SWAMP MONSTERS AND MUCKMEN (PART 3)

THE HEAP

Vol. 1, No. 1 (One-shot)

September, 1971

Skywald Publishing Corporation

Editor: Sol Brodsky

Cover: Tom Sutton; Jack Able

Pages: 52

Cover price: 25 cents

Skywald's comic book line was thin and short-lived, offering western, romance, jungle and this title, THE HEAP, "The Nightmare Who Could Not Die!". It contains a new, 17-page Heap story scripted by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Tom Sutton and Jack Abel. The rest of the issue is filled with reprints from STRANGE FANTASY (Ajax-Farrell), STRANGE WORLDS (Avon), and STRANGE JOURNEY (Ajax-Farrell).

So, why, out of all the horror topics available to choose from, did Sol Brodsky pick The Heap? In an article by George Khoury in the magazine, ALTER EGO (Vol. 3, No. 81, 2008), Roy Thomas explained: "I was also responsible for Skywald Publishing introducing a Heap character. I had lunch with [Skywald co-founder] Sol Brodsky soon after he left Marvel Comics to co-found Skywald. He was looking for heroes to do. I couldn't write for him, so he was kind of picking my brain, and I wanted to help without getting too involved, since [Marvel editor-in-chief] Stan [Lee] wouldn't have liked that. I told Sol, 'Well, we have the Man-Thing, so you ought to get someone to revive the Heap'. He remembered the character since he was a comic-book artist in the 1940s."