The National Cartoonists Society will honor legendary comics artist Russ Heath with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award on May 24 during the Reuben Awards banquet in San Diego.

Heath's career has spanned from Timely's Wild Western in the 1940s and DC's Sea Devils in the 1960s to Marvel's The Immortal Iron Fist in 2009 and Aardvark-Vanheim's Glamourpuss in 2010. However, the 87-year-old artist is perhaps best known for his work on DC's war titles like G.I. Combat, All American Men of War and Our Army at War -- or for his detailed depictions of Roman and Revolutionary War battle scenes in ads for toy soldiers that appeared on the back of comic books throughout the 1970s.

Heath, who teamed with writer Cary Bates in 1981 to revive the syndicated Lone Ranger comic strip, was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004.

Named for Terry and the Pirates creator, and NCS co-founder, Milton Caniff, the Lifetime Achievement Award is given by unanimous vote of the group's board for "a lifetime of outstanding and accomplished work to a cartoonist who has not previously won the organization’s highest honor, the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year."

Previous recipients include Will Eisner, Al Hirschfeld, Jack Davis, Dale Messick, Charles Schulz, Jerry Robinson and Joe Kubert.

(via The Comics Reporter)