The Golem

This character originates in Jewish Mysticism, and was the basis of a book by Gustav Meyrink, Der Golem, published in 1925 or so and appeared in a film by the same name starring and produce by Paul Wegener. In the story, a Rabbi brought the Creature to life only when there was a clear need, to defend the Prague Jewish community from expulsion. A version of this character has appeared in both Marvel and DC comics.

Marvel

In this version: In centuries agone, they called the Golem a Myth, a creature formed of stone and clay and from the blood of a peoples' oppression,- a moving monolith who rose before the yoke of tyranny-shattered in his monumental fists- then vanished into the sands of time-there to be almost forgotten-until today!
Now, once more, the Golem rises-summoned from his eons-long sleep to protect those he loves. Now, for the fist time in untold decades.......THE GOLEM WALKS! Golems have also come up against Moon Knight and the Hulk.

In a tale scripted by Len Wein (co-creator of DC's Swamp-Thing) one Professor Adamson found what others said was just a statue, but he believed it to be the Golem. With his dying breath he read from ancient scrolls he possessed in a frantic attempt to revive the Golem to help his friends, and when his tears fell on the Golem's foot this brought it to life. (Strange Tales #174)

DC

At the competition a golem has shown up in some Batman comics, Swamp-Thing, and also in Ragman. In that appearance the Golem went on a rampage and Ragman must destroy it.

Other publishers

The figure of a Golem features in James Sturm's story The Golem's Mighty Swing, published by Drawn and Quarterly in which a member of a depression era Jewish baseball team is talked into dressing up a Golem as a publicity gimmick to tie-in with the film's popularity. It also plays a role in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Dark Horses' Breath of Bones present s "proper" Golem.

IT!

Based on the 1940 story by Theodore Sturgeon, an adaptation of which appeared in Marvel comics' Supernatural Thrillers # 1, (1972). It tells the story of a plant creature formed around the skeleton of a man. It wanders around the swamp interacting with members of a local family.

The Heap

Originally published in Air Fighters Comics 3 (Dec 1942), he was a WW1 German pilot shot down whose will to live, coupled with the vegetation of the swamp and some mystical force allowed something to rise from the swamp. Image created a new version of Heap as well.

Solomon Grundy

The character made his first appearance in All American #61 (October 1944). In Starman #34 (Sept 1997) we are told that one Cyrus Gold, a wealthy merchant, was murdered by rogues in the swamps of Gotham City during 1894. Some anger at his death or rage at the world kept his essence in the swamp. 50 years later that essence took form and was reborn. He encountered some hobo's who named him Solomon Grundy because he was born on a Monday.

Alan, the Killing Tree!

In the story 'Invitation to Doom' from Witches Tales #7 (Harvey, January 1952) Alan the botanist thinks that trees hold the secret to longevity so he replaces his blood with some sap, unfortunately this has the unforseen side effect of turning him into a homicidal tree, and the local authorities have no choice but to put a stop to his murdering rampage.
Information care of Matt and Klaus @ UltraZine
According to the Eerie Publications Index the plot was later reworked for the story 'A Shape of Evil' in Terror Tales Vol 5 #1, Feb 1973.

The Tree People

Adventures into the Unknown #105 (February 1959) included the story Last of the Tree People! by Richard Hughes (w) [as Greg Olivetti] and John Rosenberger (art) which involved a botanist who goes to the Moon and finds intelligent trees and carnivorous dinosaurs. Doesn't sound like a muck monster...

Spotted by Klaus d'Boss

Groot

November 1960 issue of Tales to Astonish. Claiming to be monarch of his people, Groot came to Earth to steal a village and return it to his home planet for his scientists to study and experiment on the inhabitants. First discovered by biologist Leslie Evans, Groot attacked the town and was eventually killed when Evans released specially-bred termites upon him. - Not a muck Monster

Keith Giffen made a brief use of Groot in his 2005 Nick Fury's Howling Commandos limited series, then gave him a staring role in Annihilation Conquest: Starlord as part of a team on a suicide mission. This lead to a role in the ongoing Guardians of the Galaxy comic and a break-out appearance in the 2014 film of the same name.

