Jim "Mister Know-It-All" Salicrup, offered the following suggestions on how Marvel should handle their distribution deal with the 7-Eleven chain: consider rejoining the Comics Code Authority, offering suitable for all-ages versions of their top-selling titles, lowering the price of their comics to $2.00 per title, not worrying about continuity, creating more content-oriented covers, and bringing back such promotional tools as the Bullpen Bulletins and letters pages within the comics themselves.

Update -- On May 18th, ign.com asked Marvel Studios President and CEO Avi Arad, "Beyond just the distribution, arguments are beginning to flare about the extreme rise in price point for a single book - how can you expect a kid to pay $3 for a single 22-page comic? Are there thoughts of introducing a lower price point comic line?"

To which Avi replied, "Yes - something like that is definitely coming. We're going to do it with a major chain. I cannot go into details on it right now until it is all done. Listen - our job is to put a book into the hands of kids. Kids should read these things. These are fun. These are great. We all grew up on it, we love it, and we want other people to experience it. The only reason they didn't experience it, obviously, are choices - television, videogames, you name it. You will see the major chains going back into the comic book business in a major way, and that will take care of this issue."

Previously in Addicted to Comics #4...

Sneaky Salicrup made the case for certain Papercutz titles possibly becoming increasingly valuable in years to come, "these Hardy Boys comics, which all had print runs lower than any Hardy Boys mystery sold in bookstores, are true collector's items." Update -- Hardy Boys comic #1 is now completely sold out from the publisher.

Previously in Addicted to Comics #6...

Salicrup offered up a crackpot theory about Wildstorm's new title, Legend, by Howard Chaykin and Russ Heath, inspired by the novel that is cited as the inspiration for Siegel and Schuster's Superman, Gladiator by Philip Wylie. Salicrup's theory was: "Howard Chaykin figured out a way to do a dark Superman movie, without having to use Superman -- he'd use the Philip Wylie surrogate Superman."

Update -- Salicrup confronted Chaykin for confirmation. "Thanks for the kind words, and the attention. As for my motivation, the fact is I wrote the adaptation nearly fifteen years ago, at the behest of Gil Kane -- who wanted to draw the book -- until he took a look at the script and freaked out at the amount of work he'd actually have to do.

"The script sat in limbo at DC for all those years. Various people were supposed to draw it -- Michael Nasser, Ashley Wood, I think at one point, even Jon Bogdanove was mentioned -- until somehow it ended up being illustrated by Russ Heath -- one of the gods of comics.

"Russ has done an astonishing piece of work here -- dark, dense and deep -- and I couldn't be more grateful."

Okay, Chaykin, but what about Salicrup's crackpot movie theory? "As for the movies, I've been trying to get this made as a feature since the late 1980s -- but the studios tend to look at comics as branded marquee ideas -- regardless of whether the sales figures the books generate have anything to do with mass audiences.

"Maybe now, with something they can hold in their hands -- but I doubt it. Not enough eye candy -- and not as simplistic as the studios want to believe comics are.

"Finally, I've always believed that Superman is a mélange of Gladiator and Doc Savage --and of course, for those of us who remember Simon and Kirby's THE DOUBLE LIFE OF PRIVATE STRONG, it's clear the book was on their minds, too."

To say nothing of the super-soldier formula that was injected into Simon and Kirby's Captain America! But, hey! Salicrup was actually kinda right! Although Salicrup also wrote, "why hasn't a shrewd Hollywood producer already made a movie based on Wylie's Gladiator?" Turns out, one did. Back in 1938, The Gladiator was released as a comedy vehicle for Joe E. Brown! That aside, Salicrup still thinks Chaykin is right, that Wylie's Gladiator would be a great movie, either based on the original novel, or Chaykin and Heath's Wildstorm adaptation.

