The HEAP first appeared in HILLMAN Comics'
Airboy Comics series with #4 back in 1945. He also showed up in the
ECLIPSE Comics' AIRBOY series in 1986.
The Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division Reading Room
Index to the Comic Art Collection lists the following information about appearances
the Heap has made:
The Von Emmelman Castle
8 p. in
Airboy Comics, v. 4, no. 7 (Aug. 1947)
SUMMARY: Old Mr. Turner has had the Von Emmelman Castle shipped from Germany,
stone by stone; Turner's heirs suspect each other of killing him, but the
Heap, prowling through his boyhood castle, turns up the real murderer: an
embezzling attorney.
I. The Heap. k. Castles. k. Heirs. k. Embezzlement. k. Attorneys. k. Lawyers.
Call no.: PN6728.1.H5A35v.4no.7
The Image years
Heap has also made some more recent appearances. Michael Huffman first alerted
me to these appearances in an Image news item:
Monstrous comic character The Heap will make his return in
Spawn #72. SPAWN creator Todd McFarlane purchased the bankrupt ECLIPSE
three years ago, acquiring such properties as
AIRBOY, The BLACK TERROR, MIRACLEMAN,
and
The HEAP,says "I've been spreading the layers of SPAWN out for over 70
issues now. I intend to begin another layer with some of the ECLIPSE Comics
characters. Not with a bunch of new books, but with characters that will enhance
the SPAWN foundation that has already been built."
Well, The Heap storyline actually made its appearance in
Spawn issue 73:
This continued in issues 74 and
75as well.
According to the new origin by Todd McFarlane & Brian Holguin the Heap was
Eddie Beckett, a street bum who died in an alleyway holding a pile of Spawn's
NECROPLASM. Next thing he knew a toxic beast had staked a claim on his body,
stripping flesh off bones and forming The Heap. The character bears no relation
to its earlier incarnation. I can't really see why they just didn't create
a new name to go with the new character..
About the only good thing to come out of this was that McFarlane Toys have produced
an action figure of The Heap as part of the Spawn Series 12 toy
range.
As one of the few Muck Monster accessories ever made this is one for all us swamp-heads
to track down.