Alex Toth was born in 1928 toimmigrants from Hungary. His father was Sandor Toth, a coal miner, and also musician ofCalvinist religion who hailed fromBodroghalász,[3] Hungary, and his mother was theRoman Catholic Mary Elizabeth Hufnagel, who hailed fromBudapest.[4][5] His parents, Alexander Tóth and Mary Hufnagel, married inHamilton, Ontario, on October 27, 1924, and afterward moved toManhattan, where Alex Toth was born. His paternal grandparents were Sámuel Tóth, a wine and grape farmer in Bodroghalász, and Erzsébet Menyhért; his maternal grandparents were József Hufnagel a farmer fromTorontál County and Mária Kroppa.[6][7]
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 theSchool of Industrial Art,[8] Toth studied illustration. He began his career when he sold his first freelance art at the age of 15, subsequently illustrating true stories forHeroic magazine through acomic book packager named Steve Douglas.[2] Although he initially aimed to do newspaperstrips ("It was my dream to do whatCaniff,Raymond, andFoster had done"),[9] he found the industry "dying" and instead moved into comic books.
After graduating from the School of Industrial Art in 1947, Toth was hired bySheldon Mayer at National/DC Comics.Green Lantern #28 (Oct.–Nov. 1947) was one of the first comics he drew for the company.[10] He drew four issues ofAll Star Comics[11] including issues #38 and #41 in which theBlack Canary first met theJustice Society of America and then joined the team.[12] A canine sidekick for Green Lantern named Streak was introduced inGreen 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.[13] He worked at DC for five years, drawing theGolden Age versions of theFlash,Doctor Mid-Nite, and theAtom.[14] In addition to superheroes, Toth drewWestern comics for DC includingAll-Star Western.[15] He was assigned to the "Johnny Thunder" feature inAll-Star Western because editorJulius Schwartz considered him to be "my best artist at the time."[16] Toth and writerRobert Kanigher co-createdRex the Wonder Dog in 1952.[17]
For a brief time in 1950, Toth was able to realize his dream of working on newspaper comic strips byghost illustratingCasey Ruggles withWarren Tufts.[18] 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 forStandard Comics. In 1954, Toth was drafted into theU.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. He served in the Army until 1956.
He continued to work in comic books, contributing toWarren Publishing's magazinesEerie,Creepy andThe Rook.[14] For DC Comics, he drew the first issue ofThe Witching Hour (February–March 1969) and introduced the series' three witches.[23] Toth illustrated the comic booktie-in to theHot Wheels animated series based on thetoy line.[24] His collaboration with writerBob Haney on the four page story "Dirty Job" inOur Army at War #241 (Feb. 1972), has been described as a "true masterpiece".[25][26] Toth worked with writer/editorArchie Goodwin on the story "Burma Sky" inOur 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 aBatman story forDetective Comics #442 (Aug.–Sept. 1974) as well.[27][28] Toth andE. Nelson Bridwell produced a framing sequence for theSuper Friends feature inLimited Collectors' Edition #C-41 (Dec. 1975 – Jan. 1976).[29] Toth's final work for DC was the cover forBatman Black and White #4 (Sept. 1996).[30]
Alex Toth was the father of four children, sons Eric and Damon and daughters Dana and Carrie. His marriage to Christina Schaber Hyde ended in divorce in 1968, and his second wife, Guyla Avery, died in 1985.[8]
JournalistTom 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".[33]
Toth was known for his exhaustive study of other artists and his outspoken analysis of comics art past and present. For example, in a 2001 interview he criticized the trend of fully painted comics, saying "Itcould be comics if those who know how to paint also knew how to tell a story! Who knew what pacing was, and didn't just jam a lot of pretty pictures together into a page, pages, and call it a story, continuity! It ain't!" Toth lamented what he saw as a lack of awareness on the part of younger artists of their predecessors, as well as a feeling that the innocent fun of comics' past was being lost in the pursuit of pointlessnihilism and mature content.[34]
In the 1990s and 2000s, he contributed to the magazinesComic Book Artist andAlter Ego, writing the columns "Before I Forget" and "Who Cares? I Do!", respectively. In 2006, James Counts and Billy Ingram compiled personal anecdotes, hundreds of unseen sketches from famous Alex Toth comic and animated works combined with correspondence with friend and comics dealer John Hitchcock in the bookDear John: The Alex Toth Doodle Book (Octopus Press). Launched atComicCon 2006, the first printing sold out within weeks of first publication.
