On May 24 in a ceremony in Los Angeles, the National Cartoonist Society bestowed their prestigious Milton Caniff Lifetime Award to artist Russ Heath. Previous Canniff Award winners include Will Eisner, Al Hirschfeld, Jack Davis, Dale Messick, Charles Schulz, Jerry Robinson, Gahan Wilson, Ralph Steadman, Frank Frazetta, and Joe Kubert. The award was presented to Heath by Mad Magazine legend Sergio Aragones. In 1990 Heath collaborated with Doug Murray on the graphic novel ‘Hearts and Minds’, a romance set against the Vietnam War. It is Heath’s only creator-owned work and the most realistic portrayal of war in his large body of work. Grand Design Communications represents reprint rights for ‘Hearts and Minds’. 
Russ Heath has been called “the last of the great masters” of American comics, and was praised by his frequent collaborator Archie Goodwin as “An artists’ artist”. Awarded the Inkpot Award in 1997, and inducted in the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2009, he started his career during the Golden Age of American Comics in 1942 at age fifteen. He drew war stories for (among others) Marvel, DC, and EC (including the first issue of Frontline Combat), worked with Harvey Kurtzman on “Little Annie Fanny” in Playboy, co-created the DC titles “The Sea Devils” and “The Haunted Tank”. Heath later worked in animation at Hanna Barbera with Dave Stevens and later worked with Stevens to adapt the Rocketeer movie to comics. Roy Lichtenstein’s most famous painting, WHAAM is taken from one of his war comics, and his iconic toy soldier advertising art (“132 ROMAN SOLDIERS”, “204 PIECE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS”) appeared on thousands of comic books. The Winter 2014 issue of Comic Book Creator magazine features a wide-ranging interview with Russ Heath, described by publisher TwoMorrows:
COMIC BOOK CREATOR #4 gets rambunctiously rustic with rowdy RUSS HEATH in a wide-ranging, comprehensive interview with the superb comic book artist. From Atlas Comics to Annie Fanny, from Haunted Tank to Warren horror, from man of Rock to son of Satan, we cover Russ’s expansive career, complete with essay on his extraordinary work by S.C. RINGGENBERG and a senses-shattering gallery of art, all behind a gorgeous KEVIN NOWLAN cover.
COMIC BOOK CREATOR #4 is 84 color pages and can be ordered from the publisher for the discounted price of $7.61. To read a free preview and to order the magazine visit the TwoMorrows website.
- COMIC BOOK CREATOR #4 – cover by Kevin Nowlan