Russ Heath produced commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Roman and Revolutionary War battle scenes for toy soldier sets, became familiar pieces of Americana after gracing the back covers of countless comic books from the early 1960s to early 1970s.
21 Facts About Russ Heath
2.
Russ Heath was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.
3.
Russ Heath was in Montclair, New Jersey's Montclair High School class of 1945.
4.
Russ Heath continued looking for work as an artist on his lunch hour, and in 1947, landed a $75-a-week staff position at Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics.
5.
Russ Heath drew several Western stories for such Timely comics as Wild Western, All Western Winners, Arizona Kid, Black Rider, Western Outlaws, and Reno Browne, Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl.
6.
Russ Heath drew the December 1950 premiere of the two-issue superhero series Marvel Boy, as well as scattered science fiction anthology stories ; crime drama ; horror stories and covers, satiric humor, and war stories.
7.
Russ Heath produced combat stories both for the wide line of Timely war titles and the first issue of EC Comics' celebrated Frontline Combat.
8.
Russ Heath became known for the authenticity of his military comics.
9.
Russ Heath would build models of the things he would draw prior to drawing them and his stuff would come out right on the button.
10.
Russ Heath' work was so good, other artists used it as reference.
11.
Sometime in the 1960s, Russ Heath drew two pieces of commercial art that became familiar bits of Americana after gracing the back covers of countless comic books through the early 1970s: advertisements for toy soldier sets, depicting Roman and Revolutionary War battle scenes.
12.
Russ Heath was one of the artists who sometimes assisted Kurtzman and Will Elder on their regular Playboy strip "Little Annie Fanny".
13.
Writer Mark Evanier described Russ Heath making the most of one such assignment:.
14.
Russ Heath flew in and was given a room there, and spent many days aiding Kurtzman and artist Will Elder in getting one installment done of the strip.
15.
Russ Heath had a free room as well as free meals whenever he wanted them from Hef's 24-hour kitchen.
16.
Russ Heath had access to whatever young ladies were lounging about.
17.
Russ Heath recalled in 2001 that as an adult he lived "seven years in Manhattan, seven years in Chicago and seven years in Connecticut", in the town of Westport, before moving to California in 1978.
18.
Russ Heath lived in Van Nuys, California, where in his 80s he had knee surgery after The Hero Initiative and the Comic Art Professional Society of Los Angeles raised money to help pay for an operation.
19.
Russ Heath received an Inkpot Award in 1997 and was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.
20.
Russ Heath received the Sergio Award from the Comic Art Professional Society in 2010 and the National Cartoonists Society's Milton Caniff Award in 2014.
21.
In 2018, Russ Heath was awarded the Inkwell Awards Stacy Aragon Special Recognition Award for his lifetime achievement as comic book inker.