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Monday, May 29, 2006
Alex Toth 1928-2006
"Death Flies the Haunted Skies" from Detective Comics #442 was the first story by Alex Toth I ever read (I actually read it in the first edition of The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told). I had heard so much about Toth, how he drew like no other and that he influenced so many artists I liked by then such as Bruce Timm and Mike Allred, that I knew I was reading something special. There were startling visuals like the title page where Batman's cape spells out the character's name but when I finished the story I was more impressed with how Toth handled the less flashy but more important aspects of cartooning. The way his story flowed (see above), the use of light and darkness and how he could do so much with so few lines.
I would scan old trade paper backs and back issues for those Toth stories that would often appear alongside other's works. While I loved the work of Joe Kubert, Gil Kane and others in The Greatest 1950's Stories Ever Told it was the two stories by Toth, as well as the Challengers of the Unknown story by Jack Kirby, that my eyes devoured. His work had a feel all its own. I know Toth thought a lot about his work and others and what made for good and bad drawing. Still, whenever I read something like "F-86 Sabre Jet!" from Frontline Combat #12 I see art that just seems to pour out of the artist so naturally, like it was a sixth sense for Toth. By the time what is known to many collectors as "The Silver Age" arrived Toth had his own style that was so powerful it would stay in your head long after you finished a book with contributions from a range of artists.
Toth died at his drawing table, which I find such a romantic and heartbreaking image. He'll never draw again but since he drew so much for so many different comic titles and companies I think we'll all be studying and enjoying his work for a long time. I've talked to fans of all types who wish to see DC put out a book of Toth's work for the company that has been scattered around so many different places. Maybe we'll see that know, so everyone can pick up one large volume of work and recognize what comic book making at its very best looks like.
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