An Offical Inquiry (Unknown World of Science Fiction #4, 1975)
Don Heck's professional career began in 1949 when he got a job in the production department of Harvey Comics. Heck did his first comic book illustration through Quality and Hillman however. he eventually worked for Comic Media for two years, working on their line of horror and war titles. In 1954, Heck joined Charlton Comics, where he did 'Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion'. He eventually became a mainstay at Altas/Marvel, where he started out illustrating 'Torpedo Taylor' in Navy Combat and 'Cliff Mason' in Jungle Tales and Jann of the Jungle.
After a brief interlude drawing airplane models, Heck returned to work on the comic books Journey in Mystery and Tales of Suspense. Heck's first super-hero assignment was on the first 'Iron Man' story, which appeared in Tales of Suspense in 1963. Heck also did work on early stories of 'Thor' and 'Giant Man'. But he is probably best remembered for his long, first run on 'The Avengers', that started in 1964. During his time at Marvel, he also contributed to the art on 'Spider-Man', 'X-Men' and many more.
In the mid-1960s, Heck additionally worked for Western Publishing on the 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' comic book and assisted Sy Barry and Joe Giella on the 'The Phantom' newspaper strip. In 1971, Don Heck was considered the best renderer of attractive women in comics by Jack Kirby, who suggested him to DC as an artist for 'Batgirl'. Heck drew this strip for several years, and also did other DC titles like 'Justice League of America', 'Steel', 'The Indestructible Man', 'Wonder Woman' and 'The Flash'. In the last few years of his life, Heck found a great many fans-turned-editors seeking him out to recreate the style of his sixties super-hero work. He reunited with writer Roy Thomas on a Jack Kirby creation, 'Night Glider', and redrew an early 'Iron Man' story for Marvel.