Film directorMichael Almereyda said Toth was a formative influence on his youth, and credits Toth's long interest inNikola Tesla as the catalyst for Almereyda's biographical dramaTesla:
... part of my fascination came from a great comic book artist, a guy who within his own framework is called a genius, named Alex Toth. He's a visual storyteller that I'll always be learning from, and anyone who cares about narrative through pictures: he’s a brilliant man. But he was illustrating really stupid stories. Alex befriended me when I was a teenager and I would go over to his house and chain smoke ... and he would talk about Nikola Tesla. That’s how I learned about Tesla, through Alex Toth.[35]
DC Comics will publish a collection of Toth's work titledDC Universe by Alex Toth: The Deluxe Edition in 2026.[36]
^Wallace, Daniel (2010). "1940s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.).DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom:Dorling Kindersley. p. 56.ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9.This issue featured some of the earliest work by talented young artist Alex Toth...Alongside other newcomers such as Joe Kubert and Carmine Infantino, Toth helped bring a fresh look to the pages of DC.
^Thomas, Roy (2000). ""The Men (and One Woman) Behind the JSA: Its Creation and Creative Personnel".All-Star CompanionVolume 1. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 34.ISBN1-893905-055.
^Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 57: "In a sign of the character's growing popularity, Black Canary made her first appearance outside ofFlash Comics in a feature by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Alex Toth...By the story's end, Black Canary was considered for JSA membership but wouldn't officially join untilAll Star Comics #41."
^Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 59: "The debut of Streak the Wonder Dog in a story by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Alex Toth wasn't a good sign for Green Lantern...Streak took over the cover of issue #34 in September, but he couldn't save his master's series from cancelation the following year."
^Irvine, Alex "1950s" in Dolan, p. 66: "With work by artists Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, and Alex Toth, and writer Robert Kanigher, among others,All-Star Western would run for ten years as a bimonthly title."
^Irvine "1950s" in Dolan, p. 68: "Rex the Wonder Dog leaped into comics with his own bimonthly series...written by Robert Kanigher and [drawn by] Alex Toth."
^Markstein, Don (2006)."Space Ghost". Don Markstein's Toonopedia.Archived from the original on November 5, 2013.Space Ghost endured and is still popular today. In large part, this is due to the artistic input of comic book veteran Alex Toth...who, on staff with Hanna-Barbera as a designer and idea man, is generally credited with having created Space Ghost.
^Markstein, Don (2007)."The Herculoids". Don Markstein's Toonopedia.Archived from the original on June 30, 2012.Like the majority of Hanna-Barbera's late '60s adventure characters ... The Herculoids were created by designer Alex Toth.
^Markstein, Don (2008)."Birdman". Don Markstein's Toonopedia.Archived from the original on June 20, 2014.
^McAvennie, Michael "1960s" in Dolan, p. 132: "For the first issue, writer/artist Alex Toth provided a framing sequence ... that introduced readers to cronish Mordred, motherly Mildred, and beautiful maiden Cynthia."
^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 138: "Toth's aerodynamic storytelling fueled a series that took licensed tie-ins in a bold new direction."
^Levitz, Paul (2010). "The Bronze Age 1970–1984".75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking. Cologne, Germany:Taschen. p. 540.ISBN9783836519816.It was undeniable, however, that the audacity of depicting the Prince of Peace's crucifixion inOur Army at War was attention getting. This story, arguably veteran writer Haney's most prestigious work, enriched by the magnificent [Alex] Toth art, was certainly that.
^Manning, Matthew K. (2014). "1970s". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.).Batman: A Visual History. London, United Kingdom:Dorling Kindersley. p. 117.ISBN978-1465424563.Two masters of sequential storytelling, writer Archie Goodwin and artist Alex Toth, joined forces for an unforgettable Batman lead story.
^Franklin, Chris (December 2012). "The Kids in the Hall (of Justice) A Whirlwind Tour with the Super Friends".Back Issue! (61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing:24–28.
^Levitz "The Dark Age 1984–1998" p. 574: "Only fate understood the juxtaposition of having the first cover [to the series] be Jim Lee's debut as a DC contributor and the last be Alex Toth's final contribution, placing the star artist of DC's next decades against the artist's artist of its Golden and Silver ages."
