Old-fashioned Comics: Alex Toth

Showing posts with label Alex Toth. Show all posts

Monday, 5 May 2025

Alex Toth Collection - Contributed by Jens Terje

Alex Toth was one of the most influential artists in American comics.

He ranked Dan Spiegle among his main graphic influences.

While still at school, he began his career at the age of 15, working in the comic book

field through Steve Douglas' Famous Funnnies shop, illustrating true stories

for Heroic magazine. After graduating from the High School of Industrial Art,

Shelly Mayer hired him to work at National/DC Comics and he worked there

from 1947 to 1952. He worked on superhero stories starring among others

'The Flash', 'Dr. Mid-Nite', 'The Atom' and 'Green Lantern'.

Toth also started working with Warren Tufts on a daily newspaper strip called

'Casey Ruggles'. In 1952, Toth moved on to Standard Comics, where he worked on crime,

war and romance comics. During his military service in Japan (1954-56), he did a weekly adventure strip called 'Jon Fury' for the base paper Depot Diary.

After his army service, Toth joined Western Publishing Company, where

he specialized in drawing comic book versions of motion pictures and television shows

like 'The Land Unknown' and his most famous one, 'Zorro'.

By this time he also settled in California.

It was a small step to television, and in 1960, Toth became art director for

the 'Space Angel' television series. He worked as a storyboard and design artist

on realistic Hanna-Barbera shows during most of the 1960s and 1970s.

In addition, he illustrated and wrote his own stories for the Warren magazines

Eerie, Creepy and The Rook, including 'Bravo! for Adventure',

starring the character 'Jesse Bravo'.

Alex Toth was a strong graphic influence on José Delbo, Raye Horne,

Nestor Infante, Primaggio Mantovi, Lucas Nine, Paul Pope, John Romita, Sr.,

Julio Shimamoto and Ron Wagner.

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/toth_a.htm

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Alex_Toth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Toth

Jens Terje offers us the following files:

The Art Of Alex Toth (1977)

Alex Toth - Bravo For Adventure (1975; 1987)

Alter Ego v3 063 - Alex Toth (2006)

Setting the Standard - Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954 (2011)

Genius, Isolated - The Life and Art of Alex Toth (2011)

Genius, Illustrated - The Life and Art of Alex Toth (2012)

Genius, Animated - The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth (2014)

Alex Toth's Zorro. The Complete Dell Comics Adventures (TPB 2015)

Alex Toth - Histoires Horrorifiques 01-04. Compilation de Voltaire57 (V.O.) [SeulementBD]

Thanks to Jens Terje for this excellent contribution.

All Star Western (V1) #58 – #119 (1951 – 1961) DC - Complete Series

1951 Series

Publisher: DC

Publication Dates: April-May 1951 – June-July 1961

Number of Issues Published: 62 (#58 – #119)

Color: Color

Dimensions: Standard Golden Age U. S.; Later Standard Silver Age U. S.

Paper Stock: Glossy cover; Newsprint interior

Binding: Saddle-stitched

Publishing Format: Was Ongoing Series

Publication Type: magazine

Pages: 36 Indicia Frequency: bi-monthly

Tracking:

Numbering continues from All-Star Comics (DC, 1940 series) #57

Notes

Indicia title:

All-Star Western - #58-59

All Star Western - #60-119

Script and art credits for stories and fillers verified from copies of DC editorial records.

All-Star Western was the name of three American comic book series published by DC Comics, each a Western fiction omnibus featuring both continuing characters and anthological stories. The first ran from 1951 to 1961, the second from 1970 to 1972 and the third was part of The New 52 and ran from September 2011 to August 2014.

Vol. 1

The original All-Star Western began with #58 (May 1951), having taken over the number of its predecessor title, All Star Comics — a superhero omnibus that years before had introduced the enduring team the Justice Society of America. With the postwar decline in the popularity of superheroes, publisher DC Comics changed the series format and title. All-Star Western ran 62 bimonthly issues through #119 (July 1961). The cover logo did not include a hyphen until issue #108 (Sept. 1959), when it was much reduced in size and placed above the much larger logo for what was then the title feature, “Johnny Thunder”. Johnny Thunder remained on the cover until the final issue, #119, occasionally sharing it with Madame .44, “the masked outlaw queen.”

