Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tuesday Team-up: "...Then Came Ramrod!" by Gerber and Heck

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-opiles! Who but Steve (Baby) Gerber could take a dull plot, a ridiculous villain, and some far-out coincidences (and I know some of you are adding "Don Heck art" to that list, but hey, I think Heck's art is energetic enough to be downright fun) and still create an enjoyable team-up between Daredevil and the Black Widow and Spider-Man? The charm, for moi, lies in Gerber's dialogue. The narration (what a narrative voice that man had!), the snappy patter, the masterful (and purposeful) use of comicbook villain cliches...Yeah, that's some good stuff! From Daredevil and the Black Widow #103 (June 1973) here's "...Then Came Ramrod!" (Interior inks by Sal Trapini, cover inks by John Romita, Sr.)




















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3 comments:

  1. late night FerengiAugust 13, 2013 at 11:11 AM

    This issue proves that Don Heck does not deserve the bad art reputation he got by the fan press. He is no Jack Kirby. However his rendering and story telling ability are still dynamic. I really have to question the judgement of his critics. Heck drew the early Avengers and Iron Man and many of them are my favorite issues. He was an artist who specialized in romance comics. If you look at his early work, you'll see he was very much suited to that genre.

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  2. AnonymousAugust 14, 2013 at 9:42 AM

    Gerber also worked in writing advertising copy before he got became a comic book scribe, and I strongly believe that previous experience helped shape him as a writer. When writing commercials and slogans and such, you have to be very concise and incisive and, for the most part, Gerber was. Only occasionally did he lapse into slightly long-winded purple prose, but that was the style of the day and they did write a lot of stuff under severe deadlines. Gerber was one of, if not THE, best. Thanks for posting that dynamite Don Heck art too! -- Jeff Clem, who is forced into posting anonymously by his computer.

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  3. Thunderball ThrillersJanuary 14, 2014 at 10:02 AM

    Dashing Donny Heck was a Heck of an artist. If you could keep Vince Colletta's inks away from Don his work could be beautiful! Check out the early Avengers work by Don when he took over for Kirby!

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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