Don Heck?

[Roygbiv666]

Hi

Don Heck illustrated the first six issues of the late '70s series, "Steel, the Indestructible Man". Trouble is, it was cancelled with issue 5. Most (if not all) of the art from #6 was reprinted in "All-Star Squadron" #8 and 9 (?), inked by Jerry Ordway (I think).

Does it look like Heck drew part of this page? I can't really tell from the art.

http://www.romitaman.com/featured.asp?Piece=10017

Steel, in case you aren't familiar, is the fellow jumping down on the Nazi assassin. I thought his costume was cool

I'm thinking it was just Gonzales on this page, including Steel.

[paw broon]

Yes, that was a cool supersuit. But the art seems adequate but unexciting, as it did when I first bought the series. And I'm not good enough to tell who did what.

[vaillant]

@Roygbiv666: I would say it’s Heck, from the face features of some characters. Although the pretty personal inking style of Ordway makes difficult to tell. Heck has been a great, mostly because of his humility. He has often been treated as a second-rate artist, but he had always been consistent in his storytelling, and he knew how to deliver a story through panels. Besides, he actually show character’s emotions and more inner feelings, a thing acclaimed authors (like Jim Lee, for example) have never learned to do.
Omega the Unknown alone deserves Don Heck a place in the hall of the all-greats.
Before he died, a friend of mine was able to commission a drawing from him, where Spider-Man greets Omega.

[John C]

Roy, if you can lay your hands on a copy of Canceled Comic Cavalcade, I believe the pencils are there.  I'm pretty sure it was Heck, though.  I seem to remember the issue making a big deal of it.

Inking-wise, my memory's really hazy, but I think that issue was prior to Ordway's first issue.  Rich Buckler is another option, having been the original artist.  And the weirdly-precise, cross-hatched eyes remind me more of the earlier issues.

[Roygbiv666]

Yeah, "Canceled Comic Cavalcade" was my first thought, but I can't locate a digital copy online.

The artist(s) listed in the comic and the image are Adrian  Gonzales and Heck, with Ordway on inks. I believe most of the page is Gonzales, but I really can't tell if Steel himself was Heck or not.

If I knew it were Heck I might be moved to buy the page. That said - it is an All-Star Squadron page with Baron Blitzkrieg and Steel ...

the problem is also that the dealer ships via FedEx where I have the privilege of paying "brokerage" fees.

Anybody wanna buy this for me? ;-)

Roy, if you can lay your hands on a copy of Canceled Comic Cavalcade, I believe the pencils are there.  I'm pretty sure it was Heck, though.  I seem to remember the issue making a big deal of it.

Inking-wise, my memory's really hazy, but I think that issue was prior to Ordway's first issue.  Rich Buckler is another option, having been the original artist.  And the weirdly-precise, cross-hatched eyes remind me more of the earlier issues.

[jrvandore]

My copy of CCC is on a disc halfway across the country that I wont have access to until May or June.  I'll try to remember if someone else hasn't come up with a page from Steel #6 first.

[John C]

Oh!  I misunderstood, Roy.  You're asking a less academic question than I thought.

I think I have a copy of the All-Star Squadron issue, so I'll check what it has to say.  But I suspect the answer is that it's definitely Don Heck's art, but he never touched the page.  The issue was built around the existing pages of Steel #6, finished (and published in CCC to secure the copyright) a few years earlier.

[John C]

No pile of Squadron books, unfortunately.  Young All-Stars and Infinity, Inc., yes, but I don't see the original series anywhere here.  Probably stored in a move or something.

[PeterC]

I pulled out my copy of All-Star Squadron (no abbreviations for that title #9.

Pages 1 to 4 are the Squadron gathering and talking to Steel who then goes into a flashback for pages 5 to 14 and then back to the Squadron talking for page 15. Pages 16 to 18 are Baron Blitzkreig recounting a flashback. Then pages 19 to 26 are back to the "present day" with the Squadron and Steel.

I'm certain pages 5 to 14 are from Steel 6. If pages 16 to 18 (of which this is one) are then I'd be surprised. They look more like the rest of the issue than like the Steel flashback. But I agree the Ordway's inks are rather overpowering.

My guess is that maybe some of the poses are copied from Heck, but there's no actual Heck artwork here, since the art board you posted has "All-Star" written right on it. The Steel portions were re-lettered, re-inked and re-written from what I've read...

I found a couple of the pages online from here:
http://flat_earth.blogspot.ca/2004_06_13_archive.html (some of the links are broken)
http://web.archive.org/web/20030412104905/http://www.comicfandom.com/images/Cancelled_Comic_Cavalcade/Steel%206/ST6-8.jpg (nothing of this in All Star Squad 9)
http://web.archive.org/web/20030412114523/http://www.comicfandom.com/images/Cancelled_Comic_Cavalcade/Steel%206/ST6-12.jpg (nothing of this in All Star Squad 9)
http://web.archive.org/web/20030412165716/http://www.comicfandom.com/images/Cancelled_Comic_Cavalcade/Steel%206/ST6-15.jpg (this is re-worked extensively as page 7... only the first panel remains the same... if this is typical, I'd say it was more like Don Heck did the poses and partial layouts than like he did the pencils...)

Peter

[Roygbiv666]

Thanks everyone. I was able to get a hold of CCC#2, which has Steel #6 - the image isn't by Heck. Looks like Gonzales all the way, not that that's a bad thing.

[vaillant]

Omigosh. All this discussion has prompted me to rebrowse the low-res scans of the two CCC, and what wonderful stuff there!
Shade #9, Kamandi #60 and #61, Kirby’s Sandman, and a new issue of Prez!
Isn’t there a way for DC Comics to publish this stuff somewhere?

Since they were photocopies I wonder if higher resolution scans exist. Too bad DC does not seem to care so much about these stories.

[Yoc]

I could be wrong but wasn't the CCC books published in an archive or something?

[John C]

I doubt they'd do a full reprint, since many of the stories did get recycled eventually.

[vaillant]

But not Kamandi, neither Shade, right?
Both they value as "final issues" of unfinished series, and I’d love to have them printed. Especially Kamandi, which i read in full in italian, and then bought in its entirety (including the often not reprinted later issues, which hold up to the quality, IMO).

[John C]

Not the entire set (I think the Wikipedia article had the list, if I remember correctly), but enough that DC probably wouldn't want to go through the trouble of assembling the book.

I think it's the wrong move, personally.  Most of today's comic book readers appear to have fond memories of the era.  It'd be cheap to produce and plays directly to the audience.  I haven't bought much in years, but I don't think I'd be able to pass up a "Showcase Presents: The DC Explosion" book(s) ending with the CCC issues.