HECK over HECK ..... 0

[jimjum12]

Back when I was a kid, we all liked comics and naturally had favorites. Back then Don Heck was not exactly held on a pedestal.  People called him a hack and more ... but as I got older, as is often the case with an acquired taste, I learned to spot the stories where Heck inked himself, and began noticing what a crisp style he actually had when he wasn't being pushed into the "Kirby Box" with company inkers. This thread is for anyone who is also a fan of Heck, inking himself. GOD BLESS ... 

jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by jimjum12

[LowGradeBronze]

I find myself in a very similar position, since Don Heck was never deemed a top artist among my own small circle of childhood comic collector friends as we discussed the latest. But now, 40 something years later, I notice just how good his layouts are, and as you say, a crisp style when he inks himself. Many things in life are an acquired taste and require a little maturity be brought to the table and Don Heck's one of them. 'Worth the wait' you might say! 

Edited May 23, 2023 by LowGradeBronze

[jimjum12]

I first realized that he might merit a closer look after seeing his work for Atlas in their War, Western, and Horror titles. The first time was probably a Torpedo Taylor story. I also discovered John Severin's capabilities at that publisher as well. GOD BLESS ... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by jimjum12

[jimjum12]

 

 

[jimjum12]

 

 

[buttock]

On 5/23/2023 at 10:19 AM, jimjum12 said:

 

 

I too find his stuff for Atlas to be a treat when I come across it.  Recently I was flipping through a book where he did only inks or pencils, I can't recall which, and it just didn't work.  But when he inked himself, he was a real talent.  

[jimjum12]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:23 PM, buttock said:

I too find his stuff for Atlas to be a treat when I come across it.  Recently I was flipping through a book where he did only inks or pencils, I can't recall which, and it just didn't work.  But when he inked himself, he was a real talent.  

You and I can almost instantly spot his influence by Alex Toth and Milt Caniff. You get that masterful spotting of blacks, plus, with a what looks like some Alex Raymond homage. Whoever decided that Heck needed to draw like Kirby is likely also the same person who said Frazetta's style was too dated to be suitable for the new Conan comic coming up. GOD BLESS .... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[buttock]

On 5/23/2023 at 10:36 AM, jimjum12 said:

You and I can almost instantly spot his influence by Alex Toth and Milt Caniff. You get that masterful spotting of blacks, plus, with a what looks like some Alex Raymond homage. Whoever decided that Heck needed to draw like Kirby is likely also the same person who said Frazetta's style was too dated to be suitable for the new Conan comic coming up. GOD BLESS .... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Editors were more concerned with sales than art.  Colletta, Heck, Sinnott, Infantino, the list goes on and on, but all brilliant on their own and less than brilliant when neutered. 

[davidtere]

On 5/23/2023 at 8:57 AM, jimjum12 said:

 

 

Exactly this. 

[LowGradeBronze]

Alex Toth sprang to mind very quickly looking at those examples too! I really enjoy finding those earlier influences. It's a big part of what makes comic collecting and comic art appreciation so rewarding after all these years. (See mum, dad, it wasn't time wasted after all.)

[Unca Ben]

Love Don Heck.  Loved him back in the day.  I reckon the main obstacle to his popularity was that more often than not, it was Heck who was tasked to follow Kirby after Kirby started then left a book.  Of course there would be disappointment.  Kirby and Ditko ruled the Marvel roost.  Anything else was considered B-grade at best.

This is before Stan got Colan, Romita and Buscema to come back so the 3 or 4 regular, reliable pencillers Stan had besides Ditko and Kirby were Heck, Ayers, Lieber and (later) Roth.   Maybe include Bob Powell and Carl Burgos, but Stan seemed to relegate them to his C-list characters/series like the Torch in S.T. and Ant-Man/Giant Man.

Guys like Everett, Wood and Joe Orlando either weren't reliable enough or didn't like or care to work with Stan and the Marvel method. 

If you wanna see sub-par replacements for Kirby at early Marvel, look at the Journey into Mystery Thor stories by Al Hartley or Joe Sinnott.  Hartley just wasn't suited for superhero stuff and Joe Sinnott, inker extraordinaire, was much better with a brush than pencil when it came to superheroes.

When Don Heck came to Journey into Mystery after Hartley and Sinnott, it was like a breath of fresh air.

