DC Comics horror legend, Swamp Thing, is the latest of the pantheon to join the silver coin world

Latest to join the swelling ranks of coins issued for the myriad popular culture franchises active today is one for DC Comics famous ‘Justice League’. One of the less frequent members, certainly one of the more unusual, Swamp Thing is a plant elemental that used to believe it was a human, but wasn’t. It all gets a bit confusing as, like all comic book characters, they’re constantly having their origin stories retold and reimagined.

Anyway, the coin is one produced by the New Zealand Mint, and collectors of their copious popular culture output will know what to expect. Fortunately, if you love the subject, these tend to be very well done coins indeed, well struck and with good artwork. Swamp Thing is one of the more esoteric characters in the DC pantheon, and the coin does a terrific job in depicting him in his most iconic form. The subject and his logo are coloured against a cleanly struck background depicting his regular habitat.

The one-ounce proof silver coin has the usual effigy of QEII on the obverse, and it’s presented in one of those outstanding solid acrylic frames we like so much here. There’s a themed shipper and a Certificate of Authenticity which will carry which of the 1,971 coins minted you have. This coin is exclusively distributed by US precious metal dealer Glines & Rhodes and it can be purchased on their numismatic store. A nice addition to the genre. We’d also recommend comic fans seek out the Alan Moore penned run of the Swamp Thing comic, rightly considered a classic.-

SWAMP THING

First appearing in House of Secrets #92 back in July 1971, Swamp Thing has certainly become a superhero for our times. Created by Len Wein (writer) and Bernie Wrightson (artist), he is an elemental hybrid of man and plant fighting to keep an environmental balance. Like all comic characters, he’s been reimagined and reinvented multiple times over the ensuing decades, and is still in publication today.

Perhaps the greatest run in the characters history, indeed one of the greatest in comic books, is that by Alan Moore, the writer that gave us the Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Batman: The Killing Joke. Taking Swamp[ Thing in a new direction, he abandoned the human roots and took him into the horror genre. It was actually the first comic to eschew the approval of the Comics Code Authority. A classic run of the genre.

As well as comics, Swampy has also appeared in TV shows and movies, both live and animated, although none of them could be called fine examples of the mediums. The last was just two years ago, whn a promising series, part of the DCEU, was cancelled due to budgetary issues with the state of Georgia, although we’re sure there’s more top it than that. Hopefully the character will get the treatment it deserves.