Thanks to Greg Plantamura for nudging me to update this entry

Glob

Roy Thomas did a Hulk story (Hulk 121 and 129) where he had the Hulk fight an escaped prisoner who went down in a radioactive bog and became The Glob.
Information care of George @ UltraZine
Though blown apart at the end of this conflict, he was reconstituted by an evil cult in Giant-Sized Man-Thing #1, the two creatures fight and the Glop dies, but not before taking revenge on the cult leader. For other Marvel creatures check out Monster Blog!, a tribute to the Monster Comics of Jack Kirby and a page on the glob at Incrediblehulk.com

Swamp Thing

The DC entrant who originally appeared at almost the same time as our hero. Scientist Alec Holland ran, on fire, from his lab in the Louisiana Swamp and fell dead. The life force of the swamp reanimated him as the earth elemental. Not sure what the current status is of Swamp-Thing in DC's New52.

The Stalking Swamp

I'm not sure of the date for this issue but it looks like mid seventies in style. This muck-monster made a cover appearance for The Phantom Stranger #14. While this looks a lot like our favourite muck monster, Rick Morris informed us that it wasn't a real swamp monster...in fact, it wasn't even in the Phantom Stranger story. This was one of the few issues in which the backup story (featuring Dr. Thirteen, sceptical sleuth of the supernatural) was cover featured. And it turned out to be a fake monster built to cover up the criminal activities of the story's villain, Dr. Zachary Nail.

Ironically enough, though, this WAS the same swamp in which the real Swamp Thing would later dwell. Rick believes he met Zachary Nail in issue 12 or 13 of his own original run. (Len Wein, who co-created Swamp Thing, wrote both that story and the Dr. Thirteen one, though original artist/co-creator Berni Wrightson had already been replaced by Nestor Redondo at that point.)

Big thanks to Rick.

The Heap

According to Wikipedia, this version of the character appeared in Skywald's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Psycho, in most issues from #2-13 (March 1971 - July 1973), and was created by writer Charles McNaughton and penciler-inker team of Ross Andru & Mike Esposito. The character here was origiannaly pilot Jim Roberts, who accidentally crashed his cropduster plane into a tank of liquid nerve gas at an Army toxic waste dump and was horribly mutated into a jagged-fanged, long-tongued and glaring-eyed brute whose hideous blob-like body was virtually indestructible, bullets passing with a minimum of damage through the slimy gelatinous green "earth matter" which had replaced his fleshly form and which could regenerate itself against any injury up to and including near total incineration by a bolt of lightning. Unlike the previous incarnation, this Heap while mute was no mindless monstrosity and retained his human intelligence, allowing readers to share his every anguished thought as he wandered the world in a desperate attempt to find some method to either cure or kill himself.

Turd

This was the creation of Scott Shaw back in the early 70s comic Gory Stories Quarterly # 2 1/2 . There was only one story and it started with Turd's origin--all at the same time a mad scientist flushed a failed radioactive experiment down the toilet, a kid who had just finished "his business" on the toilet while reading Playboy flushed, and a woman flushed a used Tampax; all these elements combined with the effluvia in the sewers and Turd was born. He spent the story rampaging through the city, consuming all the toilet paper. He was finally defeated when a janitor flipped a helicopter upside down and chopped the Turd to pieces.
Information care of Jim Bertges @ UltraZine

The Dark Secret of the Swamp

From The Unexpected #152 (November 1973), by Mike Fleisher (w) and Alex Nino (a). Cover by Nick Cardy. Concerns a number of folks who fall into the swamp and are turned to stone, not muck.

The Swamp Creature

Painted by Jeff Jones. Over 200 big, scary pieces made in 1974 by American Publishing Corp., Watertown, Mass, 02172, USA. (ref.#1186).

The Muck Monster

The story of a reanimated corpse monster by Berni Wrightson. This appeared first in Eerie #68 (September 1975) and was reprinted in Master of the Macabre #1(June 1983).

The Bog Beast

A character in Larry Lieber's Atlas Comics line in the mid-seventies. He appeared in Tales of Evil #2, Weird Tales of the Macabre #2. He doesn't appear to have any powers other than metahuman durability, and is apparently part angel and part demon. In the Tales of Evil #2 story ( The Fifty Dollar Body!, 8pp) he encounters hippie revolutionaries, and sides with them and against the police who try to kill them. The female tries to sell him to a circus, the male gets him out. The woman shoots the man and flees, tripping and falling, hitting her head on a rock, dying.

