The original Don Heck artwork introducing Tony Stark’s superhero persona, page 1 of Tales of Suspense No. 39 from March 1963, made history once again yesterday, when it set a new auction price record for original comic art, taking in $3,875,000 as the highlight lot in Heritage Auctions’ ongoing Comic Art Signature Auction.
“A fantastic image and a historic book combine for a record price,” says Joe Mannarino, Heritage Auctions’ New York-based Director of Comics & Comic Art. “Very few of the early Marvel splash pages are known to exist. When one shows up, the market is ready to react.”
That is especially true in the case of wildly popular characters such as Iron Man, says the auction house. Bidding was highly competitive, with six different bidders continuing to vie for the page even after it passed the $3 million mark.
Mannarino credits the character with helping develop a new generation of fans starting in 2008 with the Robert Downey Jr.-starring Iron Man, Marvel Studio’s first entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading to the Avengers and beyond.
The Iron Man sale price tops the previous Comic Art price record of $3,360,000 set in January 2022 at Heritage by 1984’s Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars No. 8 story page 25, the Mike Zeck art revealing Peter Parker’s new black costume that turns out to be a character itself: Venom.
American comic artist Donald “Don” L. Heck (2nd January 1929 – 23rd February 1995), whose professional career began at Harvey Comics in the 1940s, is best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics characters Iron Man, the Wasp, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Wonder Man, and for his long run penciling the Marvel superhero-team series The Avengers during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame earlier this year.
“There are few members of the Eisner HOF whose reputation has been as up and down as Don Heck, and it pleases me that the upside has clearly won out,” comic book writer, editor and executive Paul Levitz, wrote earlier this year, when the HOF announcement was made. “Don was a yeoman of the comics industry: an artist never celebrated as a star, but who laboured vigorously at any project he was assigned. He had the fortune and misfortune that his most significant work was done in the shadow of Jack Kirby, who he backed up as one of the solid pillars on which the marvel Universe was built.
“Much of the Iron Man myths came from Don’s pencil, and a powerful run of the Avengers, among many, many assignments.
The Avengers #26 (March 1966, inked by Frank Giacoia), via comic writer and author Paul Kupperberg. “The Avengers is where I locked into my appreciation for Don’s art,” Paul noted of the latter, “and these covers were what first drew me to the book, long after he had taken it over.”
“By the time I worked with Don at DC he was worn down by the way comics challenged artists in his generation: too many pages needed to be produced too fast to make a decent living, and too little recognition or respect was given to the talented folks who produced them. He had a tendency to overestimate his ability to deliver assignments, so he’d often show up a page or two undone, and then need to return to deliver the balance or send them in by the finicky mails of the time. But there was never a complaint or an excuse, and every job had extremely clear storytelling, and real stylistic personality.
“I don’t think Don would ever have expected to be in any kind of Hall of Fame, or to receive any of the other honors he was due. But if there’s justice in the universe, he’s smiling somewhere today.”
“I was thrilled to work with him at Marvel in the late 80’s,” said Greg Wright. “At one point he was in the office the day of the Christmas party. I asked if he was going, but he said he didn’t know about it and didn’t get an invite. I thought that was terrible and just brought him along. He was shocked to find out how many creators and editor who were there were thrilled to see him and meet him. He was pretty humble and didn’t really realise what a legend he was. I really enjoyed seeing him get that moment of recognition.”
“I always admired his work and to me, it was memorable,” Walt Simonson said of Don when he was honoured. “I remember some of the stories he drew for the old Marvel monster books. They remain in my mind’s eye along with Jack Kirby stories where other art and artists from back then have slipped away. I found an exotic quality to his characters that stayed with me, especially about the faces. In at least one story, some guy in the arctic wastes or Himalayas or wherever it was had large boots that looked great. I’ve never thought of it before. but perhaps my penchant for often giving my characters large feet/boots stems from that job.
“I loved Don’s Iron Man work and read his Avengers with enthusiasm. There was an ease to his work as if it flowed smoothly from his hand. Probably didn’t, but the idea is to make it look easy even if it isn’t.”
• Heritage Auctions’ Comic Books Signature Auction continues through 11th July 2026 and the Comic Art Signature Auction continues through 12th July
Head downthetubes for…
• Don Heck: A Work of Art by John Coates, Eric Nolen-Weathington, Don Heck (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
John Coates has meticulously researched and chronicled information on Don’s storied 40-year career, including his time at DC, Dell, Gold Key, and as “ghost” artist on Lee Falk’s The Phantom newspaper strip. From personal recollections from Don’s surviving family, long-time friends, and industry legends, to rare interviews with Heck himself (where he discusses his career, artistic technique, triumphs, frustrations, and love of drawing), this book is full of insight into ― and first-hand anecdotes from ― the early days of Marvel Comics. It also features an unbiased analysis of sales on Don’s DC Comics titles, an extensive art gallery (including published, unpublished, and pencil artwork), a Foreword by Stan Lee, and an Afterword by Beau Smith.
A terrific 1980s interview with Don which includes his account of working with Jack Kirby and Stan Lee at Marvel in the 1960s
• downthetubes: Delivering the goods: Don Heck, a much under appreciated artist by John Freeman
• Paul Kupperberg: A Comic Moment With… Don Heck
• Paul Kupperberg: My 13 Favorite Don Heck Covers
• Nick Caputo: Marvel Mysteries and Comics Minutiae – Appreciating Don Heck
• There’s a great Don Heck Appreciation group over on Facebook
• Horror by Heck! (Chilling Archives of Horror Comics!) (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Auctions, Comic Art, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, US Comics
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Don Heck was one of my favourite Marvel artists. He drew my favourite team book (the Avengers, natch) and together with Kirby and Ditko was one of the first artists whose work I ever saw (in UK reprint comic Terrific #16, when all three artists had one strip each on show – what an introduction to comic art in the sixties!) He is often overlooked, overshadowed by Kirby and Ditko, but he was one of the lynchpins of the early Marvel Universe and it’s long past time he was recognised.