History: (Swamp Thing I #1) - Nathan Ellery was the head of the Conclave, who knew him as Mr. E. The Conclave was a ruthless group of businessmen and their associates who devoted themselves to acquiring wealth by any means necessary. E learned that the U.S. government had scientists Alec and Linda Holland researching a bio-restorative formula in the swamps of Louisiana. The Conclaves business interests could have been put in jeopardy by the formula, so Mr. E sent his thugs Bruno and Ferrett to see the Hollands, and offer to buy their finished product. Alec angrily refused to betray the government, so Mr. E. sent a dog to his shack with a radio transmitter in its head to keep track of him. When the Hollands perfected the formula, E sent his thugs around again to repeat their offer, with instructions to kill the Hollands if they refused. The goons found Alec alone in his lab, and when he refused to cooperate they knocked him out, and set a bomb. Alec woke up as the bomb exploded, and his corpse was blasted into the swamp. The corpse was drenched in the bio-restorative formula, and this affected the swamp's plant life, imbuing it with Alec's consciousness and memories. The newly conscious plant life formed a semblance of a human form and rose up from the bog as the Swamp Thing. The men that killed Alec fatally shot Linda, but she was avenged by the Swamp Thing, who strangled them to death.

(Swamp Thing I #2, 3) - Mr. E was furious that Swamp Thing killed two of his best men, and had his bugged dog follow around government agent Matt Cable to keep abreast of Swamp Thing’s movements.

(Swamp Thing I #6) - The Conclave received reports about Mayor Klochmann, of Burgess, Vermont, who’d built a utopian town populated by robots of his own making. Mr. E. led a task force, projecting his voice through a remote controlled robot, that arrived in Burgess via helicopter. He demanded exclusive control over Klochmann and his work, but the Mayor knew that E was evil, and refused. Matthew Cable and Abigail Arcane were investigating Burgess on behalf of the Interpol, and tried to stop the Conclave, but E had them subdued and flown away in a helicopter. He promised his men would break Cable’s will and learn all of Interpol’s secrets. Swamp Thing was also present in Burgess, and watched the Conclave torture Klochmann by gunning down his precious robots. E tried to capture Swamp Thing, but the monster destroyed his robotic avatar. The rest of the task force fatally shot Klochmann, turning the remaining robots against Klochmann’s pacifistic programming, and making them beat the task force to death

(Swamp Thing I #7) - Ellering returned to Gotham City, where he served as a trusted board member of the Wayne Foundation, and was a close friend of Bruce Wayne’s. Bruce, in his Batman identity, was trying to uncover Mr. E’s identity, but kept coming up blank, although he managed to make a dent in the Conclave’s illegal operations in Gotham. Swamp Thing was in Gotham searching for Matt and Abby, and found them in an abandoned warehouse being tortured by Conclave operative Dr. Hammerschmidt. Swamp Thing saved them, and finally learned from Hammerschmidt that Mr. E was responsible for Alec and Linda’s deaths. Swamp Thing and Batman both realized that Ellering was the head of the Conclave, and confronted him at his penthouse apartment. Swamp Thing was in a rage, and battered Ellery, but couldn’t bring himself to kill him. Ellery, in a daze, stepped n his pet monkey, which bit him, and caused him to plummet from his penthouse balcony to his death.

(Swamp Thing I #15 (BTS), 16, 17) - Mr. E was resurrected by the Conclave‘s scientists, but was left crippled. He kidnapped Swamp Thing’s ally Jefferson Bolt, brought him to a Conclave stronghold in the Caribbean, and had Dr. Pretorius torture him to learn Swamp Thing’s current location. E no longer wanted the secret of the bio-restorative formula, he only wanted Swamp Thing dead. Matt Cable and Abby came looking for Bolt, and the Conclave imprisoned them. Swamp Thing was also hot on E’s trail, and E used a remote video screen in his stronghold to demand Swamp Thing confront him, or watch his friends die. E revealed his long term plans to Matt and company, Dr. Pretorius had invented the Ultra Cerebralociter, which would destroy the minds of every capable leader on Earth, which would allow E to set himself up as world emperor. E hoped his robotic sentries would kill Swamp Thing before he entered his inner sanctum, but Swamp Thing persevered and confronted his hated foe. With Linda’s death still tormenting him, he picked up E’s wheelchair and smashed him into the Ultra Cerebralociter. Loose wires electrocuted E, and his rampaging robotic sentries destroyed the rest of the Conclave.

Comments: Created by Len Wein & Berni Wrightson.

The Conclave had a cameo in Swamp Thing I #13.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com