veitch’s final Swamp Thing saga, running as it would have been published in 1989
When Alan Moore concluded his landmark run on Swamp Thing, he personally selected Rick Veitch to continue the series. Veitch’s work quickly earned its own acclaim. In 1989, the original plans for Swamp Thing #88 were halted during production. Veitch left the title, and the unpublished issue marked the abrupt end of Veitch’s three-year saga.
The long-lost Swamp Thing #88, now called Swamp Thing 1989 #1, features art by the late Michael Zulli, who returned to work on the issue before his passing in 2024, completing the painting featured here as the variant cover. Working closely with Zulli’s wife, Karen Zulli, DC selected Vince Locke, Zulli’s longtime inker, to complete the issue over his original pencils while preserving the integrity of Zulli’s original vision.
The main cover by Rick Veitch reflects the quiet tension and symbolic weight of the story’s historical setting.
Variant and foil covers by Michael Zulli present painterly imagery of Swamp Thing that captures the emotional and mythic intensity surrounding this pivotal moment in Swamp Thing’s saga.
Swamp Thing is cast back through time and encounters a humble carpenter whose presence will alter the creature’s destiny and send ripples through the DC Universe, setting the stage for the long-anticipated origin of Etrigan the Demon and catapults Swamp Thing on his mythic journey back to the Big Bang and beyond.
Swamp Thing 1989 #1 will be a 32-page comic book priced at $4.99 US, with a card-stock variant available for $5.99 US and a foil variant for $7.99 US, under DC Black Label and carries an Ages 17+ content descriptor for mature readers.
Swamp Thing 1989 #1 arrives in comic book shops, and everywhere comics are sold, on April 29, 2026
