The Nature of Humanity

Writer Alan Moore is credited with breathing new life into Swamp Thing in part by rethinking the hero's backstory and altering his very nature. In the past, Swamp Thing was considered to be a monstrous version of botanist Alec Holland. Holland's lab was blown up with Holland inside. A burning Holland flung himself into the swamp, where it was assumed the man's bio-restorative formula he was working on regenerated him, combining him with swamp vegetation to emerge as Swamp Thing.

Alan Moore changes all this by having evil botanist Jason Woodrue discover in issue #21 that the swamp vegetation merely "consumed" the consciousness of Alec Holland. Swamp Thing in fact has no humanity, and there is no Alec Holland inside of Swamp Thing to try to recover. Humanity then becomes a crucial aspect of existence for Swamp Thing to grapple with.

At first, Swamp Thing is...