The credits for this story are John Albano, writer; Jack Sparling, artist; Alan Kupperberg, letterer; Larry Lieber (Stan Lee's brother), editor. Cover art ??

Information care of Scott Andrew Hutchins

Xyloman

An alien probe fell to earth, and dying, transferred it's energy/life force into a tree. Chuck Powers, forest ranger sleeping out in the woods, went to investigate. The energy / life force decided it had a better deal with Chuck, and entered him next. He gained tree related powers (regeneration of lost limbs, and stretching fingers - how he retracted them based on plant growth wasn't well explained) and extraterrestrial powers, such as the ability to fly. He absorbs tree and alien powers... but he doesn't change from into a heap or anything, he appears the same as he always did, except when his fingers do that growing thing.. Created by Steve Streeter

In a collaboration with writer Klaus Haisch, Xyloman meet a tree based foe by the name of Root, a normal tree turned ambulatory by the wicked Abby Cadaver, Root wound up pulling Abby Cadaver down into the fires of Hell. Klaus pointed out that Root owes alot to Groot.

In 2011 Steve Streeter was working on a new xyloman story - 30+ years after his last appearance - which can be seen via Steve's Facebook page. He has a couple of distinctly ambulatory looking trees in it. Not exacly muck monsters, but some kind of cousin to muck monsters!

Thanks to both Matt Love - who inked the last few issues in 1977 - and Klaus Haisch for supplying the information and scans.

Mudd

Written by Man-thing co-creator Roy Thomas and art work by Scott Shaw This character made a one off appearance in Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew NO 4 (June 1982). A carelessly discarded drum of make-up goop combines with an alligator's skeleton and creates MUDD.

Un-named Creature

This creature appeared in the 1983 Dungeons and Dragons animated TV series episode Prison Without Walls in which the party of adventurers have to free a village of enslaved gnomes from the villainous Venger, who is using them to mine mystical gemstones for him. Along the way they encounter the creature.

While we don't know enough about the creature to be sure it would count as a Muck Monster, as the episode was written by Steve Gerber I think it deserves a mention, and it's possible that this is an appearance of the Shambling Mound. You can find some more details at Branded in the '80s

Elf-Thing

Eclipse Comics, Mar. 1987. Story, Frank P. Marino ; art, James J. Friel.
The Comics Warehouse says A quadruple parody of Marvel's Hulk, Hillman's (and Eclipse's) Heap, DC's Swamp Thing, and WaRP's' Elfquest, in which a muck monster research scientist ingests a secret serum that turns him into (gasp!) a hideously cute elf. How could they not mention Man-Thing???

Sludge

From the Malibu Ultraverse in Oct 1993. Sergeant Frank Hoag was a crooked cop, but not crooked enough to kill one of his colleagues which meant he was a liability to the local Mafia boss. In attempting to escape the Mafia goons he was covered in some strange chemical before being riddled with bullets and thrown in the sewer. Soon he awakes, a walking sludge heap.

Bog, Swamp Demon

Real name: BAUGGROTH
Occupation: Demon of the Lower Pits. Height: 82, WeIght: 255 lbs, Eyes: Black. Known super powers: Demon strength. Burgeoning, magical abilities attributed to spellbound bones that Bog has borrowed to build his body.
First appearance: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 Vol. 2 (1994)
History: Bog was freed from the boiling depths by escaping through the Hell Well. A twisting, turning tunnel magically excavated by a long dead wizard. It seems the necromancer wished to possess the secrets of Hell by breaching her walls, but he only perished in the process, succumbing to a fiery demise at the very foot of this 'Hole Down to Hell. Now, centuries since, Bog arrives to step foot upon this plane of existence, only to find his ectopiasmic essence must have form. Thus, finding the barren bones of the long dead sorcerer, he adopts them as his own and weaves a body from the muck and undergrowth of the stagnant, sloppy swamp. Bog has yet to fully realize the magical powers trapped in his borrowed skeleton, although they are beginning to manifest themselves as he does battle with his many foes who would once again seek to drag his soul to Hell. Bog has fought against such evil fiends as Mogog the Prince of Darkness, Baphomet Etherlal and the Hideous Hellaphant, Beast from Beyond. Needless to say, Bog has triumphed over them all. He and his swamp land home are safe for the moment!
Publishing history: TMNT 04-12 Vol. #2, Bog Swamp Demon #1-4, Guest Appearance in Hall of Horrors #1, Big Bang Comics #15. Bog Swamp Demon Blogspot

