Un-Men

The Un-Men are a group of fictional characters in the DC/Vertigo Comics universe. Created by the writer/artist team of Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, the Un-Men made their first appearance in 1972, in issues #1–2 of the original Swamp Thing comic book series. The characters made subsequent appearances in later issues of Swamp Thing and its successor series, The Saga of the Swamp Thing (vol. 2) (later renamed Swamp Thing (vol. 2)), and in the 1994 five-issue Vertigo miniseries, American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men. In August 2007, Vertigo (DC's "mature readers line") launched The Un-Men, a monthly comic book series chronicling the further exploits of these characters. 13 issues of that title were published.

As described in Swamp Thing #2, the Un-Men are deformed, synthetic humanoids created by Anton Arcane. Unsuitable for Arcane's body-switching schemes, the Un-Men mindlessly serve their "master" as obedient henchmen. Arcane creates several groups of Un-Men throughout the years, with notable members including Ophidian, a centipede-like creature with hypnotic powers, and Cranius, a brain grafted to a large human hand.

Swamp Thing (vol. 2) #82–83 explores Arcane's early history as a battlefield medic for the German Army during World War I, where he creates prototype Un-Men by stitching together the body parts of dead soldiers.

In 1994, Vertigo published a five-issue miniseries, American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men, written by Dave Louapre and illustrated by Vince Locke. American Freak focuses on a new set of characters, described as the offspring of the original Arcane Un-Men.

The plot of American Freak revolves around Damien Kane, a second-generation Un-Man. Kane appears human until he turns 23 years of age, at which point he begins mutating. Kane frees himself, the second Un-Men, and the cryogenically frozen original Un-Men from captivity, after which they move to a former nuclear testing site.

A monthly series, written by John Whalen and illustrated by Mike Hawthorne, premiered in August 2007 and saw a 13-issue run. The first story arc takes place more than a decade after the founding of the Un-Men reservation in American Freak. Damien Kane has apparently died and his reservation has been taken over by the original Un-Men, led by Cranius. Under the control of Cranius, the reservation is turned into Aberrance U.S.A., a freak-themed tourist attraction. When a "natural-born" performing freak (i.e., not an Un-Man) from Aberrance is murdered, Agent Kilcrop of the U.S. Department of Energy is called in to investigate.

It is later revealed that Kane is alive, but has mutated into a mass of flesh and been captured by Cranius, who uses his regenerative properties to create the radical body modifications of his next-generation Un-Men. Kilcrop later destroys Kane and becomes Aberrance's chief of security. However, he is fired following his failure to contain Cranius' cadre of insectoid Un-Men.

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Un-Men are first seen accompanying Felix Faust, the Rotlings, and the rotted heroes and villains in the attack upon the Red.^[1] The Un-Men later engage Swamp Thing and the forces of the Green outside Anton Arcane's castle.^[2]

• Cranius – one of the original Un-Men
• Damien Kane
• Ophidian – one of the original Un-Men
• The Patchwork Man (Gregori Arcane)

The Un-Men appear in Swamp Thing, consisting of Dr. Deemo (voiced by Errol Slue), a bokor who speaks in rhyme and was mutated into a snake; Skinman (Gordon Masten), a zombie mutated into a bat; Weed Killer (Joe Matheson), a plant exterminator mutated into a leech/centipede monster; and Bayou Jack (Philip Akin), who was mutated into a mantis-like monster. This version of the group are humans who were temporarily mutated by Anton Arcane's transducer machine.^[3]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (February 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• The Un-Men at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Unofficial Un-Men Biography
• American Freak Title Index
• Un-Men at DC Comics Wiki
• Mike Hawthorne blog – Art from Vertigo's The Un-Men
• Cranius Design Sketch – Character sketch by Mike Hawthorne
• Anatomy of a Cover – Tomer Hanuka's Un-Men cover art
• Roots of the Swamp Thing—Containing a complete history of the Un-Men

• Getting Freaky with Vertigo's Un-Men, interview with John Whalen and Mike Hawthorne, Comic Book Resources, November 8, 2006
• Unearthing Un-Men: Mike Hawthorne on His Vertigo Series, Newsarama, November 8, 2006
• Talking About The Un-Men With Mike Hawthorne, Newsarama, September 14, 2007
• Un-Mentionable Dialogue, interview with John Whalen, Comics Bulletin, April 14, 2008