The first issue contained the features “The Trigger Twins”, created by writer Robert Kanigher and penciler Carmine Infantino and running through #116; “Don Caballero”, drawn by Gil Kane, and “Roving Ranger”, penciled by Alex Toth, the writer-creator uncredited; and “Strong Bow”, created by writer David Wood and artist Frank Giacoia. Other features that appeared through the years included “Super-Chief”, by writer Gardner Fox and artist Infantino; and, beginning with #67 (Nov. 1952), “Johnny Thunder”, featuring the masked, vigilante persona of a schoolteacher in an Old West Mormon settlement. The character had been created by writer Kanigher and artist Toth in DC’s All-American Comics in 1948.

Authors:

Script

Robert Kanigher (sourced), Dave Wood

Pencils

Carmine Infantino (sourced), Gil Kane ("Don Caballero"),

Frank Giacoia (signed),

Alex Toth ("The Roving Ranger") ,

Inks

Joe Giella ("The Roving Ranger"), Frank Giacoia, Gil Kane,

Bernard Sachs ("Don Caballero"), Frank Giacoia (signed), Alex Toth,

The Roving Ranger from All Star Western (1951). ¿¿ & Alex Toth (#58-#61, #63-#64) Irwin Hasen (#65), Frank Giacoia (#66) - Compiled by A. Wallace

The Roving Ranger

Pages from All Star Western (DC) magazine (1951 -1952)

In the great stretches of the early southwest, there were many settlements

=-out-of-the-way places «= where law and order was only a name

or se still, a cover-up for plundering gangs ie for hundreds of

square miles only one figure was dreaded byall outlaws,

Jeff Graham , the roving ranger , who carrie justice to the frontier

backed up by two

of the most deadly six-shooters ever seen !.

Authors:

Script: ?

Pencils:

Alex Toth, (#58-#61, #63-#64)

Irwin Hasen (#65), Frank Giacoia (#66 )

Inks:

Bernard Sachs (#58-#61, #63-#64) , Bob Lander (#66 )

Summary

#58 Gunlords of the Panhandle! (8 pages)

#59 Code of a Ranger (8 pages)

#60 The Nest of the Robber Rangers! (8 pages)

#61 The Big Step (2 pages)

#62 without story

#63 Find My Killer! (6 pages)

#64 The Riddle of the Rival Ranger (5.67 pages)

#65 The Haunted Gun! (3.67 pages)

#66 Trail's End! (3.50 pages)

46 Pages

Compiled by A. Wallace

My Only Love #01 - #09 (1975-1976) Complete Series [Charlton Comics Collection]

Charlton, 1975 Series

Published in English (United States) United States

Publication Dates: July 1975 - November 1976

Number of Issues Published: 9 (#1 - #9)

Color: Color

Dimensions: Standard Modern Age US

Paper Stock: Glossy cover; Newsprint interior

Binding: Saddle-stitched

Publishing Format: Was ongoing

Publication Type: magazine

Pages: 36 Indicia Frequency: bi-monthly

Authors:

Script: Joe Gill ?

Pencils:

Charles Nicholas (signed), Art Cappello, Jack Abel, Enrique Nieto (signed),

Enio Legisamon (signed) [as Enio], Francisco Pujalte, Alex Toth,

Frank Bolle (signed) [as FWB], Fred Himes?, Jorge Badia Romero,

Sal Gentile [as Salvatore Gentile], Nicola Cuti (signed),

Inks:

Vince Alascia (signed), Art Cappello, Jack Abel, Enrique Nieto (signed),

Enio Legisamon (signed) [as Enio], Francisco Pujalte, Alex Toth,

Frank Bolle (signed) [as FWB], Jorge Badia Romero,

Sal Gentile [as Salvatore Gentile],

Letters: typeset

Zorro (Dell Four Color Comics) 14 issues (Complete Series)

Zorro (Spanish for “fox”) is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a fictional character created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley.

He is a Californio nobleman living in Los Angeles during the era of Mexican rule (between 1821 and 1846), although some movie adaptations of Zorro’s story

have placed him during the earlier Spanish rule.

The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a dashing black-clad masked outlaw who defends the commoners and indigenous peoples of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he also delights in publicly humiliating them.

The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media. Tiburcio Vásquez, Juan Nepomuceno Cortina and Joaquin Murrieta
are cited as inspirations for Zorro.