#SDCC 2013: Exclusive: Legendary Artist Len Wein Looks Back at Swamp Thing, Wolverine and More
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Coming to Blu-ray August 6th is Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing from the fine folks at Scream Factory and to mark the occasion, Dread Central sat down and discussed the upcoming hi-def presentation amongst many other really awesomely geeky things with Swamp Thing creator Len Wein.
Wein also had a hand in many iconic “X-Men” stories over the years, worked on the “Watchmen” series with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and was responsible for creating arguably one of the most iconic characters from the comic world, Wolverine.
Check out some of the highlights from our exclusive interview with Wein below and make sure to pick-up Scream Factory’s Swamp Thing Blu once it’s available this August.
Dread Central: I grew up loving Wes’ Swamp Thing but hadn’t seen it in about 12 years so it was pretty incredible to get to revisit it on Blu-ray last week. How did you feel when Scream Factory came to you about this new presentation especially since the movie has become a cult classic since its release over 30 years ago now?
Len Wein: I think it’s amazing- I can’t wait to see it.
Dread Central: Oh, wait until you see it- I think Scream Factory did an amazing job.
Len Wein: That’s great to hear; I was happy to get to do an interview for it and talk about the character again. They really are the best at preserving the kinds of films that deserve to be preserved which is wonderful for all of us fans out there. It’s nice to know that there’s someone out there looking out for all the cult films which deserve to be cared for just as much as the ‘awards movies’ do.
Dread Central: I think it’s also kind of a fun way to reintroduce new audiences to this iconic character too.
Len Wein: Oh definitely. And I think Guillermo del Toro is going to do the Justice League Dark movie and use Swamp Thing in that too which would also introduce him to more fans too which I think would be just great.
Dread Central: When this movie was made, there weren’t multiple comic book-based movies coming out every year; how surprised were you and Bernie that someone wanted to bring “Swamp Thing” to the big screen?
Len Wein: Very, very surprised. I was like, “Are you kidding?” But I knew that Sol Harrison who was editor at DC Comics at the time saw that the character had that kind of potential so he sold the movie rights for something like $60,000. That’s something I’ve always been slack-jawed about (laughs). But I was thrilled and I was a fan of Wes Craven and a fan of the movie that he made from this character’s world. I really thought at the beginning it was going to be great and it turned out to be really great. The only thing about it is the limitations Wes had to deal with due to the technologies available at that time.
Synopsis
Deep in Florida’s darkest everglades, a brilliant scientist, Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise), and a sexy government agent, Alice Cable (Adrienne Barneau), have developed a secret formula that could end world hunger and change civilisation forever. Little do they know, however, that their arch nemesis, Arcane (Louis Jourdan), is plotting to steal the serum for his own selfish schemes. Looting the lab and kidnaping Cable, Arcane douses Holland with the chemicals and leaves him for dead in the swamp. Mutated by his own formula, Holland becomes “Swamp Thing”-a half plant superhero who will stop at nothing to rescue the beautiful Cable and defeat the evil Arcane…even if it costs him his life!
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