Later career
Heath co-created with writer-editor Robert Kanigher the feature "The Haunted Tank" in G.I. Combat #87 (May 1961).[12] Heath stated in a 1999 interview that "I didn't like "The Haunted Tank" [in G.I. Combat] as much ... I liked less because there was always the same four characters – J.E.B. Stuart plus his three buddies – virtually the same story every issue: He'd be talking to this ghost, over and over again. I couldn't believe kids kept wanting to look at it."[13] Also with Kanigher, Heath co-created and drew the first issues of DC's Sea Devils, about a team of scuba-diving adventurers.[10][14] DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz described Heath in 2010 as "[A] master of texture and lighting and meticulous levels of detail. Given the chance he'd draw every barnacle on a sunken pirate ship."[15] Several of Kanigher's characters were combined into a single feature titled "The Losers". Their first appearance as a group was with the Haunted Tank crew in G.I. Combat #138 (Oct.–Nov. 1969) drawn by Heath.[16]
Various Heath drawings of fighter jets in DC Comics' All-American Men of War were the uncredited and uncompensated basis for pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's oil paintings Whaam!, Blam, Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!, and Brattata.[3][4][5][17][18][19][20][21]
Heath became known for the authenticity of his military comics. The artist would buy uniforms, helmets and radios at Army surplus stores to use as reference, which peer Joe Kubert said "... set him apart. He could illustrate mechanical things like rifles and tanks in a realistic way that few other artists could. He would build models of the things he would draw prior to drawing them and his stuff would come out right on the button. Other artists used to keep what they called a swipe file – pictures of things they may have to draw someday that they could use for reference. Russ' work was so good, other artists used it as reference.[7]"
Sometime in the 1960s, 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.[1] As Heath described in a 2000s interview, "I got fifty bucks for those two separate pages. ... A lot of people didn't know I did them because [the client] didn't want them signed. I did have a small 'RH' on the lower left-hand corner of the Revolutionary soldiers and I don't remember about the Roman soldiers. Then [customers] would blame me [when the actual toys were not as depicted]; I'd never seen the damned things, because they're like a bas relief or whatever they call it. They're not fully formed, not three dimensional. It would be flat things that were shaped a little and the kids felt gypped and they figured that it was my fault.[22]" Heath was one of the artists who sometimes assisted Kurtzman and Will Elder on their regular Playboy strip "Little Annie Fanny".[23] Writer Mark Evanier described Heath making the most of one such assignment: "One time when deadlines were nearing meltdown, Harvey Kurtzman called Heath in to assist in a marathon work session at the Playboy Mansion in Chicago. Russ 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. When it was completed, Kurtzman and Elder left ... but Heath just stayed. And stayed. And stayed some more. He had a free room as well as free meals whenever he wanted them from Hef's 24-hour kitchen. He also had access to whatever young ladies were lounging about ... so he thought, 'Why leave?' He decided to live there until someone told him to get out ... and for months, no one did. Everyone just kind of assumed he belonged there. It took quite a while before someone realized he didn't and threw him and his drawing table out.
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.[24] There he worked as an animator for Saturday-morning TV cartoons and later did commissioned art for comics fans. A rare example of Heath working on super-hero material was his inking Michael Golden's penciled artwork on Mister Miracle #24 (June 1978) and #25 (Sept. 1978).[25] That same year, he drew "The Last Bounty Hunter!" in DC Special Series #16. This story was written by Michael Fleisher and featured the death of DC Comics western antihero Jonah Hex.[26] Heath and writer Cary Bates launched The Lone Ranger
