Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities R.I.P. Russ Heath

http://www.comicsbeat.com/rip-russ-heath/

Ninety-one years, and he stayed semi-active until close to the end. Gods bless his soul.

Although people will most likely, off the top of their heads, think "Sgt. Rock," "Haunted Tank," and various 80s TV cartoons (most notably "G.I. Joe",) there was much more to him than that.

His style, in its mature form, was, to me, the epitome of the Alex Raymond/Hal Foster/Milt Caniff hybrid that most of his generation strove to achieve, combining all the best qualities of that trinity, to the point where each of their respective flaws was cancelled out. On top of that, his versatitly was simply astonishing. There is a treasure trove of fill-ins and one-shots and guest-appearances, incuding -- I am not joking -- a 1970s issue of Marvel's "Son of Satan!"

But my favorite of his off-the-beaten-path offerings would have to be the very rare graphic novel adaptation of the Disney semi-culty/semi-flop "The Rocketeer," scripted by Peter Allen David.

Last year, I had the great fortune of seeing PAD for the first time since 1997 and getting his autograph on "The Rocketeer."

I wish I'd been able to get Russ Heath's as well. But that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Thank you, Mr. Heath, for making the most of your natural talent and sharing it with the world. Rest in peace, and please give your friend Joe Kubert (another who refused to be pigeonholed) our regards.

I don't think I've seen that version of the Rocketeer. I have the Stevens originals. As good as Stevens was, the planes in Heath's version must be fantastic.

And it's the planes and their drama that I remember about Heath. I was never a big reader of American war comics and I'm too young for his earlier work. But he was one of the artists who invariably appeared in other artists' lists of inspirations that appeared in comic magazines. If you were lucky, you'd get a page of his work to look at. I've probably read some reprints of his pre marvel work, really enjoying the art but not knowing it was his. His art just raised the story to new levels, with a great grasp of anatomy and technology. That Raymond/ Foster/Caniff connection, Fickles makes, is no idle one. He's right up there in composition and execution.

The planes are indeed quite lovely. Heath was something of a scale-model obsessive when it came to planes and tanks and such. Joe Kubert once said that Heath would have drawn every nut and bolt on every vehicle if not for The Almighty Deadlines. Now that's dedication!

Thoth's mention of how influential Heath was and how many pros name-checked him made me think of something -- he was truly "An Artists' Artist." Because if Heath's style had anything that might be considered a flaw, it's that he perfected the aforementioned Raymond/Foster/Caniff hybrid style so well, that he became the quintessence of that style, to the point where there were no quirks that made him easy to tell apart from other DC artists of that era. For example, Kubert's lines may not have been as smooth as Heath's, but some might argue that Kubert's art had more character and more dynamism as a result of those rough edges. On the other hand, it could just as validly be argued that the borderline anonymity of Heath's style better served the story than the more distinctive styles of his peers. And on the OTHER hand, Heath and Kubert might have simply been the John Totleben and Stephen Bissette of their generation, both great in their own ways -- JT & SB were both alumni of Kubert's school, which I think puts it all nicely in a nutshell.