The time seems ripe for a Don Heck reappraisal. To paraphrase Roy Thomas, a colleague at Marvel, Heck was a non-superhero artist who worked in the great superhero renaissance of the Silver Age. Bad luck, that.
His non-superhero style suited Gold Key just fine. In this sea yarn of spiritual possession, Heck subtly develops his characters; defining them with shadow and perspective: Admiral Nelson - increasingly haunted and driven. Commander Crane – grim and determined to do his duty. Throughout, Heck’s brushwork with ship and water is a pure joy.
JFK appears in the last few panels – his presence haunting and melancholy. The President had been assassinated in Dallas 2 years earlier. This is from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea No. 3, October, 1965. All scans are from my own comic. Please click the image for the big picture.
His non-superhero style suited Gold Key just fine. In this sea yarn of spiritual possession, Heck subtly develops his characters; defining them with shadow and perspective: Admiral Nelson - increasingly haunted and driven. Commander Crane – grim and determined to do his duty. Throughout, Heck’s brushwork with ship and water is a pure joy.
JFK appears in the last few panels – his presence haunting and melancholy. The President had been assassinated in Dallas 2 years earlier. This is from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea No. 3, October, 1965. All scans are from my own comic. Please click the image for the big picture.
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14 comments:
Talk about trusting your Captain ! What a fantastic concept~ holding yourself hostage atop a submersible vessel in order to navigate right through the 'Whirlpool of Despair' ! I need to remember this the next time I go through a break-up ! Oh~ and the President's destination ? An important DATE with Marilyn Monroe ! Rapture of the depths, I say !
Lysdexicuss: Some "nice brushwork" indeed! ;-)
I love Don Heck. It's so refreshing to see him get to draw like Don Heck and not be forced to "Kirby" it up!
Aaron: "Kirby it up" Good way to put it, and I agree - Heck did his own inks here as well, and it really shows. -- Mykal
I wholeheartedly agree that Don Heck's work on this issue is probably some of the best that I've ever seen from him.
Heck was an artist whose pencils I always struggled to appreciate in my youth, and it was only as an adult that I began to really soften on his stuff.
This issue is an eye-opener. I didn't know that he was capable of this level of artwork and I regret never having seen this before.
Um, by the way Mykal, the Catacombs is always open to trading for comics like this. I would love to see this book in the flesh, so to speak.
Maybe you've got a couple of duplicates that are taking up space.
Chuck: I have always been a Heck supporter and think him under appreciated. I don't know of any other work where he was allowed to really stretch out like he does in this story (I have found that often the case with Gold Key stories because at Gold Key the same artist nearly always did both pencils and inks - with Heck, that was crucial, I think). I kind of treasure this tale and wouldn't want to part with it; but I really wanted to share it! I guess that is what this blog is about - much like yours, I'm sure.
I am really really glad you enjoyed it! -- Mykal
I just snagged a copy of this issue online for a great price, so we both come out on top.
Keep those duplicates in mind if you happen upon any. I will forward a list to you of the Gold Key books that I have in case you ever have a need, but plan on getting that list after the holiday.
Chuck: Great! I'm glad you are getting a copy. Nothing like the real thing - one thing I didn't mention in my post was the coloring was beautiful in this issue as well (as you will soon see firsthand).
I'll keep you in mind for dups, absolutely! -- Mykal
that page 8 monster coming out of the water in the last panel is a horrifying image. i think i read that as a kid. i have vague memories of that image and how much i would crap myself in real life if i were on that boat.
Keith: That was one of my favorite panels in the story. That monster is damn scary - I think it's those over sized choppers and exposed gums that do it. And did you notice? He seems to be looking right at the sailor in the foreground. If I was him, I'd quit pointing and make a run for it below deck. -- Mykal
Two comments -
One, Could it be possible that Heck's Marvel work in the 60's is his worst? His art made him my least favorite artist growing up, but as an adult I see work done before and after Marvel that is of higher quality - I agree with Chuck that this is some of the best Heck art I've seen, but he's still not in my favorites.
Two - Hmmm.So either JFK is still alive and being ferried around on submatines in Europe, or...really, really lazy and bad editing.
So, okay, perhaps the story was done before the assassination. Understandable. Now, other publications were sensitive to pulling any JFK comic book appearances destined for print within days and weeks after he died. So, either preface the story with a blurb saying something like, "This happened in 1962" or something, or change the damn artwork...He isn't the president anymore! He is daid! His head sure did look to be intact, though...
very odd.
Apocolyte: I think that Heck was perfectly ill-suited for Marvel. Stan Lee, God love him, loved his superheros and loved speed. He was kind of the Henry Ford of comics, perfecting a production line of assembly with division of labor (and managed to produce some spectacular product into the bargain). This was not how Heck worked best. Best for Heck was a company like Gold Key, where, more than likely for financial reasons, he could do everything on a book without any over sized mutants or super villains. I think it most interesting that about his work with Iron Man ,he seemed most proud of his design work on Pepper Pots, Tony Stark, and Happy. The super people were very secondary for him, it seems.
About JFK - I read this as more of a tribute than anything else.We forget today somewhat, I think, how cataclysmic his killing was for Americans at the time. Also, they were perhaps imagining a story happening a couple of years earlier? -- Mykal
i really envy your collection- such great examples of Gold Key's finest!
Thanks, Prof.! I'll keep them coming. -- Mykal
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