A Heap Of Monstrous Fun
I was introduced to The Heap in elementary school, when I first read The Comic-Book Book. This sequel to All In Color For A Dime was a collection of essays on various Golden Age comics. Those essays were my first introduction to such disparate characters as Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein, Jack Cole’s Plastic Man, Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse… and Hillman Periodical’s The Heap.
The idea that there existed a prototype for Swamp Thing and Man-Thing, two comic monsters I was obsessed with at the time, was fascinating to me, and that adoration for The Heap only increased with the scarcity of his appearances. I must have read that essay on the Heap a dozen times, thrilling to second-hand accounts of a German Flying Ace becoming a mindless muck monster and inadvertent hero.
Now no one else need suffer as I did. Tomb It May Concern has posted a second story of The Heap to go with the first. I hope he keeps them coming.
June 23rd, 2006 at 1:30 am
Wow, checking out the link, I’m amazed how much the Man-thing appearance borrows from that character. I had no idea, having been more of a fan of the Swamp Thing comics. Nice site, I found you through the Tolerated Vandalism site.
June 24th, 2006 at 12:10 am
Glad you are digging into THE HEAP, I’m working on some more (and other groovy golden agers)…
I love my monster books and these were my holy grail for years, some are great and some are good, but they are all interesting.
Great site by the way, off to read some more!
-David Z
June 26th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Hey, David. Thanks again for bringing these treasures to our attention. I’ve seen some sites with Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein and I hope to post links to them soon.
Yeah, Mob, The Heap is the original, alright. Now maybe they can put all those “Which came first, Man-Thing or Swamp Thing?” arguments to rest.