Heap (comics)

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caption=The He
Airboy Comics" vol. 9, #3 (April 1952)
Cover art by Ernie Schroeder.
comic_color=background:#80ff80
character_name=The Heap
real_name=Baron von Emmelman
Eddie Beckett
publisher=Hillman Periodicals
debut= "Air Fighters" #3 (Dec. 1942)
creators= Mort Leav, Harry Stein
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
alliances=The New Wave
Greenworld
aliases=
powers=Strength and durability derived from size and composition; can engulf enemies and transport them to the Greenworld|

The Heap is the name of three fictional comic book muck-monsters, the original of which first appeared in Hillman Periodicals' "Air Fighters" #3 (Dec. 1942), during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. It 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.

Due to the copyright laws at the time of the original's creation, the Heap has lapsed into public domain.Fact | date = October 2008

Publication history

Following its debut, the Heap reappeared as a guest character sporadically in "Air Fighters", and with its fourth appearance, in the by-then re-titled "Airboy Comics" vol. 3, #9 (Oct. 1946), became the star of a backup series. That series continued until the final issue, vol. 10, #4 (May 1953). Other artists associated with the feature include Jack Abel, Paul Reinman, and Ernie Schroeder. The character was well-remembered and influenced the creation of Man-Thing.Fact|date=August 2007

A similar character called The Heap, who did not share the original character's origin or identity, appeared in the black-and-white horror-comics magazine "Psycho", published by Skywald, from issues #2-14 (March 1971 - July 1973), and in the one-shot "The Heap" #1 (Sept. 1971). 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.

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. [ [http://www.toonopedia.com/heap.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia: 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.

Fictional character biography

Hillman/Eclipse version

The Heap was formerly Baron von Emmelman, a World War I German flying ace who was shot down in 1918 over a Polish swamp. He arose from the muck decades later as The Heap and met the Allied ace Skywolf.

Image version

The Image Comics version in "Spawn", 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 comprised. 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.

ee also

*Spawn villains

References

* [http://www.comics.org The Grand Comics Database]