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The Heap (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Heap is the name of several fictional
comic book
muck-monster
s, the original of which first appeared in Hillman Periodicals
' Air Fighters Comics #3 (Dec. 1942), during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
. The character was created by writer Harry Stein and artist Mort Leav
, and revived in the 1980s by Eclipse Comics
.
Similar but unrelated characters appeared in comics stories published by Skywald in the 1970s and Image Comics
in the 1990s.
vol. 3, #9 (Oct. 1946), it became the star of a backup feature. That feature continued until the final issue, vol. 10, #4 (May 1953). Other artists associated with Hillan's Heap include Jack Abel
, Paul Reinman
, and Ernie Schroeder
.
In 1986, Eclipse Comics
, having acquired rights to some Hillman characters, began publishing a new Airboy comic with the Heap as a supporting character. The Heap also appeared in the Eclipse title The New Wave
, where the creature was considered by some members of that group to be a member. Eclipse Comics went bankrupt and ceased operations in the 1990s. Image Comics
purchased the Eclipse assets, including the Heap.
A version of Baron von Emmelman also appears in the novel The Bloody Red Baron
, part of the Anno Dracula
series by Kim Newman
. Here he and the other great pilots of the First World War are vampires, and his monstrous form is the result of experiments to improve his vampiric abilities.
& Mike Esposito
. Andru quickly took over scripting as well, later teaming with penciler-inker Pablo Marcos
, who remained after editor Al Hewetson
took over the writing. The final two stories were drawn by Xavier G. Vilanova, variously credited at Skywald and elsewhere as simply "Vilanova" or "Villanova".
This Heap also starred in the one-shot comics magazine The Heap #1 (Sept. 1971), written by Robert Kanigher
and penciled by Tom Sutton
. The company went defunct later that decade, and historians are uncertain whether it had formally acquired character rights from Hillman, which had ceased publishing in the mid-1950s.
Marvel Comics
writer/editor Roy Thomas
, a fan of the original Heap character and a co-creator of Marvel's muck monster the Man-Thing
), said he suggested that Skywald revive the Heap:
Another similar character debuted in Image Comics' Spawn
#73 (June 1998), reimagined by writers Todd McFarlane
and Brian Holguin
and penciler Greg Capullo
.
In 2011, Moonstone Books
published a three-issue miniseries starring the Heap. Though this character is described as a "concept created by Charles Knauf" in the credits, he shares the same origin as the Hillman version, albeit with a different look and Norse mythology elements.
German flying ace
who was shot down in 1918 over a Polish swamp. Clinging to the smallest shred of life through sheer force of will (and, as it was later revealed, with the mystic help of the nature goddess Ceres
), through the decades his body decayed and intermingled with the vegetation around him, becoming one with the marshland itself until at last it, as the comics referred to the former Baron, arose from the muck during the early years of World War II
as The Heap.
Resembling a huge humanoid haystack
whose most visible facial feature was a dangling root-like snout, the mute monstrosity first battled the lupine-cowled Blackhawk
-style Allied ace Skywolf before turning against its fellow Germans who were now fanatical followers of the evil Nazi cause. Then it took to wandering the globe, helping in its semi-mindless and often misunderstood way those in need and battling those monsters more malevolent than itself.
Capable of both savage violence and a surprising gentleness, for a time the Heap even had a kid sidekick
of sorts in the form of Rickie Wood, a young boy whose remote control model biplane
stirred murky memories of its former life.
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.
, a series about a conflicted, mostly Earth-bound servant of Hell
, reimagined The Heap as a bum named Eddie Beckett. Beckett was murdered after finding a bag of necroplasm
, a supernatural substance of which Spawn's body is composed. The necroplasm reacted with his body, causing the earth and trash around him to collect and meld with his corpse. The Heap fought Spawn on at least two occasions, each time swallowing and engulfing Spawn and sending him to the mysterious Greenworld, an other-dimensional representation of nature.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
muck-monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
s, the original of which first appeared in Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals, Inc. was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher...
' Air Fighters Comics #3 (Dec. 1942), during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
. The character was created by writer Harry Stein and artist Mort Leav
Mort Leav
Mortimer Leav is an American artist best known as co-creator of the influential comic-book character the Heap, and for his advertising art, which included some of the earliest TV commercial storyboards — among them, for Procter & Gamble's venerable Charmin bathroom-tissue character, the...
, and revived in the 1980s by Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
.
Similar but unrelated characters appeared in comics stories published by Skywald in the 1970s and Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
in the 1990s.
Hillman
Following its debut Air Fighters Comics #3 (cover-dated Dec. 1942), the Heap reappeared as a guest character sporadically in that title. With its fourth appearance, in the by-then re-titled Airboy ComicsAirboy
Airboy is a fictional aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II-era time period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writers Charles Biro and Dick Wood and artist Al Camy.-Golden Age:Airboy...
vol. 3, #9 (Oct. 1946), it became the star of a backup feature. That feature continued until the final issue, vol. 10, #4 (May 1953). Other artists associated with Hillan's Heap include Jack Abel
Jack Abel
Jack Abel a.k.a. Gary Michaels was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for leading publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was DC's primary inker on the Superman titles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and inked penciler Herb Trimpe's introduction of the popular superhero...
