Thanks, Mike!

The animated film Heavy Metal premiered in the United States and Canada on August 7, 1981, making it 45 years young this month. As any Gen Xer can vouch, HM and the magazine that went along with it were transformative. Besides perhaps the Harry Canyon segment, the most affective, at least to me, was the B-17 Pacific Pearl segment, and we wouldn’t have had it without illustrator Michael G. Ploog— who knew guns and militaria firsthand. Ploog, born in Mankato, Minnesota during WWII, signed up with the Marines in 1958 and remained on active duty for ten years, working on the Corps’ Leatherneck Magazine, among others. Working for Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, he did side work for Will Eisner on the Army’s PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, guide. A typical spread from Will Eisner’s U.S. Army publication PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly #224 (c. 1971), with art attributed to Ploog. Of course, Mike went on to work with Marvel (Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Werewolf By Night, et al), DC…