| Don Heck | |
|---|---|
 Don Heck in the 1960s | |
| Born | Donald L. Heck (1929-01-02)January 2, 1929 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | February 23, 1995(1995-02-23) (aged 66) Centereach, New York, U.S. |
| Area | Penciller |
Notable works | The Avengers Iron Man Ant-Man |
| Signature | |
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Donald L. Heck[1] (January 2, 1929 – February 23, 1995[2][3]) was anAmericancomics artist best known for co-creating theMarvel Comics charactersIron Man, theWasp,Black Widow,Hawkeye andWonder Man and for his long runpenciling the Marvelsuperhero-team seriesThe Avengers during the 1960sSilver Age of comic books.
Heck was born in theJamaica neighborhood ofQueens, New York City, the son of Bertha and John Heck, ofGerman descent.[4] Heck learned art throughcorrespondence courses as well as atWoodrow Wilson Vocational High School in Jamaica and at acommunity college inBrooklyn.[5] He continued with an impromptu art education in December 1949[6] when at the recommendation of a college friend he landed a job atHarvey Comics. There he repurposednewspapercomic stripPhotostats into comic-book form – including the work of Heck's idol, famed cartoonistMilton Caniff.
Heck remained at Harvey, where one co-worker in the production department was future comics artistPete Morisi,[5] for two-and-a-half years. When a Harvey employee, Allen Hardy, broke off “to start his own line, Media Comics [sic; actuallyComic Media], in 1952," Heck recalled in 1993, Hardy “called me up and asked me to join."[7] Heck's first known comics work appeared in two Comic Media titles bothcover-dated September 1952: thewar comicWar Fury #1, for which hepenciled andinked the cover and the eight-page story "The Unconquered", by an unknown writer; and the cover and the six-page story "Hitler's Head", also by an unknown writer, in thehorror comicWeird Terror #1.[8] Heck's work continued to appear in those titles and in the horror anthologyHorrific, for which he designed the logo;[9] the adventure-drama anthologyDanger; theWestern anthologyDeath Valley; and other titles through the company's demise in late 1954.[8]
Heck also did freelance assignments forQuality Comics,Hillman Comics, andToby Press.[5] For publisher U.S. Pictorial in 1955, he drew the one-shotCaptain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, a TV tie-in comic based on the 1955–57syndicated, live-actionkids' show of that name.[10]
Through his old Harvey Comics colleague Pete Morisi, Heck in 1954 metMarvel Comics’Stan Lee, then editor-in-chief and art director of Marvel's 1950 predecessor,Atlas Comics. As Heck recalled
Pete Morisi, who worked at Media at the same time [I did], had been to Stan Lee's office, and he had brought his [art portfolio]. One of my stories was in there. and Stan kept going back to my story, saying, "This is the way you should have done it." Pete said. "Look, if you want Don Heck to come up here, he's looking for work, too. I'll tell him you're interested." Stan said, "Well, if he happened to walk up here, I might have a story for him." So I went up there on a Wednesday afternoon. Stan never saw anybody on Wednesdays, and he never saw anybody in the afternoon. But he came out. He looked at the first two pages and said, "Aw, hell, I know what your stuff looks like. Come on in. I got a story for you."[7]
Heck became an Atlas staff artist on September 1, 1954;[11] his first known work for the company was the five-page horror story "Werewolf Beware" inMystery Tales #25 (Jan. 1955),[8] though Heck in 1993 recalled, "The first job I did was about a whale breaking a ship apart. Then I did [the submarine-crew feature] 'Torpedo Taylor' forNavy Combat,"[7] drawing that five- or six-page feature in issues #1–14 and 16 (June 1955–Aug. 1957, Feb. 1958) and, oddly, doing one page of a five-page story finished byJoe Maneely in issue #19 (Aug. 1958).[8] Until Atlas' 1957 business retrenchment – when it let go of most of its staff and freelancers and Heck spent a year drawingmodel airplane views forBerkeley Models[12] – Heck contributed dozens ofwar comics stories andWesterns plus a smattering of jungle andscience-fiction/fantasy tales.
