Realism in Comics: Russ Heath's Gritty Realism in Western/War Comics of Golden/Silver Age

Iconic Golden Age western/war comic book artist Russ Heath on gritty realism and detail in art!
Legendary comic book artist Russ Heath is famous for his insane attention to detail and realism in comic book art. Russ Heath passed away in August, 2018 - but he left behind a 70 year career of amazing artwork! Yes, Heath started in the Golden Age at Marvel Comics, in 1946 - and was still doing comics until at least 2016, he was an artist's artist to the end. In this video, we look at his reputation for realism in the Golden and Silver Age comics he worked on.
Russ Heath was most known for real world genres like Western Comics of the Golden Age, and War comics of the Golden, Silver and Bronze ages. His art became legendary for Russ Heath's intense level of detail in his artwork, and for his intense committment to realism and gritty design. For Heath, realism wasn't just an artistic affectation, it was a personall committment, something handed down from his father, who was a real-life cowboy.
So when Heath was applying his amazing and gritty artistic techniques to titles like GI Combat, Kid Colt, Wild Western, Gunsmoke Western - and countless other Western and cowboy titles, both for Marvel Golden Age and Silver Age Western titles, and DC Golden and Silver Age Western titles.
His career started as a young artist for Timely Comics (later to become Marvel Comics), and DC's Golden Age comics in the 1940s (DC then known as National Comics). Russ Heath forged a career based in realism and became known for his powerful and gritty depictions of war and western comics. But even in more fantastic genres, Heath's gritty realism grounded his comic book artwork, making it more powerful, such as when he applied his skills and history as a scuba diver to his work on Sea Devils for DC comics.
While Russ Heath only lasted a short while on the Sea Devils issue, mainly doing covers, the painted renditions of those Sea Devils covers remain an amazing highpoint in his long and storied career. The fantastic visuals of sunken ships on the ocean floor, and a myriad of aquatic kaiju like monsters elevated Sea Devils from a minor comic book title to a hidden gem of DC Comics's Silver Age.
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Sources:
Wiki, Marvel and DC Databases at Fandom.com, National Cartoonists Society, Wikipedia, Grand Comic Database at comics.org, cartoonistsart.com, Steve Kriozere, Facebook group Marvel Bullpen Bulletins
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[@doberg3191]

Sea Devils ... comic book gold ... for some reason DC refuses to reprint.

[@donaldphillips6054]

My favorite artist of all time. LOVED his Tiger and Panther tank renderings. More iconic on Sgt. Rock than Kubert, to me....

[@BigBennKlingon]

The equipment and vehicles in his war stuff was always realistic. He obviously used reference photos for everything. Most artists just drew generic tanks or planes. Even now, with the internet at our fingertips, most artists just draw generic vehicles and equipment.

[@Graphicxtras1]

Very interesting video, thanks for the information and interview with Russ Heath

[@HeroJournalism]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Your channel looks very helpful, I just subscribed! And if you liked this one, I've got another Russ Heath video, as well as some on John Romita Sr., Steve Ditko, and two on Gene Colan! Check those out if they sound interesting, and/or subscribing, and thank you so much again for watching and for your feedback!

[@Graphicxtras1]

@@HeroJournalism Just subscribed - great selection of videos

[@HeroJournalism]

@@Graphicxtras1 - oh wow, thank you so much, that is so nice of you to say. I'll do my best to keep delivering good content, thank you for subscribing!

[@aaronnabus]

Another great comic history video! Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work!

[@HeroJournalism]

Oh, thank you so much Aaron from Hall H - that means a lot to me, you and Alex do SO much great work documenting rare corners of comic book history, I'm just so glad to work with you blokes! (as Englishman in San Diego might say)