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Alex Toth: Legendary Cartoon & Comic Designer | 5 Decades of Masterful Artistry
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Alex Toth (1928–2006). a legendary character designer, animator, cartoonist, artist, and comic book creator. Alex, at the urging of a high school teacher enrolled in art school with the goal of working in the comic strip biz along with some of his boyhood inspirations Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon), Caniff (Terry and the Pirates) and Hal Foster (Prince Valiant). By the time Alex graduated in 1947 from School of Industrial Art the strips were starting to wind down and he decided to make a leap into comic books. He started out with his first gig for National/DC Comics working on the golden age characters of Green Lantern and Black Canary’s first meeting with the Justice Society. Other DC series included The Atom, Flash and Doctor Mid-Nite. He also worked in the mid to late 50’s within the war, romance and crime genres and brilliantly illustrated Disney’s Zorro comics.
Alex was hired by Hanna Barbera in the early 60’s after Toth had manned the helm on the animated sci-fi show Space Angel. This led to Alex creating not only the Herculoids, but the highly regarded Space Ghost series that helped launch the domination of superheroes on Saturday mornings for a solid 3 years, a hold that ended only due to the Coalition Against Violence on Television.
Other series included Birdman and the ever-popular Super Friends from the 1970’s. The 70’s also saw his venture into Creepy, Eerie and The Rook for Warren Publications. His talent knew no bounds, and many considered Alex a genius when it came to background design not just character development and he really shined when it came to details such as weapons and machines- no one could do airplanes better. His eye for…
