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| Alex Toth | |
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Alex Toth by Michael Netzer
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| Born | June 25, 1928 New York City, New York |
| Died | May 27, 2006 (aged 77) Burbank, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Artist, animator |
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Notable works
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Birdman and the Galaxy Trio The Herculoids Space Ghost Super Friends |
He was inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990.
Contents
Biography
Early life and career
Alex Toth's talent was noticed early, and a teacher from his poster class in junior high school urged him to devote himself to art. Enrolling in the School of Industrial Art,[2] Toth studied illustration. He began his career when he sold his first freelance art at the age of 15, subsequently illustrating true stories for Heroic magazine through a comic book packager named Steve Douglas.[1] Although he initially aimed to do newspaper strips ("It was my dream to do what Caniff, Raymond, and Foster had done"),[3] he found the industry "dying" and instead moved into comic books.After graduating from the School of Industrial Art in 1947, Toth was hired by Sheldon Mayer at National/DC Comics. Green Lantern #28 (Oct.–Nov. 1947) was one of the first comics he drew for the company.[4] He drew four issues of All Star Comics[5] including issues #38 and #41 in which the Black Canary first met the Justice Society of America and then joined the team.[6] A canine sidekick for Green Lantern named Streak was introduced in Green Lantern #30 (Feb.–March 1948) and the dog proved so popular that he became the featured character on several covers of the series starting with #34.[7] He worked at DC for five years, drawing the Golden Age versions of the Flash, Doctor Mid-Nite, and the Atom.[8] In addition to superheroes, Toth drew Western comics for DC including All-Star Western.[9] He was assigned to the "Johnny Thunder" feature in All-Star Western because editor Julius Schwartz considered him to be "my best artist at the time."[10] Toth and writer Robert Kanigher co-created Rex the Wonder Dog in 1952.[11]
For a brief time in 1950, Toth was able to realize his dream of working on newspaper comic strips by ghost illustrating Casey Ruggles with Warren Tufts.[12] In 1952 Toth ended his contract with DC Comics and moved to California. It is during that time that he worked on crime, war and romance comics for Standard Comics. In 1954, Toth was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Tokyo, Japan. While in Japan, he wrote and drew his own weekly adventure strip, Jon Fury, for the base paper, Depot Diary.
Animation and later career
Space Ghost, one of Toth's most famous designs.
He continued to work in comic books, contributing to Warren Publishing's magazines Eerie, Creepy and The Rook.[8] For DC Comics, he drew the first issue of The Witching Hour (February–March 1969) and introduced the series' three witches.[17] Toth illustrated the comic book tie-in to the Hot Wheels animated series based on the toy line.[18] His collaboration with writer Bob Haney on the four page story "Dirty Job" in Our Army at War #241 (Feb. 1972), has been described as a "true masterpiece".[19][20] Toth worked with writer/editor Archie Goodwin on the story "Burma Sky" in Our Fighting Forces #146 (Dec. 1973–Jan. 1974) and Goodwin praised Toth's art in a 1998 interview: "To me, having Alex Toth do any kind of airplane story, it's a joy for me. If I see a chance to do something like that, I will. He did a really fabulous job on it." The two men crafted a Batman story for Detective Comics #442 (Aug.-Sept. 1974) as well.[21][22] Toth and E. Nelson Bridwell produced a framing sequence for the Super Friends feature in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-41 (Dec 1975–Jan. 1976).[23] Toth's final work for DC was the cover for Batman Black and White #4 (Sept. 1996).[24]
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