Atlas began revamping in late 1958 with the arrival of artistJack Kirby, a comics legend whose career was also in need of revamping, and who threw himself into the anthological science fiction, supernaturalmystery, and giant-monster stories of what would become known as "pre-superhero Marvel." Heck returned alongside other soon-to-be-famous names of Marvel Comics' 1960s emergence as apop culture phenomenon,[13] making his first splash with the cover ofTales of Suspense #1 (Jan. 1959), one of the very few Atlas/Marvel covers of that time not drawn by Kirby. In the years immediately preceding the arrival of theFantastic Four,Spider-Man, and the other popular heroes of Marvel's ascendancy, Heck gave atmospheric rendering to numerous science fiction / fantasy stories in that comic as well as in sister publicationsStrange Tales,Tales to Astonish,Strange Worlds,World of Fantasy, andJourney into Mystery. Heck also contributed to such Atlas/Marvelromance comics asLove Romances andMy Own Romance.[8]
Comics artistJerry Ordway, describing this era of Heck's work, called the artist "truly under-appreciated ... His Atlas work (pre-Marvel) was terrific, with a clean sharp style, and an ink line that wouldn't quit."[5]
During the period fans and historians call theSilver Age of Comic Books,Iron Man premiered inTales of Suspense #39 (March 1963) as a collaboration among editor and story-plotter Lee, scriptwriterLarry Lieber, story-artist Heck, and Kirby, who provided the cover pencils and designed the first Iron Man armor.[14] Kirby "designed the costume," Heck recalled, "because he was doing the cover. The covers were always done first. But I created the look of the characters, likeTony Stark and his secretaryPepper Potts."[15] Comics historian and former Kirby assistantMark Evanier, investigating claims of Kirby's involvement in the creation of both Iron Man andDaredevil, interviewed Kirby and Heck on the subject, years before their deaths, and concluded that Kirby
...definitely did not do full breakdowns as has been erroneously reported about ... the first 'Iron Man'. [In the early 1970s], Jack claimed to have laid out those stories, and I repeated his claim in print – though not before checking with Heck, who said, in effect, 'Oh, yeah. I remember that. Jack did the layouts'. We all later realized he was mistaken. ... Both also believed that Jack had contributed to the plots of those debut appearances – recollections that do not match those of Stan Lee. (Larry Lieber did the script for the first Iron Man story from a plot that Stan gave him.) Also, in both cases, Jack had already drawn the covers of those issues and done some amount of design work. He came up with the initial look of Iron Man's armor ...[16]
Heck himself recalled in 1985 that while some sources claimed then "that Jack Kirby did breakdowns,"
...that's not true. I did it all. They just didn't bother to call me up and find out when they wrote up the credits. It doesn't really matter. Jack Kirby created the costume, and he did the cover for the issue. In fact the second costume, the red and yellow one, was designed bySteve Ditko. I found it easier than drawing that bulky old thing. The earlier design, the robot-looking one, was more Kirbyish.[9]
Heck was the artist and co-creator of several new characters in the "Iron Man" feature. TheMandarin debuted inTales of Suspense #50 (Feb. 1964) and would become one of Iron Man's major enemies.[17]Hawkeye, Marvel's archer supreme, first appeared inTales of Suspense #57 (Sept. 1964),[18] following the introduction offemme fatale Communist spy and future superheroine andS.H.I.E.L.D. agent theBlack Widow in #52 (April 1964).[19] He drew the feature "Iron Man" through issue #46 (Oct. 1963), after which Spider-Man artistSteve Ditko introduced the familiar red-and-gold Iron Man armor and drew three issues. Heck returned with #50 and continued through #72 (Dec. 1965).
Concurrent with drawing Iron Man, Heck succeededJack Kirby as penciler on the superhero team seriesThe Avengers with issue #9 (Oct. 1964), the introduction ofWonder Man.[20] TheCount Nefaria character was introduced by Lee and Heck four issues later.[21] Heck, who inked his own pencils for many years, transitioned to the "Marvel method" of doing comics—in which thepenciler plotted and paced the details of a story based on a synopsis or plot outline from the writer, who would afterward add dialog—and was assigned the help of an inker for the first time. He successfully made this adjustment, and went on to makeThe Avengers, which he drew through issue #40 (May 1967), plus the 1967annual, one of his signature series. He inked his own pencil work in issues #32–37. Heck would return toThe Avengers one final time to co-plot and pencil issue #45, with inks by Vince Colletta.
