Alex Toth - Biography

Graphic artist, born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He studied illustration at the High School of Industrial Arts, and later joined DC comics in New York (1947–52) and Standard Comics in San José, CA. After army service in World War 2, he joined Dell Comics in Los Angeles as a comic-book artist, and produced such action-hero series as Bravo for Adventure, which was also syndicated in Europe. In 1965 he moved to the Hanna-Barbera animation studios, where his adventure cartoon creations included the characters for Super Friends and Space Ghost.

Toth worked began in the American comic book industry, but is best known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Early life and career

Toth's talent was noticed early on as a teacher from his poster class in junior high took time to urge that he devote himself to art. Enrolling in the High School of Industrial Arts, Toth studied illustration and received his first paid freelance art at the early age of 15. Toth launched his career at the age of 15, illustrating true stories for Heroic magazine through Steve Douglas' Famous Funnies shop.

After graduating from the High School of Industrial Art in 1947, Toth was hired by Shelly Mayer at National/DC Comics. 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.

In 1952 Toth ended his contract with DC Comics and moved to California.

In 1954, Toth was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Tokyo, Japan.

Returning to the United States in 1956, Toth settled in the Los Angeles area and worked primary for Dell Comics until 1960.

Contributions to the comics medium

Toth's contributions to the comics medium are not widely known among casual fans. His stint on Disney's Zorro is highly regarded and has been reprinted in trade paperback form several times and there are two volumes of The Alex Toth Reader published by Pure Imagination which focuses on his work for Standard and Western publishing, but otherwise the bulk of his shorter stories can be difficult to locate.

Journalist Tom Spurgeon wrote that Toth possessed "an almost transcendent understanding of the power of art as a visual story component", and called him "one of the handful of people who could seriously enter into Greatest Comic Book Artist of All-Time discussions" and "a giant of 20th Century cartoon design."

Toth was known for his exhaustive study of other artists and his outspoken analysis of comic art past and present. In 2006 Billy Ingram and James Counts of TVparty produced a book titled "Dear John: The Alex Toth Doodle Book" cataloguing his correspondence with John Hitchcock, published by Octopus Press.

Death

Toth died at his drawing table on May 27, 2006. The following week, Adult Swim devoted bumps to Toth which simply read "Alex Toth 1928-2006". recognition

Wizard Magazine named Alex Toth number 7 in an article listing the "10 Most Influential Comic Book Artists of All Time". Missing! Heroic Comics #35 (1946), illustrating The Switchboard Heroine, Heroic Traffic Cop New Heroic Comics #44 (1947), illustrating Mercy Flight, Nurse Without Fear All Star Comics #37 (1947), illustrating untitled stories about The Atom and Dr. Mid-Nite written by Robert Kanigher All-American Comics #92 (1947), illustrating the cover and The Icicicle Goes South! All Star Comics #38 (1948), illustrating the cover and History's Crime Wave and Chapter Four written by Gardner Fox Green Lantern #30 (1948), written by Robert Kanigher Comic Cavalcade #24 (1948), illustrating Forecast: Danger! (A Green Lantern story) All Star Comics #40 (1948), co-illustrating a portion of The Plight of America written by John Broome All-American Comics #100 (1948), illustrating Johnny Thunder written by Robert Kanigher Green Lantern #34 (1948), illustrating Streak Meets The Princess All-American Comics #102 (1948), illustrating The Bridge of Peril! (A Johnny Thunder story) written by Robert Kanigher Dale Evans Comics #2 (1948) Green Lantern #36 (1949) Green Lantern #37 (1949) Green Lantern #38 (1949) New Heroic Comics #55 (1949), illustrating Her Baby's Life at Stake, Scout Training Saves A Life, Runaway Truck, All-American Western #114 (1950), illustrating The End of Johnny Thunder! Danger Trail #1 (1950) All-American Western #116 (1950), illustrating Buffalo Riders of the Mesa! All-American Western #117 (1951), illustrating Johnny Thunder vs. Black Lightnin'! Personal Love #11 (1951) Strange Adventures #12 (1951) Strange Adventures #13 (1951) Sensation Comics #107 (1952), illustrating Johnny Peril Strange Adventures #18 (1952), illustrating Girl in the Golden Flower! written by Robert Starr Mystery in Space #7 (1952), illustrating The World Where Dreams Come True! written by Mann Rubin Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #3 (1952), illustrating Rex- Circus Detective written by Robert Kanigher Sensation Comics #109 (1952) My Real Love #5 (1952)