A number of Heath's drawings of fighter jets and pilots in DC Comics' All-American Men of War were the uncredited and uncompensated basis for pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's oil paintings Blam, Okay Hot-Shot, Okay!, and Brattata.

Charlie Russell was my favorite because his work was absolutely authentic, because he drew what he lived ..."[6] Largely self-taught, Heath began freelancing for comics during summers while he was in high school, and both penciled and inked at least two installments of the naval feature "Hammerhead Hawley" in Holyoke Publishing's Captain Aero Comics vol.

"[9] He served stateside for nine months, drawing cartoons for his camp newspaper, but due to a clerical error, he said,[9] he was on neither the military payroll nor any official duty roster for a significant portion of his time.

A 2011 article in his hometown newspaper said that, "After a short stint in the military, Heath came back to Montclair, graduated from high school, got married and started a family.

He drew the December 1950 premiere of the two-issue superhero series Marvel Boy, as well as scattered science fiction anthology stories (in Venus, Journey into Unknown Worlds, and Men's Adventures); crime drama (Justice); horror stories and covers (Adventures into Terror, Marvel Tales, Menace, Mystic, Spellbound, Strange Tales, Uncanny Tales, the cover of Journey into Mystery #1), satiric humor (Wild, Mad), and war stories.

[7] Other 1950s work includes an issue of 3-D Comics from St. John Publications and "The Return of the Human Torch" (minus the opening page, drawn by character-creator Carl Burgos) in Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953),[7][11] the flagship of Atlas' ill-fated effort to revive superheroes, which had fallen out of fashion in the post-war U.S. Heath co-created with writer-editor Robert Kanigher the feature "The Haunted Tank" in G.I.

"[13] Also with Kanigher, Heath co-created and drew the first issues of DC's Sea Devils, about a team of scuba-diving adventurers.

[7][14] DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz described Heath in 2010 as "[A] master of texture and lighting and meticulous levels of detail.

[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.

The artist would buy uniforms, helmets and radios at Army surplus stores to use as reference, which peer Joe Kubert said ... set him apart.

[8]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.

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.

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.

A rare example of Heath working on super-hero material was his inking Michael Golden's penciled artwork on Mister Miracle #24 and 25.

[28] He lived in Van Nuys, California, where in his 80s he had knee surgery after The Hero Initiative and the Comic Art Professional Society of Los Angeles raised money to help pay for an operation.