, Paul Reinman
Paul Reinman
Paul J. Reinman was an American comic book artist best known as one of industry legend's Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during what comics fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books...
, and Ernie Schroeder
Ernie Schroeder
Ernest C. "Ernie" Schroeder was an American comic book artist and a commercial illustrator and sculptor, best known for drawing and co-writing Hillman Periodicals' influential muck-monster the Heap from 1949 to 1953....
.
In 1986, Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
, having acquired rights to some Hillman characters, began publishing a new Airboy comic with the Heap as a supporting character. The Heap also appeared in the Eclipse title The New Wave
The New Wave (comics)
The New Wave was a superhero team comic book published 1986-87 by Eclipse Comics. The team debuted in a preview included in the pages of two other Eclipse publications, The New DNAgents #8 and Miracleman #8, before debuting in its own book. For its initial eight issues, The New Wave was published...
, where the creature was considered by some members of that group to be a member. Eclipse Comics went bankrupt and ceased operations in the 1990s. Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
purchased the Eclipse assets, including the Heap.
A version of Baron von Emmelman also appears in the novel The Bloody Red Baron
The Bloody Red Baron
The Bloody Red Baron is a 1995 novel by British author Kim Newman. It is the second book in the Anno Dracula series and takes place thirty years after the former.-Plot:...
, part of the Anno Dracula
Anno Dracula series
The Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman—named after Anno Dracula , the series' first novel—is a work of fantasy depicting an alternate history in which the heroes of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula fail to stop Count Dracula's conquest of Great Britain, resulting in a world where vampires are common and...
series by Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
. Here he and the other great pilots of the First World War are vampires, and his monstrous form is the result of experiments to improve his vampiric abilities.
Similar from other publishers
A similar character called The Heap, who did not share the original character's origin or identity, appeared in the publisher Skywald's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Psycho, in most issues from #2-13 (March 1971 - July 1973). This version was created by writer Charles McNaughton and the longtime penciler-inker team of Ross AndruRoss Andru
Ross Andru was an American comic book artist and editor. He is best known for his work on Amazing Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Flash and Metal Men....
& Mike Esposito
Mike Esposito (comics)
Mike Esposito , who sometimes used the pseudonyms Mickey Demeo, Mickey Dee, Michael Dee, and Joe Gaudioso, was an American comic book artist whose work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics and others spanned the 1950s to the 2000s...
. Andru quickly took over scripting as well, later teaming with penciler-inker Pablo Marcos
Pablo Marcos
Pablo Marcos Ortega, known professionally as Pablo Marcos is a comic book artist and commercial illustrator best known as one of his home country's leading cartoonists and for his work on such popular American comics characters as Batman and Conan the Barbarian, particularly during the 1970s...
, who remained after editor Al Hewetson
Al Hewetson
Al Hewetson was a Scottish-Canadian writer and editor of American horror-comics magazines, best known for his work with the 1970s publisher Skywald Publications, where he created what he termed the magazines' "Horror-Mood" sensibility...
took over the writing. The final two stories were drawn by Xavier G. Vilanova, variously credited at Skywald and elsewhere as simply "Vilanova" or "Villanova".
This Heap also starred in the one-shot comics magazine The Heap #1 (Sept. 1971), written by Robert Kanigher
Robert Kanigher
Robert Kanigher was a prolific comic book writer and editor whose career spanned five decades. He was involved with the Wonder Woman franchise for over twenty years, taking over the scripting from creator William Moulton Marston. In addition, Kanigher spent many years in charge of DC Comics' war...
and penciled by Tom Sutton
Tom Sutton
Tom Sutton was an American comic book artist who sometimes used the pseudonyms Sean Todd and Dementia...
. The company went defunct later that decade, and historians are uncertain whether it had formally acquired character rights from Hillman, which had ceased publishing in the mid-1950s.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
writer/editor Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
, a fan of the original Heap character and a co-creator of Marvel's muck monster the Man-Thing
Man-Thing
The Man-Thing is a fictional character, a monster in publications from Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character first appeared in Savage Tales #1 , and went on to be featured in various titles and in his own series, including...
), said he suggested that Skywald revive the Heap:
Another similar character debuted in Image Comics' Spawn
Spawn (comics)
Spawn is a fictional comic book superhero who appears in a monthly comic book of the same name published by Image Comics. Created by writer/artist Todd McFarlane, Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1...
