Once upon a time it wasn't that common for comic book publishers to target novelists to write their comics. But, with Swamp Thing, they did just that. Thirty years later, Nancy A Collins' run on DC Comics' Swamp Thing is being collected in Omnibus format – the first time her run has been collected.

Where Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben had looked to the life and nature of Alec Holland, Swamp Thing and the cast, as well as the supernatural aspects that surrounded, Collins wrote about the soul of the beast, and the nature of a rather diverse family, with Alec, Abby and their child Téfé. Collins resurrected Anton Arcane along with the Sunderland Corporation as foils for Swamp Thing, as Alec and Abby set up shop in South Louisiana, attempting to live a normal life with friends and family, with elemental babysitter Lady Jane, alongside gods, and long dead pirates, musicians and snake-worshipping evangelists, as well as a run for governor of New Orleans. The comic also had a queer cast representative of the area featured but very rare at that time in mainstream comics. It manages to stand up rather well to modern eyes.

The run had a variaty of artists, including runs by Tom Mandrake, Tom Yeates, Scot Eaton and Russell Braun, as well as Bill Jaaska, Shaun McManus, Jan Duursema, and Kelley Jones, with covers by Charles Vess and John Higgins.

And not having been collected in trade paperbacks before (apart from possibly one small meagre volume), means this Omnibus will hit many of those eyes afresh.

Swamp Thing by Nancy A. Collins Omnibus $125.00 DC Comics | Vertigo 20 oz On sale Jan 14, 2020 | 896 Pages | 978-1-4012-9709-1 The two-year run on Swamp Thing by critically acclaimed Southern Gothic horror novelist Nancy A. Collins is collected for the first time ever. In these Swamp Thing tales written by critically acclaimed Southern Gothic horror novelist Nancy Collins, a mad priest called Father Tocsin has come to Houma to test his followers with a fatal poison. But when Tocsin indoctrinates one of his friends, Swamp Thing must stop the killings before they spread too far. Then, it's a grassroots political campaign as Swamp Thing finds himself a surprise candidate for governor of Louisiana. And Swamp Thing must get help to save Abigail Arcane and their young daughter, Tefé, from the murderous dream-pirates of Dark Conrad. Who's he gonna call? John Constantine! And Anton Arcane returns from the darkest pits of hell to seek revenge on Swamp Thing and all those he holds dear! This title collects Swamp Thing #110-139 and Swamp Thing Annual #6 and #7, not reprinted since their original publication in the early 1990s.