Informed that this edition of Addicted to Comics was to be dedicated to Heath, Chaykin said, "Russ is one of my heroes for so many reasons. Like many of us, I'd assumed a few years back that he'd lost it. Much of the work he'd been doing in the nineties was uninteresting at best. I'd gone to that sympathetic place -- another guy who can't cut it --until I was in NYC some years ago -- and Peter Tomasi showed me the originals for the second half of that ENEMY ACE WWII thing Russ had done -- and I was blown away.

"Clearly he'd been phoning it in, until something that interested him showed up. I'm more than gratified that his enthusiasm was brought to bear on LEGEND -- it's an astonishing piece of work for anyone, let alone a legendary veteran with over half a century of comics behind him.

"And of course, chicks dig him -- so watch, listen and learn."

Which finally brings us to Russ Heath. Perhaps best known for his work on countless War and Western comics, Russ Heath has done impressive work for virtually every comics publisher for the last fifty years. Heath's art is so iconic that many panels from his war comics were the basis for Roy Lichtenstein's infamous Pop Art paintings. Heath also worked for MAD, CRACKED, NATIONAL LAMPOON, PLAYBOY, and others over the years. Some of Heath's black and white comic art, that he shaded with gray wash (diluted black ink), for Warren Publishing, is breathtaking.

Russ Heath and I became friends while working at the ill-fated dot-com, Stan Lee Media. It's interesting that Heath has worked with Stan Lee probably longer than many comicbook artists famous for working with Lee, yet few fans associate Heath with Lee. Probably because Heath didn't work with Lee during the celebrated Marvel Age of Comics back in the Swinging Sixties. Instead, Heath was one of the regulars in the pre-Marvel Atlas bullpen throughout the Fifties, and then much later as one of Lee's top storyboard artists at Marvel Productions in the 80s and 90s, working away on such animated series as G. I. Joe and The Uncanny X-Men. It's interesting to speculate what would've happened if Heath had stuck around with Lee in the sixties and been a part of the Marvel Revolution.

A few years ago, Heath was a guest at a Big Apple comics show in New York City, and it seemed only natural for us to share a table. Like most artists at conventions, Heath offers his fans the opportunity to buy sketches or signed prints from him at very reasonable rates. Heath's art is so good, so incredible, that I couldn't resist hastily lettering a sign offering to do "lousy" sketches for just five bucks. The point was, when offered the opportunity to purchase truly great works of comic art by Russ Heath, who in their right mind would even consider buying one of my silly doodles? It was just a dumb gag, but surprisingly enough people have enjoyed my lousy sketches, that I'm still doing 'em at most of my convention appearances.

Unlike me, Russ Heath comes from the school of "good drawing." His work embraces the romanticized visions of Raymond and Foster, as well as many great illustrators and fine art Western painters. Figures are all anatomically correct, perspective is properly employed to create an illusion of reality, and composition is simple and clear. Beyond that, Heath also places a huge premium on getting the little details right. Every background detail in a Russ Heath story, especially the War and Western stories, is painstakingly researched to create a completely authentic scenario.

Which brings us back to Legend. With a story spanning several decades, it was necessary to find an artist who could convincingly depict the various time periods. Who better than Heath, who actually lived through those years (Well, there are a few others I could name, but I wouldn't say they were necessarily "better.")? Every page of Legend is beautifully brought to life in typical understated Russ Heath style. You'll find no cutting edge story-telling tricks here. Heath simply and clearly tells the story is a straightforward manner, with his solid drawing skills making so many panels into mini-masterpieces of comic art. The coloring by Darlene Royer and David Rodriguez for Wildstorm FX, also deserves a special mention, in that it does a great job of bringing the art to life, without overwhelming it with excessive rendering or too many special effects. Instead, it nicely complements Heath's pretty pictures.

Legend by Chaykin and Heath is on sale now.

You can see Russ Heath in-person at the Big Apple comics show September 10 and 11 in New York City (where else?).

For more crackpot comicbook theories stay tuned to Addicted to Comics.

Addicted to Comics is © Copyright 2005 by Jim Salicrup. All rights reserved.