Number 2085: Russ Heath, Kurtzman fan

Russ Heath was one of Timely/Marvel/Atlas’ top artists. He drew most everything, including stories for the Atlas Mad imitations.

In the splash panel of “Big Wheels” Heath gives a nod to Harvey Kurtzman, creator and editor of Mad, by using a little character Harvey used in his “Hey Look!” filler pages for Stan Lee.

(More “Hey Look!” at the Hairy Green Eyeball blog.)

As for the story itself, it could have used some help from Kurtzman. It appears that either Heath or whomever wrote it tried to jam as many jokes into each panel as space allowed. That stuff worked in Mad, but it seems a bit strained here. (Hey look! It’s just my opinion.) You might find it very funny. Heath did one story for Kurtzman at Mad: “Plastic Sam,” where he just basically inked in the figures Kurtzman drew in his script. Kurtzman liked it. Long after Harvey and Mad parted company, Heath worked at times with Harvey and Will Elder on “Little Annie Fanny” for Playboy.

From Wild #3 (1954):

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