The Heap is the name of several fictional comic book muck-monsters, the original of which first appeared in Hillman Periodicals' Air Fighters Comics #3 (cover-dated Dec. 1942), during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. The Heap was comics' first swamp monster.
The character was created by writer Harry Stein and artist Mort Leav, in collaboration with Hillman editor Ed Cronin.
Similar but unrelated characters appeared in comics stories published by Skywald in the 1970s and Image Comics in the 1990s. The Heap was revived in the 1980s by Eclipse Comics.
Publication history
Hillman
The Heap debuted in the aviation feature "SkyWolf" in Air Fighters Comics #3 (cover-dated Dec. 1942), in the story "Wanted By the Nazis" by writer Harry Stein and artist Mort Leav, and continued as a sporadic guest character. With its fifth appearance, in the by-then re-titled Airboy Comics vol. 3, #9 (Oct. 1946), the Heap became the star of its own backup feature, which continued until the final issue, vol. 10, #4 (May 1953). Other artists associated with Hillman'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.
Similar characters from other publishers
The fifth issue of EC's Mad included a story called "Outer Sanctum" (a parody of Inner Sanctum Mystery), which featured a monster made out of garbage called "Heap".
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 Andru & 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:
In DC Comics' Swamp Thing, among the Parliament of Trees is a former Swamp Thing who is often cited as being a Man-Thing cameo. This character is identified as German pilot Albert Hollerer, who became the template for a Swamp Thing in the 1940s, but whose mind was damaged by his plane's crash. A miniature of his plane hanging near him when Swamp Thing visits him suggests readers of the Heap. He appeared in issues #47, 65, 89, 100, 105, 106, 109, 118, and 129.
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.