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1:9 This Monarch butterfly and airplane dream is experienced in next issue.
PAGES 2-3 --------------------------------------------
Pages 2-3 COMMENT: The final panel of each row is framed around a window.
Pages 2-3, Top Row "Carl's" research is based on studies of the famous psychologist Carl Jung.
The ancient art of predictng the future based on dreams is called oneiromancy.
Pages 2-3, Middle Row Link from top row="window on the future"/Liz in the window
Liz used to be a journalist before her late boyfriend abused her. Chester thought of bringing her the typewriter in last issue.
Pages 2-3, Bottom Row Link from middle row="bugging you"/"it is the bugs"
PAGES 4-5 --------------------------------------------
Pages 4-5 COMMENT: The final panel of each row shows the shape of a "body".
Pages 4-5, Top Row The Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster occurred in the Ukraine in 1986, filling more than 14,000 square miles with deadly radiation.
Constantine puts this???? vegetable to use in next issue.
Pages 4-5, Middle Row Those are the clothes Abby usually wears.
Pages 4-5, Bottom Row Link from middle row= Abby's clothes/"strip down"
Nancy Ming (full name revealed in issue 90) the acupuncturist appears next in ST #72.
PAGES 6-7 --------------------------------------------
Pages 6-7 COMMENT: The final panel of each row shows a scary face.
Pages 6-7, Top Row Wigan is a town in Lancashire, England.
Ghost-Hiding-In-The-Rushes is a retired Swamp Thing who last appeared in last issue.
PAGES 8-9 --------------------------------------------
Pages 8-9 COMMENT: The final panel of the top and middle rows shows Abby.
Pages 8-9, Top Row Silk Cuts are Constantine's favorite cigarette brand.
We'll see more of this painting in issue #72.
Pages 8-9, Bottom Row Link from middle row= Abby's nude body/nudie magazine
Dr. Roger "Piggy" Huntoon last appeared in issue #66 when he encountered Batman.
Issues of BATMAN and THE SHADOW can be seen on the news stand.
"Luckys" are "Lucky Strike" brand cigarettes.
PAGES 10-11 --------------------------------------------
Pages 10-11 COMMENT: The final panel of each row shows an expression of sexual desire.
Pages 10-11, Top Row Huntoon spoke of his book in issue #66.
The Dome is a Cold War security organization of non-aligned nations responsible for assembling the Global Guardians superteam.
Pages 10-11, Bottom Row Brenda appears next in #72 and briefly in Annual #4.
PAGES 12-13 --------------------------------------------
Pages 12-13 COMMENT: The final panel of each row shows things that connect. (John's tie, Abby's hands, wires)
Pages 12-13, Top Row A person who predicts the future by studying animal entrails is called a haruspex.
That body's tagged as SWAMP THING artist Steve Bissette!
Pages 12-13, Middle Row Link to bottom row= lump of clay in the hand
Pages 12-13, Bottom Row Marshall McLuhan is a noted media researcher who said "The medium is the message." (McLuhan is misspelled in this comic.)
This theory of natural silicate deposits functioning as a computer was alluded to in last issue at the top of page 6.
The ancient art of divination by the study of rocks is called geomancy.
PAGES 14-15 --------------------------------------------
Pages 14-15 COMMENT: The final panel of the top row links to the final panel of middle row: "hearts and flowers"/flowers
Pages 14-15, Top Row Slaughter Swamp was the creation site of the failed earth elemental Solomon Grundy, who fought Swampy in issue #67.
Pages 14-15, Bottom Row They must be thinking of another Bathsheba because the Bible's Bathsheba lived circa 1000 B.C. and King Herod was in the 1st century A.D.
Blackbriar Thorn had a cameo appearance in the aborted "Swamp Thing Meets Jesus" story.
Superman and the Demon fought Blackbriar Thorn in DC Comics Presents #66.
PAGES 16-17 ------------Top Row Link to middle row = "Lying down"
PAGES 16-17 ------------Middle Row Link to bottom row = Microscopic plant cells/"worlds within worlds"
PAGES 16-17 ------------Bottom Row The superhero battle is the premise of the DC Comics CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS mini-series. Reality was altered and Barry Allen the Flash died, along with Supergirl and many others. (The image in this panel of Superman holding the dead Flash is a "pieta" pose, which has been used on many comics such as LOIS LANE #128, UNCANNY X-MEN #136, and the classic CRISIS #7 by George Perez, pictured at left.) Nobody in the DC Universe is supposed to remember it.
PAGES 18-19 --------------------------------------------
PAGES 18-19 ------------Top Row The war with the Guardians and the Manhunters is the premise of the MILLENNIUM mini-series which crossed over into most DC Comics series in 1988. Woodrue became Floro during the event. (Art at right by Steve Bissette)
PAGES 18-19 ------------Middle Row Link from top row = "draft"/Abby blows
PAGES 18-19 ------------Bottom Row Link from middle row = Abby blows/"big wind blew him"
PAGES 20-21 --------------------------------------------
PAGES 20-21:5 The Swamp Thing statue was erected in Gotham City in issue #55. when everyone thought he was dead.
PAGES 20-21:9 Labo the Cajun was last seen in #67.
"Tree Frog" beer (seen next to the strawberries) is a real brand of beer inspired by the beverage which THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS drank in their 1970's underground comic series.
PAGES 22-23:4 Abby was married to Matt Cable.
PAGES 22-23:9 Swampy escaped from his ancestors, the Parliament of Trees in last issue.
PAGES 22-23:10 Why is the face of the Sprout seen in Constantine's lighter flame?
PAGES 22-23:11 Blue Beetle is a DC Comics superhero
PAGES 23:16 We find out where Swampy hid the Sprout in next issue. This panel contains a hint. (See also last issue's cover)
PAGES 24:1 Link from 23:16 = "eye"
This is a marijuana plant.
COMMENT: The title of this issue, "The Secret Life of Plants" (1973) is a book by Peter Tompkins & Christopher Bird.
COMMENT: This is the first appearance of all of Constantine's consultants seen in this issue. Carl Jung, Ming, Brenda, Rodney and the cave-painter appear in #72. Staj the farmer and Freddy the geomancer appear in #73. Dogbum and his dog appear in next issue and #73.
COMMENT: In 2004, DC Comics collected issues 65-70 in the trade book "Swamp Thing: Regenesis".
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