And then there was the time Roman gods got themselves involved with the Heap.
So the Heap’s kid “partner,” Rickie Wood, is written out of the Heap’s continuing adventures, and in come the Roman deities Ceres and Mars, dueling each other via this Golden Age muck-encrusted mockery of a man. That only lasted for a handful of stories, long enough to establish that it was Ceres who was initially responsible for the fallen pilot Baron von Emmelman to rise up again from the swamp as the Heap.
And then, in a following story it was revealed that, no, in fact it was the ghosts of babies, cruelly slain centuries ago by a terrible warlord, who facilitated the transition of man to monster:
And then Mother Nature pops up a few issues later and says, hey now, ’twas I done the deed:
I’m only partway through Roy Thomas Presents The Heap Vol. 2, so I don’t know if I have more origins waiting for me in later stories. I’m assuming if there are, they probably don’t include the one in this comic.
The Heap comics so far have been pretty enjoyable: lots of gangsters and crime stories and revenge plots and plenty of stories hinging on the Heap’s vague recollections of his previous life. Also: sure are a lot of old friends and relatives of Von Emmelman hangin’ around swamps, triggering plots and getting what’s coming to them thanks to the Heapster.
So, your pal Mike is enjoying a comic about a swamp monster. GO FIGURE.
Then…
KOREA!
It is shocking that you enjoy a swamp monster character. But how far does your swamp monster allegiance go? You’ve got the big three but are you interested others as well? For example, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character “Muckman” (http://turtlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Muckman and http://www.dorkdimension.com/2009/08/retro-toy-review-muckman-playmates-tmnt.html)?
Wow, I never realized how much precedent there was for the cosmic aspect of Swamp Thing.
Just in case you wondered, Mike, the finale of Arrow last night was fantastic and I’m all ‘Smallville? What Smallville?’
Well,Swampy got into the twenties.If we can make it to issue 30 we should be alright!I’m wondering if you’re enjoying the new writer as much as I am,Mike.I hope there’s enough readers left after the endless Rot to give him a try.I also see that Swampy makes an appearance (along with everyone else) in Trinity of Sin:Pandora #1.
I had been wondering when this blog’s “Heap Gap” would be filled, to be honest.
That’s a heaping helping all right. Also, Heap looks oddly adorable in nearly all of those panels, very cuddly. I guess it’s the big shaggy thing/Cousin Itt look. And oh yeah, the naked babies cavorting around him.
And Grant Morrison will find a way to integrate all these origins into one big, consistent, but totally opaque origin story, and tons of Morrison fanboys will acclaim it as genius.
Wait, what am I talking about? Roy Thomas is editing this thing? He must be lying awake sweating at night, trying to come up with a story that reconciles these origins (as well as explaining what happened between panels 3 and 4 of issue 5 – a question no one else has ever raised or, once raised, cared about).
Sorry, feeling cynical.
I like to think the editors just told the writer(s): “You know what? No one’s paying attention, just give him a new origin every few issues-it’ll keep the audience on their toes.”
And that’s how DC will relaunch the Legion of Superheroes.