Spectral #5 - Saga of the Swamp Thing #20: The French edition

Swamp Thing fans will readily and fondly recognise this splash page, given it is the first page of Alan Moore's celebrated run on the title. Originally published in Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, this is the French edition of Loose Ends, as it appears in the digest-sized series Spectral.

So of course I recognised it immediately as I was browsing in a comic book store in Paris and I saw this image on the cover of Spectral #5:

This copy is marred by the removal of a price sticker - yes, all my fault - but I couldn't resist it for the princely sum of 5 Euro.

This is the third series titled Spectral, and it appears to be an anthology series of mystery and supernatural stories from DC, often featuring Swamp Thing on the cover.

I like that this story managed to get front cover prominence. Whilst it's a lesser piece of work than the justly celebrated The Anatomy Lesson - Loose Ends is just that, Moore tying up loose ends from the previous run in order to set up his own take on the character - it is still significant as his first issue on the series, and I recall my disappointment that the first edition of the trade paperback collecting his run on the series omitted this issue, beginning the collection with Sage of the Swamp Thing #21. And IMO, the splash page on the cover image works better than the original cover to Saga of the Swamp Thing #20.

There's not a lot more I have to say about this issue, as it is fully indexed on the GCD. It's just a neat little comic I enjoyed finding and picking up in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

Update 24 May 2025: For Robert Thomas - the image of Swamp Thing on the top left hand corner is indeed by Wrightson, and it hails from the splash page of A Clockwork Horror in Swamp Thing #6: