He may be a simple minded fellow, but Solomon Grundy has a complicated story. Sometimes portrayed as a villain and sometimes an antihero he was introduced as a villain of Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern. Grundy made his first appearance in All-American Comics #61 (October 1944) and since that initial pairing he has shown up in various DC titles, including as an enemy of Superman and Batman. Created by Alfred Bester, Solomon Grundy is one of the earliest, if not the first, zombie in comic books.
Grundy’s story starts in the 1800s when he was the rich merchant Cyrus Gold, who was murdered and thrown in Slaughter Swamp near Gotham City. After 50 years his body is reanimated with swamp matter that had settled on the body for decades. With no memory of his past, the disoriented walking corpse kills two escaped criminals that had been hiding in the swamp and takes their clothes. He stumbles into a hobo camp and is immediately perplexed when they ask his name. All he remembers is that he was born on a Monday prompting one of the men to recite the nursery rhyme for Solomon Grundy. Having forgotten his name, Gold dubs himself Solomon Grundy.
The very strong and basically mindless Grundy begins a life of crime, putting him on Green Lantern’s radar. Since he is basically unkillable, Grundy becomes a formidable opponent. Despite the usually awesome abilities of Green Lantern’s ring, it fails to stop Grundy since he is partly made of wood, a substance that is resistant to Scott’s power. During the fight Grundy thinks he killed Green Lantern after Scott emits a green flash. In his mindless state Grundy kills more people hoping to see the bright flash again. Green Lantern finds Grundy and throws him under a train ending their first fight.
Grundy is saved by Professor, a criminal scientist who injects him with concentrated chlorophyll. He is then trapped in a green plasma bubble but a freak weather event releases him from this prison. Grundy travels across the country to the Justice Society of America’s headquarters. When members of the JSA arrive for a meeting they find the area wrecked and Green Lantern missing. They begin tracking Grundy by heading to various cities where potential sightings have been shared over the radio. Green Lantern and Doiby Dickles use a radio-like device calibrated to Grundy’s mental wavelengths to find him. When Grundy and Green Lantern come face to face, Grundy throws a tree at Green Lantern and in turn Green Lantern uses his power ring to fight back. Both men end up tossed over the edge of a waterfall. Green Lantern is too weak to continue fighting and Grundy almost drowns him until Hawkman arrives, striking Grundy with his mace while Mid-Night revives Green Lantern. After neutralizing Grundy, Green Lantern drops him on the moon.
