At Harvey Comics he repurposed
newspaper comic strip Photostats into comic-book form – including the work of Heck's idol, famed cartoonist
Milton Caniff. Heck remained at Harvey, where one co-worker in the production department was future comics artist
Pete Morisi, Heck's first known comics work appeared in two Comic Media titles both
cover-dated September 1952: the
war comic War Fury #1, for which he
penciled and
inked the cover and the eight-page story "The Unconquered", by an unknown writer; and the cover and the six-page story "Hitler's Head", also by an unknown writer, in the
horror comic Weird Terror #1. Heck's work continued to appear in those titles and in the horror anthology
Horrific, for which he designed the logo; the adventure-drama anthology
Danger; the
Western anthology
Death Valley; and other titles through the company's demise in late 1954.
Atlas Comics Through his old Harvey Comics colleague Pete Morisi, Heck in 1954 met
Marvel Comics’
Stan Lee, then editor-in-chief and art director of Marvel's 1950 predecessor,
Atlas Comics. As Heck recalled Heck became an Atlas staff artist on September 1, 1954; his first known work for the company was the five-page horror story "Werewolf Beware" in
Mystery Tales #25 (Jan. 1955), – Heck contributed dozens of
war comics stories and
Westerns plus a smattering of jungle and
science-fiction/
fantasy tales. '' #1 (Jan. 1959). Cover art by Heck. Atlas began revamping in late 1958 with the arrival of artist
Jack Kirby, a comics legend whose career was also in need of revamping, and who threw himself into the anthological science fiction, supernatural
mystery, and giant-monster stories of what would become known as "
pre-superhero Marvel." Heck returned alongside other soon-to-be-famous names of Marvel Comics' 1960s emergence as a
pop culture phenomenon, making his first splash with the cover of
Tales of Suspense #1 (Jan. 1959), one of the very few Atlas/Marvel covers of that time not drawn by Kirby. In the years immediately preceding the arrival of the
Fantastic Four,
Spider-Man, and the other popular heroes of Marvel's ascendancy, Heck gave atmospheric rendering to numerous science fiction / fantasy stories in that comic as well as in sister publications
Strange Tales,
Tales to Astonish,
Strange Worlds,
World of Fantasy, and
Journey into Mystery. Heck also contributed to such Atlas/Marvel
romance comics as
Love Romances and
My Own Romance. Kirby "designed the costume," Heck recalled, "because he was doing the cover. The covers were always done first. But I created the look of the characters, like
Tony Stark and his secretary
Pepper Potts." Comics historian and former Kirby assistant
Mark Evanier, investigating claims of Kirby's involvement in the creation of both Iron Man and
Daredevil, interviewed Kirby and Heck on the subject, years before their deaths, and concluded that Kirby Heck himself recalled in 1985 that while some sources claimed then "that Jack Kirby did breakdowns," Heck was the artist and co-creator of several new characters in the "Iron Man" feature. The
Mandarin debuted in
Tales of Suspense #50 (Feb. 1964) and would become one of Iron Man's major enemies.
Hawkeye, Marvel's archer supreme, first appeared in
Tales of Suspense #57 (Sept. 1964), following the introduction of
femme fatale Communist spy and future superheroine and
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent the
Black Widow in #52 (April 1964). He drew the feature "Iron Man" through issue #46 (Oct. 1963), after which Spider-Man artist
Steve Ditko introduced the familiar red-and-gold Iron Man armor and drew three issues. Heck returned with #50 and continued through #72 (Dec. 1965). Concurrent with drawing Iron Man, Heck succeeded
Jack Kirby as penciler on the superhero team series
The Avengers with issue #9 (Oct. 1964), the introduction of
Wonder Man. The
Count Nefaria character was introduced by Lee and Heck four issues later. Heck, who inked his own pencils for many years, transitioned to the "
Marvel method" of doing comics—in which the
penciler plotted and paced the details of a story based on a synopsis or plot outline from the writer, who would afterward add dialog—and was assigned the help of an inker for the first time. He successfully made this adjustment, and went on to make
The Avengers, which he drew through issue #40 (May 1967), plus the 1967
annual, one of his signature series. He inked his own pencil work in issues #32–37. Heck would return to
The Avengers one final time to co-plot and pencil issue #45, with inks by Vince Colletta. During this run, Heck co-created characters including the supervillain and eventual hero the
Swordsman, in #19 (Aug. 1965); the supervillain
Power Man, who years later became the hero Atlas, in #21 (Oct. 1965); the cosmic entity
the Collector in #28 (May 1966); the supporting character
Bill Foster, who much later became the superhero Black Goliath, in #32 (Sept. 1966); and the supervillain the
Living Laser in #34 (Nov. 1966). During the next comics era, the
Bronze Age, he co-created another cosmic entity,
Mantis, in issue #112 (May 1973). Elsewhere during the 1960s, Heck penciled
The X-Men #38–42 (Nov. 1967 – March 1968) and introduced the new X-Men
Lorna Dane in issue #49 (Oct. 1968) and
Havok in #54 (March 1969). Heck drew, over
John Romita layouts,
The Amazing Spider-Man #57–64 and 66 (Feb.–Sept and Nov. 1968). Heck would also draw issues of
Captain Marvel and
Iron Man, the
World War II war comic Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders, horror stories in
Chamber of Darkness and
Tower of Shadows, and, once more, love stories, in the
romance comics Our Love Story and
My Love. in
Detective Comics, and "
Rose and the Thorn" in ''
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane. He began a short run on Wonder Woman'' with issue #204 (Feb. 1973), in which the character's powers and traditional costume were
restored after several years, and he also freelanced for the short-lived publisher
Skywald Comics. Writer
Tony Isabella and Heck launched the new superhero team book
The Champions in October 1975. But in 1977, he began working almost exclusively for DC. Heck explained in 1985, "I left Marvel for a change of pace. I kept getting all the new inkers. Everyone who walked in, I got them. A bad inker can kill artwork. I once got some pages back from inking and I just tore them up, that's how bad they were." After that series' cancellation, Heck became regular artist on
The Flash, and in 1982 reunited with Conway to draw the
Justice League of America, including that year's crossover with the
All-Star Squadron. Heck then returned to
Wonder Woman and drew the title until its cancellation in 1986.
Later career In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Heck returned to Marvel, where his work included features for the superhero anthologies
Marvel Comics Presents and
Marvel Fanfare. The artist even returned to two signature characters: he inked
Hawkeye stories in
Solo Avengers #17–20 and the subsequent
Avengers Spotlight #21–22 (April–Sept. 1989) – both penciling and inking a second Hawkeye story in that last issue – and he drew Iron Man, inking penciler
Mark Bright's eight-page "The Other Way Out" in
Marvel Comics Presents #51 (June 1990), and both penciling and inking the one-page featurette "Tony Stark, The Invincible Iron Man" in
Iron Man Annual #12 (Sept. 1991) and a pinup in
Marvel Super-Heroes vol. 2 #13 (April 1993). Heck also did a smattering of work for such
independent comics as
Topps Comics'
NightGlider,
Hero Comics'
Mr. Fixit, Vortex's
NASCAR Adventures, and
Millennium Publications' ''
H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness''. His final DC work was penciling and inking over
Joe Quesada's layouts for
Spelljammer #11 (July 1991), and his last known comics work was the 10-page "The Theft of
Thor's Hammer", by writer
Bill Mantlo, in
Marvel Super-Heroes vol. 2 #15 (Oct. 1993). Marvel one-time editor-in-chief
Roy Thomas said of the artist == Death and legacy ==