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How Lee broke Don Heck's spirit Patrick Ford 1 October 2016 (and 30 August 2016) Don Heck inked by Wally Wood. AVENGERS #22. Wally Wood: I said I couldn't contribute to the storyline unless I got paid something for writing and Stan said he'd look into it, but after that he only had inking for me. Heck was fine. I liked his pencils. They were structurally very solid. Paul Spence: A lot of the Marvel faithful don't really seem to appreciate Don Heck. He was a better artist than he is usually though of. The IDW Horror By Heck collection really shows off how versatile Heck was as an artist. http://www.idwpublishing.com/product/horror-by-heck/ Aaron Noble: I think its fair to say that he was stronger (very strong) in non-superhero genres. Patrick Ford: Aaron, It's hard to say for certain because he was not allowed to be himself after a point. The style he was using in the late '50s would probably have worked well on super hero strips if he'd been able to use it. Instead he was badgered constantly by Lee. Patrick Ford: "In 1954, Heck's old friend from the Harvey offices, Pete Morisi, was drawing comics for editor Stan Lee at Timely Comics, later known as Atlas. Trying to explain to Morisi what he wanted to see in the artwork, Lee flipped open a competitor's comic and pointed to a story. "Can't you draw more like this guy?" Lee reportedly asked. Morisi answered, "That's Don Heck. If you want him, I can have him come up here." The standard True Believer idiocy says that Gary Groth ruined Don Heck's career. John Buscema tells a very different story. "Don Heck was very incensed when Stan would say "I want you to work more like John Buscema or John Romita." Don Heck one day blew up and told me, "Listen, you tell Stan if he wants John Romita or John Buscema to use them and not me." John Buscema: I worked in the Timely bullpen in 1948. The thing that annoyed me was Stan Lee would walk into the room with a whip and beat the hell out of us. I just couldn't take that. He'd walk around with a beanie on his head with a propeller. I kid you not. Stan could be a real idiot at times. John Buscema; Silver Surfer #4. Oh, you heard the story? You want to hear about that? If I tell you it does not leave this room. Now #4 I really enjoyed it. I thought it was one of the best jobs I'd ever done. Well I went into Stan's office and he tore the book apart. I mean it was an absolute disaster as far as he was concerned. He tore page, after page, after page and said, "You shouldn't have done this, " and "You shouldn't have done that," I walked out of the office cross-eyed. I walked into John Romita's office and said, "John how do you do comics." I'm gonna tell you something. A situation like that killed Don Heck's career. He was demoralized because editors were on his back. He'd come to me practically in tears and ask me, "John what can I do to satisfy these guys." And Don was a talented guy, who's so great. It destroyed some people, but it didn't destroy me. I said if I can't work with Stan, I'll go somewhere else. To hell with Stan. A sad story for Don. The poor guy died. Seriously now I don't want to be melodramatic but the man died of a broken heart. If a book didn't sell it was never the writer's fault. It was always the artists fault. The writer is always right; the artist is the one who fell on his face. Am I right? Patrick Ford: As we know Johnny Craig was also "not right" for super heroes. His work for Marvel during the '60s was uninteresting and he soon began inking. Considering Craig; edited, wrote, penciled, and inked his work for E.C. it makes a person wonder if part of Craig being moved to inking assignments was a refusal to write without being paid? One thing is certain. Craig was doing brilliant work for Warren during the '60s. 30 August 2016 Paul Spence: A number of Marvel fans tend to disparage Don Heck's art. For anyone who would like to see what he is really capable of, you might want to check out the IDW art book, Horror by Heck. http://www.idwpublishing.com/product/horror-by-heck/ Patrick Ford: Heck was routinely ridiculed by fans for years. Kirby was a big booster of Heck and is said to have assisted Heck in getting work at DC after Lee cut Heck's assignments at Marvel in the '70s. Patrick Ford: The first bit is from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #12 , and the second is from ALTER-EGO #16. Patrick Ford 13 April 2017 Don Heck pencils and inks, AVENGERS #36.

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