Swamp Thing #11 Recalled Due To Suggestive Tentacle

DC Comics, September 2012.

Swamp Thing #11 (Diamond code: MAY120250) was written by Scott Snyder, the cover art was by Yanick Paquette and the interior art by Marco Rudy.

Part two of ANTON ARCANE'S return, as his role in the mythology of THE ROT is revealed! Do NOT miss the final page of this issue!

Scott Snyder recounted the story of Swamp Thing #11 on his Twitter account: He was attending Heroes Con (Charlotte) in early June 2012 when he got a call from his editor Matt Idelson stating that all copies of the comic needed to be pulped, apparently Matt had stated that "...one of the Arcane's tentacles. It looks a little 'dickish'."

Scott was confused and asked that the art was sent so he could look at it whilst at the con. He was still a little confused looking at the early panels on the page in question stating "OK, it's a little dickish, yes. But PULP the issue?".

Matt then apparently cuts Scott off with a straight "No. Panel 4." leading to the Scott's realization of the issue but more confusion to how it got there. However, Scott was then reminded that he had asked Matt, "for more tentacles, if possible, in panel 1...and panel 4", so in a way "...had created the penis tentacle that had ruined my own book".

Below is the corrected panel art that went into the reprinted comics that were distributed to comic shops:

Scott went on to say, "And I tell my friends the story, how the penis tentacle was my own creation, completely my fault".

In 2014, Snyder got a package in the mail for his birthday: Rafael Albuquerque had bought him the original art for the page!

Snyder went on to say "The art team on the book was incredible, and 100% blameless", however, someone added (and colored) the tentacle in just the right place, not hard to miss!

The pulping seems to have occurred well before the comic was due to be distributed (the problem was found a month before the comic was due in the shops), however, someone somewhere (DC or the printer) seems to have retained some copies as CGC had two recorded gradings (in early November 2018) with the label text "Recalled due to suggestive panel".

Maybe more dodgy tentacled issues are out there, however, these seem impossible to find at present.