Don Heck's "unique" looks for characters

[JulianPerez]

People often don't think of Don Heck as being as unique, but there are occasions where Don Heck draws a character, usually one created by others, and he creates a look for the character so unique that it's really a shame that Heck's influence hasn't caught on.

An example would be Don Heck's portrayal of the Mad Thinker in AVENGERS #39. Kirby did the Thinker as the archetypal wild-haired scientist, aged and grotesque. Heck on the other hand, drew him as perfectly NORMAL...except for the eyes. You can tell by the eyes Heck gave the Thinker that that character was evil to the core. And further, Heck drew him in Rodin-style "thinker" position. Normal except for evil eyes, and the thinker position, are two characteristics for the most part not seen again with the Thinker.

Don Heck to my knowledge didn't get to draw the Incredible Hulk much, but in AVENGERS KING SIZE SPECIAL #1 (the very same story that features the Mandarin assembling the first Lethal Legion) you've got a Don Heck pin-up featuring the Hulk: unlike any other artist, he draws the Hulk as being explicitly Frankensteinian. Take away the green wrestler's body, you've got Boris Karloff's head, sans scars.

And then you've got Don Heck's Hercules. As much as I love and admire John Buscema, it's a shame his Hercules design was the more influential of the two: he drew Hercules as being a cross between a big crazy hobo and the God of Lumberjacks. He was hairy and with a gorilla body. Heck on the other hand, drew Hercules as a handsome man: he was Tony Stark with big muscles, more specifically like Steve Reeves.

The only thing that other artists took from Heck was how "busy" he made Hercules's outfit: he drew his shawl with scales, his belt buckle as a lion's head instead of an "H."

[Cei-U!]

Not to take away anything from Don Heck, whose work is criminally underrated, but if you go back and look at the earliest Mad Thinker appearances in FF #15 and the pin-up in FF Annual #1, you'll see Kirby was there first with the Rodin quotation. Nor would I describe that first version as either aged or grotesque, though Jack did lean in that direction later.

Cei-U!
Fair is fair!

[Reptisaurus!]

I'm convinced that if superheroes had never come back, we'd be calling Heck one of the greatest romance and science fiction artists ever. Vastly talented artist, completely wrong for aping Kirby.

[Red Oak Kid]

I'm convinced that if superheroes had never come back, we'd be calling Heck one of the greatest romance and science fiction artists ever. Vastly talented artist, completely wrong for aping Kirby.

I first saw his work in the 70s and wasn't impressed.

Then I saw some Avengers reprints and thought his work was OK.

Recently I got the Essential Antman was blown away by his slick style. Before he was forced into trying to be a poor man's Kirby, Heck had a very hip, commercial style, that was light years better than his typical Marvel work that we are familiar with.

Too bad he couldn't have gotten into some kind of commercial artwork in the early 60s and left comics for good. He was a much better artist than his superhero work indicated.

I summon the road not taken.

[jam]

I'm old now, but I can remember as a callow youth reading the Avengers as it first came out.

Loving Kirby, hating Heck, probably just because he wasn't Kirby, and then Buscema came along, and I thanked God for that.

Now, however, looking back, I can see I was completely wrong. Don Heck's work is now, indeed, criminally underrated.

Looking at the initial volumes of Essential Avengers now ... and is this sacrilige of some kind? -- I really think I prefer Heck on the Avengers over Kirby (who is, of course, then, now, and forever, the King).

[Rob Allen]

I recently posted three pages of Don Heck art inked by Bob McLeod (Bob's first Marvel job) in this post.

[Kan-Man]

I recently posted three pages of Don Heck art inked by Bob McLeod (Bob's first Marvel job) in this post.

Interesting... to my untrained eye, several panels wind up looking like John Buscema.

[jam]

Interesting... to my untrained eye, several panels wind up looking like John Buscema.

I see what you mean.

Still and all, I thought it ended up looking more like Bob Hall than Don Heck. A case of the penciller's style being swamped by the inkers, perhaps?

[dan bailey]

Still and all, I thought it ended up looking more like Bob Hall

There's a guy I haven't thought about in awhile. I seem to recall him mainly for pencilling several issues of The Champions, a comic I haven't read since it was new. (Note to self: Keep an eye out for cheap copies of the tpb.)

[jam]

There's a guy I haven't thought about in awhile. I seem to recall him mainly for pencilling several issues of The Champions, a comic I haven't read since it was new. (Note to self: Keep an eye out for cheap copies of the tpb.)

Crumbs. Apologies. I made a mistake in my earlier posting, I meant Bob McLeod, not Bob Hall! Sorry.

Still, glad it made you think of Bob! Hall, that is.

[The Spirit]

I really liked Don Heck. I especially enjoyed his sense of Foreshortening and his storytelling and shadow placement. I think he was eclipsed by Kirby because he was kind of straightforeword and Kirby was so In-Yo-Face. He also suffered from poor inking, most of the jobs were rushed and noone was as fasy as Kirby and many were expected to be. If you look at him inked by Wally Wood in a few early avengers issues it's absolutely beautiful stuff, I have the masterworks of these and he really shines when colored well and given some top treatment.

He was a great artist.

[Aaron King]

I have to chime in and say I really liked Heck's work in Essential Ant-Man as well, but I liked in a way that I like letterers and back-up singers: Heck told the story so well that I didn't even notice that it was Heck; I was just immersed in the story. Which is kind of sad.

[MDG]

Which is kind of sad.

Not really--it shows how well he was doing his job.

I feel that if you're reading a story (comic or text, or watching a movie or play) and thinking too much about how it's being told, instead of being involved in the story itself, the artist/writer is being intrusive.

There's plenty of time to go back and appreciate the craft later.

MDG

[Babylon23]

When I was younger, I didn't really like Heck's work on Avengers. It didn't help that his run was sandwiched between Kirby and Buscema, my two favourite pencillers.

More recently, I've come to appreciate Heck's incredible skill as both an artist and a storyteller. He's a vastly underrated artist who seems to have been overshadowed by his Marvel contemporaries.

[jam]

When I was younger, I didn't really like Heck's work on Avengers. It didn't help that his run was sandwiched between Kirby and Buscema, my two favourite pencillers.

More recently, I've come to appreciate Heck's incredible skill as both an artist and a storyteller. He's a vastly underrated artist who seems to have been overshadowed by his Marvel contemporaries.

That's exactly how I felt at the time these issues came out.

But, looking again at the Avengers and Iron Man essentials, man, was I wrong! But even before that, does anyone remember a run Mr. Heck did on the "Batgirl" backup feature (I'm guessing in "Detective"). I have fond memories of the Sino-Supermen, dopplegangers of US heroes such as Superman, Flash etc.

I guess Mr. Heck designed the "alternate" costumes for the Sino-Supermen and I seem to recall he did a nice job. Even then, my opinion was changing of his work.