ROY
THOMAS PRESENTS: THE HEAP VOL. 1 (PS Artbooks, First Printing,
2012; Hardcover)
Collects
The
Heap
stories from Air
Fighters Comics Vol.
1 #3, 9,
Vol.
2 #10, Airboy
Comics Vol.
3 #4, 9-12; Vol. 4 #1-12, Vol. 5 #1-4 a/k/a #3, 9, 22, 27, 32-51
(cover
dates December, 1942- May, 1948)
Writers:
Harry Stein, Bill Woolfolk, Patricia Highsmith, Dick Wood, and other
unidentified writers
Artists:
Mort Leav, Dan Barry, John Belfi, Carmine Infantino, Arthur Peddy,
Bernard Sachs, Frank Bolle, Leonard Starr, Ernest Schroeder, and
possibly other unidentified artists
Decades
before Swamp Thing and Man-Thing came the original comic book swamp
monster, The Heap. As Roy Thomas explains in one of his famous
encyclopedic Archive introductions, The Heap itself was possibly
influenced by Theodore Sturgeon's 1940 short story from the pulps
called It. Golden Age comic books liberally borrowed ideas
from pulps and literature, so it's not much of a stretch to assume
that the concept was lifted, either intentionally or subconsciously.
The
origin of the character come from the Sky Wolf strip in Air
Fighters Comics, where a World War I German fighter ace, Baron
Emmelmann is shot down over a Polish swamp. Due to the Baron's
immense will to live, he somehow merges with the vegetation, drawing
nourishment from the oxygen as a plant would. As the decades pass
this shambling mockery of life begins feeding on sheep and cows.
He/it ambles into the middle of a storyline where Sky Wolf, the World
War II fighter pilot, shoots down Nazi pilot Von Tundra. In a bizarre
twist, The Heap recognizes the Germans and becomes fond of anything
with German markings.
The
character goes through a few incarnations before settling on his
plant-like appearance, which was completely ripped off for Marvel's
Man-Thing character. It is his fifth appearance where he gets spun
off into his own strip. Here he meets a boy named Rickie Wood who
makes a model plane of a German fighter. The Heap sees the markings
and befriends the boy because of this. Like Swamp Thing and Man-Thing
after him, The Heap is a semi-mindless creature. I found the
character's fascination with German things to be curious, seeing as
how it was being published during World War II.
The
Heap follows Rickie on a series of misadventures, often saving the
day in spite of himself due to his fascination with Rickie's remote
controlled model German airplane. The scenarios get more ridiculous
and less plausible with each passing issue. They remain a fun read
but it gets to be groan inducing at times. This is easy for me to say
here 70 years later. Audiences are more sophisticated today, and this
comic easily stands up to anything published at the time. Indeed,
this is a rather bizarre character for the era, predating Horror
comics by a fair clip.
The
strip then banks left, where we see Ceres and Mars have a wager
whether or not The Heap is a creature of peace or of war. I sat there
scratching my head wondering why they went this route, but to be
honest with you this is when the series started getting even more
interesting. The artwork also became more sophisticated, with the
team of Frank Bolle and Leonard Starr turning in beautiful work.
The
first four stories were a tough read. When The Heap became fascinated
with Rickie Wood the tone changed and The Heap went on different
kinds of adventures. The third shift is when things really kicked
into high gear. The Heap is a great read, and the entire series has
been collected across three volumes. I am looking forward to reading
them.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.
The
OCD zone-
This is the part where I go into tactile sensations of physical
media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who
are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as
their safety cannot be guaranteed.
I
enjoy huffing these Chinese made books. PS Artbooks smell the best.
Whenever I crack one open I sit there and snort it...Oh
yeah, that's the stuff.
This
book has the ever delectable sweet, sweet toxic Chinese printing
press smell, likely the result of paper sourced from virgin Amazon
rainforests and ink which is a concoction of lead paint chips, broken
and pulped asbestos tiles, mercury from recalled thermometers, and
the final magical ingredient: the blood, sweat, and tears of the
children working the sweatshop printing presses. If loving these
books is wrong then I don't want to be right!
Linework
and Color restoration: Like any PS Artbook, the quality
varies issue by issue. This looks decent for a scan and print
collection.
The
raw scan presentation has the benefit of the feeling of reading the
original comic book. The drawback, which is a huge one subjectively
speaking, is that all of the shortcomings of the primitive four color
printings presses are apparent. Line bleed, off register printing,
and other anomalies are all present. It's a warts and all approach.
Your mileage may vary and it all boils down to your preference.
Paper
stock: Bright white matte stock.
Binding:
Sewn binding.
Hardback
cover notes:
Matte casewrap with spot varnish. No dustjacket. Images printed
directly onto the casewrap.
