Essential Vertigo: Swamp Thing #23 is an issue of the series Essential Vertigo: Swamp Thing (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1998.
Synopsis for "Strange Fruit"
This story is reprinted from Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #42.
As the night goes on, and the voodoo ritual continues, the dead slaves buried in the graveyard next to the old Robertaland plantation in Louisiana begin rising from the dead, and walking the earth. Swamp Thing senses that whatever terrible thing happened in Robertaland has produced a psychic pattern that is forcing the living people on the premises to replay the original incident.
Abby Holland, sensing the darkness and evil in the place, goes inside the mansion looking for the actors who have hidden inside. Unbeknownst to her, the actors have become possessed by the strong and tortured spirits of the people who were involved in the incident that has brought about this evil in the first place. Possessed by the cruel and prejudiced slaver Wesley Jackson, actor Richard Deal has flayed alive actor Billy Carlton - who is himself possessed by the spirit of a slave named William. When Abby arrives, she is confused by their behavior, and the way that the house seems to change around them. When she tells them that none of it is real, Wesley stabs her with the knife he had used to skin William.
Outside, Swamp Thing watches as Alice, an acquaintance of Abby's from work, encounters the walking corpse of her own father, and leads them to the mansion where all of the dead slaves will demand their freedom. None of them seem to notice him there.
As Abby lies bleeding, she repeats to herself that none of it is real, and that she isn't actually bleeding. Surprisingly, she pulls the knife out, and discovers that the knife Deal was wielding was a prop-knife for the soap opera being filmed there.
Elsewhere, Wesley encounters the voodoo practitioners and the zombies outside the mansion, and begins to realize that all of this happened once before; he had shot a woman, and been beaten to death by the angry slaves. The zombies explain that they are there to demand their freedom from the psychic pattern of the evil deeds done there, otherwise it will repeat eternally. Swamp Thing tries to intervene, but Wesley shoots him through the chest, and he falls into the fire. Taking this as a sign that the evil will continue, the zombies begin to attack. Angrily, Swamp Thing rises in flames, and rushes into the mansion, shouting that he will not allow the evil to continue. As he runs through the house, it catches fire, and he and it burn to ashes together. Fortunately, he retreats into The Green, and grows a new body up from the ashes.
With the mansion burned to the ground, the movie extras wake without any recollection of what happened the previous night. Actress Angela Lamb has been changed by the experience, and she desperately tries to snap Billy Carlton out of his nightmare, as he still believes that he was skinned alive that night. She lovingly vows to stay by his side and help him recover from the trauma he had suffered. The director, Dennis Linder, is in shock, and Richard Deal is dead, having run back into the burning building before the spirit left him. The Swamp Thing tells Abby that he has not seen Constantine in weeks, and the two contemplate the possibility that he is through with them.
Elsewhere, it appears that some of the zombies didn't return to the earth. After having stolen a truck they later crashed into a tree, they were able to walk away from the incident unharmed. Alice's father now has a job as a ticket-booth attendant at a movie theater.
Appearing in "Strange Fruit"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Spirits
- Charlotte Jackson
- Wesley Jackson
- William
- Zombies
- Alice's father (Single appearance) (Unnamed)
- R. David Pratt (Single appearance) (Cameo)
- Tom Stazer (Single appearance) (Cameo)
Other Characters:
- Alec Holland (As an illusion only)
- Alice
- Dennis Linder (TV director)
- TV actors
- Angela Lamb
- Billy Carlton
- Richard Deal (Dies)
- God (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth-One
- United States of America
Items:
Concepts:
Notes
- This issue reprints Swamp Thing #42 in black and white.
- At the time of its original printing, Swamp Thing #42 was not part of DC's Vertigo line of comics.
See Also