Okay here we go, Issue #1.

Cover Impressions:

Striking blue background. Swamp Thing (and a little girl) surrounded by a literal torch bearing mob...looks promising. And as a bonus it is a Collector's Issue, how could one go wrong buying this off the rack.

Swamp Thing #1 (May, 1982)
Title: What Peace There May Be In Silence
Credits:
Writer-Martin Pasko
Never read much of Pasko's work other than a few issues of his late 70s Superman books, which he has several to his credit. I did look up Pasko on the Web, he has been around
along time, got his start in comics by being a frequent letter writer and then later hired by DC. After Swamp Thing he mostly worked in television and animation.

Art-Tom Yeates
I know Yates from his work on the Dark Horse Busiek Conan run, solid stuff. So I imagine the art for Swamp Thing will be good as well.   

Editor-Len Wein
Yep I have heard of him

Colorist-Tatjana Wood
Not overly familiar with Wood other than she was the colorist for Camelot 3000 and Wally Wood's wife. She also was the colorist for many DC titles from the 70s into the 80s.

Letterer-John Costanza
I know his work from DC War Titles, Conan, Kirby New Gods, Dark Knight Returns, Camelot 3000, LoSH, Wonder Woman, Sandman Mystery Theater and
many others. Pretty impressive resume.

Overall the initial creators on Swamp Thing are a pretty solid crew. This bodes well for Swampy and me!

Thoughts on the issue:

Pretty solid first issue. Starts with a good recap of Swamp Thing's origin. I assume all of this happened in Vol 1 and House of Secrets. I was bit surprised to find the story set in the swamps of North Carolina, I thought Swamp Thing was set the bayou of Louisiana?  Also in this issue, Swampy rescues a mute girl named Casey, from her crazy Father who just killed her Mother and is about to kill her. By the end of the issue the whole town gets whipped into angry mob and introduces the reader to mysterious men named Mr. Kay and Mr. G. Both villains I assume...no capes to be found however. Certainly not a traditional super hero comic right out of the gate. And of course we learn at the very end that Swamp Thing may be dying...all that in 17 pages. That would be about 6 issues in today's comics.

Also I find it pretty gruesome for 1982, Swamp Thing gets blasted with a shot gun and gets his hand severed. Also a little girl is almost murdered by her Father for being a witch. Dark stuff indeed.

Grade: B