Swamp Thing (Volume 2) Issue 129

## "Swamp Fever"

"*You know that's a lie, my friend. Alec Holland was the husband, the family man-- not* you! *What you feel for your wife and child is a dead man's legacy!*"
―Alec Holland
## Synopsis

### "Swamp Fever"

In eastern Pennsylvania, some children hold a campfire and tell scary stories to each other. Before the dramatic climax of one of the stories, the Swamp Thing - horribly disfigured by toxic waste - barges into their campsite. Sadly, Swamp Thing realizes it was foolish of him to hope for help from humans.

Desperately, he trudges back toward home, knowing that if his ruse is discovered - if the fact that he created a double of himself in order to leave his family and fight for The Green - his wife Abby will be irate.

In the Louisiana swamps, Abby and the double that Swamp Thing created are getting along well. Without any duty to The Green to take care of, the double has the chance to be truly romantic with his wife. Still, their daughter's governess, Lady Jane, knows the truth and she is disgusted.

In Washington, D.C., Constance Sunderland leads Doctor Lawrence Polygon into the cryogenics lab at the Sunderland Corporation. There, she shows him the frozen body of her father, General Sunderland, hoping that the doctor can resurrect him, finally.

Still wandering the forest, Swamp Thing begins to lose his sense of identity. He struggles to deal with the responsibilities placed on him. He worries that his contamination by toxins is causing him to die, and it also prevents him from escaping into The Green. He is visited by an apparition of Alec Holland. He demands of the spirit to take him to his wife, but Alec responds that the impulse to be a family man was always Alec Hollands - that the Swamp Thing's playing at being a father and husband was just a dead man's legacy. Contemptuously, the spirit comments that even Abby still chooses to refer to Swamp Thing by Alec Holland's name - even though they are not the same person.

In frustration, the Swamp Thing cries out, sending the apparition away. As a result of the emotional outburst, towns across Pennsylvania are affected by strange disturbances of The Green.

In Houma, Abby helps Chester Williams move out of his house, and expresses that though she will miss him, she knows that his leaving is the right thing to do. She assures him that she'll survive without him - especially so long as Swamp Thing is still with her. She jokes that if she weren't happily married, she'd run off with Chester herself. As they hug, Representative Ben Barron snaps photos of them, hoping to ruin Abby and the Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing wakes from his collapse to find Lady Jane standing over him. She has brought many of the Parliament of Trees with her. They proclaim him a failure, and finally, Yggdrasil commands that he choose to be protector of The Green, or continue his role as family man. He cannot be both. He attempts to refuse choice, but they make it clear that choice is necessary.

## Appearances

### "Swamp Fever"

#### Individuals

* Swamp Thing
* Abby Holland
* Lady Jane
* Sunderland Corporation
	+ Constance Sunderland
	+ Proteus ***(Flashback Only)***
	+ Dr. Lawrence Polygon
	+ General Sunderland ***(Appears only as a corpse)***
* Rep. Ben Barron
* Alec Holland ***(In dream sequence only)*** ***(As a spirit)***
* Tefé Holland ***(In dream sequence only)***
* Chester Williams
* John Constantine ***(In dream sequence only)***
* Anton Arcane ***(In dream sequence only)***
* Patchwork Man ***(In dream sequence only)***
* Batman ***(In dream sequence only)***
* Parliament of Trees
	+ Yggdrasil
	+ Eyam

#### Locations

* Pennsylvania
* Louisiana
	+ Terrebonne Parish
		- Houma
* Washington, D.C.

## Notes

* This is the first issue of *Swamp Thing* to be published under the Vertigo imprint.

## External links

* *Swamp Thing (Volume 2)* Issue 129 on DC Wiki
* *Swamp Thing (Volume 2)* Issue 129 on Comic Vine