#73 (June 1998), reimagined by writers Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....
and Brian Holguin
Brian Holguin
Brian Holguin is an American writer who works in the comics industry. He is known for his work on Aria and Todd McFarlane's Spawn.He also wrote Spawn: Godslayer, a dark fantasy re-imagining of Spawn.-Aria :...
and penciler Greg Capullo
Greg Capullo
Gregory “Greg” Capullo is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Quasar , X-Force , Angela and Spawn ....
.
In 2011, Moonstone Books
Moonstone Books
Moonstone Books is an American comic book, graphic novel, and prose fiction publisher based in Chicago focused on pulp fiction comic books and prose anthologies as well as horror and western tales....
published a three-issue miniseries starring the Heap. Though this character is described as a "concept created by Charles Knauf" in the credits, he shares the same origin as the Hillman version, albeit with a different look and Norse mythology elements.
Hillman/Eclipse version
The original Heap was formerly Baron Eric von Emmelman (his last name also sometimes spelled Emmelmann), a World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
German flying ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
who was shot down in 1918 over a Polish swamp. Clinging to the smallest shred of life through sheer force of will (and, as it was later revealed, with the mystic help of the nature goddess Ceres
Ceres (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres"...
), through the decades his body decayed and intermingled with the vegetation around him, becoming one with the marshland itself until at last it, as the comics referred to the former Baron, arose from the muck during the early years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as The Heap.
Resembling a huge humanoid haystack
Haystack
Haystack or Haystacks may refer to:Agriculture:* A stack of hayPeople:* Haystak, an American rapper* William Calhoun, a professional wrestler who used the name of "Haystack" or "Haystacks" CalhounPlaces:...
whose most visible facial feature was a dangling root-like snout, the mute monstrosity first battled the lupine-cowled Blackhawk
Blackhawk (comics)
Blackhawk, a long-running comic book series, was also a film serial, a radio series and a novel. The comic book was published first by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics. The series was created by Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera, and Bob Powell, but the artist most associated with the feature is Reed...
-style Allied ace Skywolf before turning against its fellow Germans who were now fanatical followers of the evil Nazi cause. Then it took to wandering the globe, helping in its semi-mindless and often misunderstood way those in need and battling those monsters more malevolent than itself.
Capable of both savage violence and a surprising gentleness, for a time the Heap even had a kid sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
of sorts in the form of Rickie Wood, a young boy whose remote control model biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
stirred murky memories of its former life.
Skywald version
The Skywald version was pilot Jim Roberts, who accidentally crashed his cropduster plane into a tank of liquid nerve gas at an Army toxic waste dumpToxic waste
Toxic waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It spreads quite easily and can contaminate lakes and rivers. The term is often used interchangeably with “hazardous waste”, or discarded material that can pose a long-term risk to health or environment.Toxic waste...
and was horribly mutated into a jagged-fanged, long-tongued and glaring-eyed brute whose hideous blob
Blob
- In biology :* Blob , sections of the visual cortex where groups of color-sensitive neurons assemble* Globster, an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water...
-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
Regeneration (biology)
In biology, regeneration is the process of renewal, restoration, and growth that makes genomes, cells, organs, organisms, and ecosystems resilient to natural fluctuations or events that cause disturbance or damage. Every species is capable of regeneration, from bacteria to humans. At its most...
itself against any injury up to and including near total incineration by a bolt of lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
. 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.
Image version
The Image Comics version in SpawnSpawn (comics)
Spawn is a fictional comic book superhero who appears in a monthly comic book of the same name published by Image Comics. Created by writer/artist Todd McFarlane, Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1...
, a series about a conflicted, mostly Earth-bound servant of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, reimagined The Heap as a bum named Eddie Beckett. Beckett was murdered after finding a bag of necroplasm
Necroplasm
Necroplasm is a will-controlled substance featured in the fictional Spawn universe. It was originally indistinct/synonymous with psychoplasm, the substance of which Hell itself is composed...
, a supernatural substance of which Spawn's body is composed. The necroplasm reacted with his body, causing the earth and trash around him to collect and meld with his corpse. The Heap fought Spawn on at least two occasions, each time swallowing and engulfing Spawn and sending him to the mysterious Greenworld, an other-dimensional representation of nature.
See also
- Swamp ThingSwamp ThingSwamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...
- SludgeSludge (comics)Sludge was a comic book series from Malibu Comics, set in the Ultraverse. It was created by Steve Gerber, Gary Martin and Aaron Lopresti. Sludge ran for only twelve issues, with one special: Sludge: Red X-Mas...
- Muckman
- Bog Swamp DemonBog Swamp DemonThe Bog Swamp Demon is a swamp monster that first appeared in the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series. His adventures are chronicled in issues #4 through #12 of Volume 2 of the Mirage Studios title...
- It!It! (story)"It!" is an influential horror short story by Theodore Sturgeon, first published in Unknown August 1940. The story deals with a plant monster that is ultimately revealed to have formed around a human skeleton, specifically that of Roger Kirk, in a swamp. P...