The worst thing about this? I had the whole six-issue run of the Heckler at one point, and haven't the foggiest what happened to it. Well, that's not the worst thing: I keep only finding #1 and buying it...hell, I may have a couple more somewhere. And it's not like Bruce Jone's Warlord #10, a book that I own a substantial amount of its print run, in order to keep it out of the hands of the innocent; Heckler #1 isn't bad.
Aw, I miss the nine-panel grids...I recall co-creator/plotter/penciller Keith Giffen staying he wrote the Heckler as if Bugs Bunny was a superhero; but it's better than that, really.
I don't know if this book is fondly remembered by anyone except me. The plot is a skeleton to hang jokes on, and the jokes are not going to be for everyone, and even then they're hit and miss. Moreover, the Heckler's civilian identity is a cypher and he doesn't seem to have a traditional origin at all; or any real reason to put on a suit and fight crazy villains. (More bizarre-crazy, than psycho-crazy.) And if you're going to do a book in 1992, that's a bit of a rebuttal to the tastes of 1992; good luck, comics were just about tasteless there for a while. All gritted teeth and pouches...
That said, love it. You might not, but if it grabs you, the Heckler will make you want to put on a costume and run around town; with no powers, no training, and no motivation. I'd be a natural.
Still: every time I see this book in the quarter bins, I buy it. If I get six copies of issue #1 before I find the rest of the series...I don't know, I owe you a coke or something.
From "Our First Issue!" Script by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, inks by Malcolm Jones III, letters by Bob Pinaha, colors by Tom McGraw, inks by Kevin Dooley, and the rest by Keith Giffen.
I loved THE HECKLER. I may even still have all six issues in a longbox someplace.
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