Pinus Radiation

The New Zealand entry in the Muck Monster legion by Peter Johnstone. A tree's roots tap into an ancient meteor, bringing the tree to life. As it goes on a rampage, a jet pilot crashes his plane in the forest. Near death, he agrees to merge with the tree, thus giving rational control to the tree's brute power. Copies of the comic are available from here.

A visitor remarked that Pinus Radiation seems to have a lot in common with two characters created by Steve Streeter - Xyloman and Root, which we now have some information about below...

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The novel by Michael Chabon follows the lives of two Jewish cousins before, during, and after World War II who create comics in an alternative history of the goldern age. The inanimate Golem of Prague plays an important role in the novel, and reference is also made to the Heap:

And the stuff they are doing, grown-ups are reading it. Adults. It's dark. It's also mean, I think, but look around you, this is a mean age we're living in. Have you seen the Heap?

I love the Heap.

The Heap, I mean, come on, that's a comic book character? He's basically, what, a sentient pile of mud and weeds and, I don't know, sediment. With that tiny little beak. He breaks things. But he's supposed to be a hero.

I see what you're saying.

This is what I'm saying. It's 1954. You got a pile of dirt walking around, the kids think that's admirable. Imagine what they'll think of the Golem.(pg 584).

Garbage Man

This creator owned DC character made his first appearance in Weird Worlds #1, January 2011. Created by Aaron Lopresti (who co-created an earlier Muck monster Sludge), Garbageman ...has the classic elements of a Muck Monster story. Once a man now a monster. A monster trying to remember his past and find those responsible for his condition. As he moves forward he wrestles with the morality of "revenge" along with struggling to come to an acceptance of what he has become and how he fits in with humanity if at all.

Mossy-Man

First appearance in the DC comic Weird Worlds # 6. A silent swamp monster is the misunderstood monster in the story, pitted against the well-intentioned, but mistaken Garbage Man muck monster who is the star of this back-up feature written and penciled by Aaron Lopresti

Muck man is seeking out others like him and shambles across "Mossy Man" seemingly threatening a young boy. The boy is a runaway from a shack in the swamp, where his floozy, dope-smoking mom lives with an abusive drunken 2nd-husband. The two bog beasts battle, only for the boy to fall into quicksand (or something). The "hero" Garbage Man tries to get to the boy but wonders how he'll beat up the "Mossy Man" who is reaching to snare the boy, when he finds that the moss man is actually HELPING. Monsters make friends, Drunken hillbilly step-dad gets hostile and is killed by Mossy Man, who walks off with the boy.

Summary by P-Tor

The Golem

In Dark Hourses Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem by Steve Niles, Matt Santoro and artist Dave Watcher the giant clay monster from Jewish legend goes on a Nazi-killing rampage in order to protect the inhabitants of a small Jewish stronghold and an injured British pilot.

Bog and Marsh-Beasts

Non-player characters in World of Warcraft, WoWWiki tells us that these are large plant-like creatures, often found in temperate marshes of Azeroth. These massive plants may be mistaken for a thick clump of vegetation... if not for their vaguely humanoid shapes and surprising mobility. As the name suggests, bog-beasts are massive, shambling monsters that are half plant and half beast. Not much is known about these secretive lords of the swamp, except that they are territorial and rather aggressive. Explorers have recorded stories of their immense strength and resilience to harm. Bog-beasts are known to wander the Dustwallow Marsh, south of the Barrens. Bog-beasts use their strength to slam into their enemies, crushing opponents' defenses with their fists and whatever large objects they can throw at them. Bog-beasts are also found in the Swamp of Sorrows, Ashenvale, and Teldrassil. Unlike animals, they reproduce by seeds. In some ways, they reflect the natural order of plants and animals.
Marsh beasts are to be found in Outland.

Spotted by WoWWiki