Don Heck was an unfairly maligned artist who was essentially used as a utility player by marvel to fill holes in their schedule when an assigned artist didn't finish his job at the last minute. More than once Don was able to pencil an entire book over a weekend when the assigned artist disappeared. As a consequence these rush jobs often looked like the sloppy work of an artist who didn't care about the details, but Don was a consummate craftsman when given proper time. Towards the end of his career he was beset by crippling illnesses, but due to a lack of insurance or savings he soldiered on despite being physically unable to contribute work that met the standards of an earlier time when each job didn't represent more crippling pain.

Above all Don was a good hearted mensch who never seemed to have a negative thing to say either about other professionals or about any of the fans who complained about his work. Rest in Peace, Don, you've earned at least that.

Yeah, I knew that the first impression would be to take my statement wrong... and yes, I know Mr. Heck was a nice guy who would rather have been drawing westerns,

but...

John's work for the last ten years at least-- especially on Wonder Woman-- looks like a tired, crippled Don Heck, rushing to draw 22 pages in one weekend.

And may Mr. Heck rest in peace. I loved his (old) Avengers and Spider-Man work when I was young and to this day.

I've always liked Don Heck's stuff. In fact when I got my 'Essential Avengers' volume #1 a while back I enjoyed the Don Heck stories much more than the Kirby stories. His storytelling was much easier to follow. Kirby tried to cram too much stuff into his stories. Plus I liked the way Don drew the characters better than Kirby did. Don drew great women and his men always looked sophisticated (he drew a great Tony Stark).

And believe or not but I've read more than once that Don's JLA sold better than George Perez' after Don took over. Don was a good solid artist who just somehow got a bad rep somewhere along the way. If he was ill near the end of his career and still managed to keep producing work I have even more respect for him than I had before.

Apparently, Heck's books consistently sold well for most of his career, though I suspect they woudln't now. He had a very straightforward storytelling style that worked will with the older production methods and printing, and with the way comics were written then. I always thought his work looked its best when he inked it himself -- apparently, he did a lot of the drawing in the inking stage -- but Marvel moved away from that approcach as the years went by.

Heck's later years were not easy ones, by most reports. His wife died, he developed (and licked) a drinking problem, and then cancer. The quality of his work suffered a bit, but he still met his deadlines. He got fewer assignments despite his reliability because many of the younger edtiors (at Marvel, especially) disparaaged his work. Also, I have interviews with Heck where he's pretty upfront about how unhappy he was that he was getting crappy inking (mostly from neophytes) and would much rather do it himself.

I thought that the FLASH and "Dial H for Hero" stories that he pencilled and inked were really nice.

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Originally posted by PAL:

Nice theory. Well put. Lots of valid points, to be sure. Also, lots of inconsistencies. One thing about theories that I'm SURE you're aware of, is that they are just that...theories. So don't presume that 100% of your theory is correct.
Still, you hit the nail on the head in many ways.
I admit that I get overzealous, but I TRY to maintain a certain amount of decorum and maturity when dealing with derogatory individuals. It doesn't always work out that way, of course, but my conscience is clear.
The wackiness usually ensues when others turn it around away from the subject at hand and bring about their hypothesis, innuendoes, and theories, about the poster at hand (in this case, me). An utter waste of time and effort (and in a certain case, a seeming obsession).
Anyway, thanks for the calm, cool, & collected post. Nice change of pace.

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Hmmmm. I imagine it's hard for anyone to be 'objective' about oneself. An inherent bias is unavoidable.



Only those that are blatantly obvious about it in their own posting 'patterns.' I NEVER 'speak up' when someone says anything negative in a mature and well-thought out manner. It CAN be done.
You see my standing up against certain obvious 'agendas' as a bad thing. Weird.



I never argue against incontrovertible 'proof'.
If it was 'simply voicing an opinion', then I wouldn't get 'involved'.



There's usually nothing to 'debate' about. Most of the people that I 'debate' with have no REAL interest in intelligent 'debates' because they seem to believe that their 'opinions' equate 'truth'. When I don't see it that way, and the 'opinion' is blatantly inflammatory, then I 'speak up'.
Go figure.



Oh I fully expected to see such comments. And they were posted in the usual fashion. No, I'm not surprised that there are those that would 'see' me in a certain light, so to speak.



When someone already has preconceived notions, they are more than likely going to come to such conclusions.
There can be no 'evidence' based on what I 'show' here.
You (and those like you) see what I'm doing as a 'bad' thing, only because it is contrary to your 'opinions'.



You'd lose that bet, of course. Was that a presumption? Or was that a theory?
I find very little about this 'debate' humorous.
My fun is derived hereabouts when I am able to read the other parts of the forum and NOT feel the 'need' to get involved.
Fortunately, these little anti-Byrne agenda threads are few and far between these days.



And so you believe that 'their' opinions are automatically 'right' and my 'opinions' are automatically 'wrong.
After 'seeing' ALL of my 'counterpoints' to this your latest 'debate', and you can still come to your 'conclusions' then I'm not the one who needs to 'talk' to someone. Seriously.



And to you.

Hey, Page 6, and we got to learn a little more about Don Heck into the bargain!

'Comicon, where we mix circular internet pointlessness with tidbits from Comics' Past!'

now aren't you glad I added to your initial discussion?

It was a nice little change of pace, particularly since I've just totally creeped out on what I just read a few posts ago. Really scary stuff going on there.

But I did learn some Don Heck stuff. Man, I surprised at how so many of the older artists had drinking problems and usually end up so bad off. It didn't sound like many of them had a good time at all. From having to crank out pages in order to make a living, to putting in all nighters to get the work done, to having their work butchered by poor inking, to watching the new talent take away work from them, to trying to make it after comic fans lose interest in their work. Wow, that's some life.

I from time to time wonder what becomes of people who used to work in comics with jobs that only exist in comics. Like letterers or inkers for example. With computers around today and one person able to letter so many books I wonder what happens to all the hand letterers that lost work? Where else can you do something like that? Same goes for inkers who really don't know how to draw that well. Where do you go with that after comics?

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Originally posted by IvanJim:
now aren't you glad I added to your initial discussion?
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Then perhaps you need to get out more and learn about the REAL world, because there's some stuff out there that's TRULY creepy & scary.
Out in the REAL world you will encounter closed minded negativity, self-absorbed individuals, overblown egotistical behavior...
Hmmmm. Nevermind, plenty of that from the anti-Byrne fan club here.
Ah, to be so safe & secure in such a comfortable environment of warmth, camaraderie, and self-delusion. I'll pass.