During this run, Heck co-created characters including the supervillain and eventual hero theSwordsman, in #19 (Aug. 1965);[22] the supervillainPower Man, who years later became the hero Atlas, in #21 (Oct. 1965);[23] the cosmic entitythe Collector in #28 (May 1966);[24] the supporting characterBill Foster, who much later became the superhero Black Goliath, in #32 (Sept. 1966); and the supervillain theLiving Laser in #34 (Nov. 1966).[25] During the next comics era, theBronze Age, he co-created another cosmic entity,Mantis, in issue #112 (May 1973).[26]
Elsewhere during the 1960s, Heck penciledThe X-Men #38–42 (Nov. 1967 – March 1968) and introduced the new X-MenLorna Dane in issue #49 (Oct. 1968)[27] andHavok in #54 (March 1969).[28] Heck drew, overJohn Romita layouts,The Amazing Spider-Man #57–64 and 66 (Feb.–Sept and Nov. 1968). Heck would also draw issues ofCaptain Marvel andIron Man, theWorld War IIwar comicCaptain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders, horror stories inChamber of Darkness andTower of Shadows, and, once more, love stories, in theromance comicsOur Love Story andMy Love.[8]
From 1966 to 1971, Heck was an uncredited "ghost artist" onLee Falk’sThe Phantom daily newspapercomic strip,[2] and later on theTerry and the Pirates daily strip.[citation needed]
By 1970, however, Marvel work became less frequent, and Heck obtained assignments from rivalDC Comics, beginning with a short story in the supernatural anthologyHouse of Secrets #85 (May 1970). He did his first DC superhero work withThe Flash #198 (June 1970), illustrating a backup story of the super-speedster, and eventually garnered additional work including romance comics, and the backup features "Batgirl" and "Jason Bard"[29] inDetective Comics, and "Rose and the Thorn" inSuperman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane.[30] He began a short run onWonder Woman with issue #204 (Feb. 1973), in which the character's powers and traditional costume wererestored after several years,[31] and he also freelanced for the short-lived publisherSkywald Comics.[8]
Heck still occasionally worked at Marvel, penciling the odd issue ofDaredevil,Sub-Mariner,Ghost Rider,The Avengers and others in the mid-1970s. He drewGiant-Size Avengers #4 which featured the wedding of theVision and theScarlet Witch.[32] WriterTony Isabella and Heck launched the new superhero team bookThe Champions in October 1975.[33][34][35] But in 1977, he began working almost exclusively for DC. Heck explained in 1985, "I left Marvel for a change of pace. I kept getting all the new inkers. Everyone who walked in, I got them. A bad inker can kill artwork. I once got some pages back from inking and I just tore them up, that's how bad they were."[9]
With writerGerry Conway, Heck co-created the DC cyborg heroSteel, the Indestructible Man in the premiere issue (March 1978) of the titular comic.[36] After that series' cancellation, Heck became regular artist onThe Flash, and in 1982 reunited with Conway to draw theJustice League of America, including that year's crossover with theAll-Star Squadron.[37] Heck then returned toWonder Woman and drew the title until its cancellation in 1986.[8] Later that same year, he was one of the contributors to theDC Challenge limited series.[38]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Heck returned to Marvel, where his work included features for the superhero anthologiesMarvel Comics Presents andMarvel Fanfare. The artist even returned to two signature characters: he inkedHawkeye stories inSolo Avengers #17–20 and the subsequentAvengers Spotlight #21–22 (April–Sept. 1989) – both penciling and inking a second Hawkeye story in that last issue – and he drew Iron Man, inking pencilerMark Bright's eight-page "The Other Way Out" inMarvel Comics Presents #51 (June 1990), and both penciling and inking the one-page featurette "Tony Stark, The Invincible Iron Man" inIron Man Annual #12 (Sept. 1991) and a pinup inMarvel Super-Heroes vol. 2 #13 (April 1993).
Heck also did a smattering of work for suchindependent comics asTopps Comics'NightGlider,[39]Hero Comics'Mr. Fixit, Vortex'sNASCAR Adventures, andMillennium Publications'H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness. His final DC work was penciling and inking overJoe Quesada's layouts forSpelljammer #11 (July 1991), and his last known comics work was the 10-page "The Theft ofThor's Hammer", by writerBill Mantlo, inMarvel Super-Heroes vol. 2 #15 (Oct. 1993).[8]
Marvel one-time editor-in-chiefRoy Thomas said of the artist
Don was unlucky enough, I think, to be a non-superhero artist who, starting in the sixties, had to find his niche in a world dominated by superheroes. Fortunately, as he proved first with Iron Man and then with the Avengers, Don could rise to the occasion because he had real talent and a good grounding in the fundamentals. He amalgamated into his own style certain aspects of Jack Kirby's style, and carved out a place for himself as one of a handful of artists who were of real importance during the very early days of Marvel[5]
Heck died oflung cancer in 1995.[5] He was living inSuffolk County, New York, onLong Island, at the time of his death.[40]
I started onHorrific andDanger.... I did the covers, and they also let me do the lettering onHorrific – like the logo.
Editor Stan Lee had assembled a small but steady pool of creative talent to produce the company's output, in addition to himself. This group of artists included Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Paul Reinman, Stan Goldberg, Al Hartley, and Dick Ayers.
After nearly five years of Diana Prince's non-powered super-heroics, writer-editor Robert Kanigher and artist Don Heck restored Wonder Woman's ... well, wonder.
Justice League of America #207–209 (Oct.–Dec. 1982) andAll-Star Squadron #14–15 (Oct.–Nov. 1982)
| Preceded by n/a | "Iron Man" feature inTales of Suspense artist 1963–1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | The Avengers penciller 1964–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | The Flash penciller 1979–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Justice League of America penciller 1982–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Gene Colan | Wonder Woman penciller 1983–1986 | Succeeded by n/a |
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