Edited May 23, 2023 by Unca Ben

[Terry E. Gibbs]

On 5/24/2023 at 2:55 AM, buttock said:

Editors were more concerned with sales than art.  Colletta, Heck, Sinnott, Infantino, the list goes on and on, but all brilliant on their own and less than brilliant when neutered. 

Putting Infantino in same bracket as the others is a bit harsh. Not sure how many of the others were guests at the NY Art Con in the early 70s or did a cover for the SDCC program. Like Kirby and Ditko his later work is not in the same class as his best, (but remember Kirby's Captain Victory, or Ditko's LSH run ??). I would take Cinfs bronze age over both of these other titans of comics any day, and given the right inker and subject matter Cinf (secret origin of the Flash) he was still right up there.

But Heck seemed to suffer from toxic Marvel fandom in the 70's, .. and the Harlen Ellison interview. I have read later that Ellison who was prompted for the Heck answer apologised and said he had referred to the wrong artist. That Marvel fandom though was not pretty.

Hope Heck's family gets from Disney what the man truly deserved.

[jimjum12]

Supposedly, the Wasp was modeled after Heck's wife, who was reputed to be quite the hottie. For years, people claimed that the early run of Iron Man/ TOS suffered from depressed value due to Heck rather than Kirby at the helm, but oddly enough, seeing the reprints for 39 over the years also made me take notice. Some of those early Heck issues are certainly inspired ... Heck was stretching his creative "legs" and issues like 44, 45, 46, and 50 were just superb in my eye. Lots of little background details that only show up when an artist is creatively committed to a title. The scenes where Stark hires Happy Hogan are especially well done, IMHO. I still kick myself for not snagging a Heck Iron Man page back when they were going for less than 1K. I wish I had images to post of TOS pages for examples. GOD BLESS.... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[buttock]

On 5/23/2023 at 4:20 PM, Terry E. Gibbs said:

Putting Infantino in same bracket as the others is a bit harsh. Not sure how many of the others were guests at the NY Art Con in the early 70s or did a cover for the SDCC program. Like Kirby and Ditko his later work is not in the same class as his best, (but remember Kirby's Captain Victory, or Ditko's LSH run ??). I would take Cinfs bronze age over both of these other titans of comics any day, and given the right inker and subject matter Cinf (secret origin of the Flash) he was still right up there.

But Heck seemed to suffer from toxic Marvel fandom in the 70's, .. and the Harlen Ellison interview. I have read later that Ellison who was prompted for the Heck answer apologised and said he had referred to the wrong artist. That Marvel fandom though was not pretty.

Hope Heck's family gets from Disney what the man truly deserved.

Fair enough, I guess my point is that Infantino inking himself is a different animal than Anderson over his pencils.  

[jimjum12]

Here's one that I always thought was extremely well done, although Kirby did the splash and Heck did the rest. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Frisco Larson]

On 5/24/2023 at 1:25 AM, jimjum12 said:

Here's one that I always thought was extremely well done, although Kirby did the splash and Heck did the rest. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

This is probably my favorite PHM cover!!! I have quite a few copies and LOVE the Heck artwork and Kirby splash! In fact, the Kirby splash was used as a cover to a UK printing of this book!

[Frisco Larson]

While I acknowledge some shortcomings from time to time, I've also thought Don Heck has been a bit unfairly criticized, mostly by being compared to Kirby. I agree that when he was afforded the opportunity to ink his own pencils, you get a truer realization of his vision. The prices of his original art have been steadily increasing, so maybe others have also softened their opinion of his work. As difficult as it is in this current original art climate, I'm attempting to capture different Marvel Silver artists rendition of different characters. I was very happy to add this page from Avengers #13 to my collection, as it contains the entire Avengers team as well as the entire Fantastic Four. Don Heck pencils and Ayers inks. It was pretty expensive, but seldom do you see so many characters on a single page. My favorite superhero page that I own.

[Frisco Larson]

I only have one other Don Heck original art page and it's a horror page from Chamber of Darkness #1. This one has Frank Giacoia inks. I really like the facial expressions of the guy sort of losing his marbles over being picked on by others. I must admit that I'm not a well versed enough art collector to be able to tell if Giacoia's inks improve or hinder Heck's pencils, but by my eye, this page works. Also, very happy to have been able to add this to my collection. 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Frisco Larson