Rest In Peace, Mr. Toth.
Posted on 06/05/2006 4:14:05 PM PDT by qam1
Alex Toth, a maverick comic artist who designed classic Hanna Barbera adventure cartoons such as "The Superfriends" and "Space Ghost," has died.
Toth died while sitting at his drawing table at his home in Burbank on May 27, his son Eric said. He was 77.
Eric Toth said the cause of death had not yet been determined, but his father had been in failing health for years.
Before working in animation, Toth was a comic book artist, widely regarded as brilliant, who had some success but even more frustration.
He rarely held on to an artist job for long because of a simple, subtle drawing style and a stubborn adherence to his artistic principles. And he preferred pirate tales and westerns to the more popular super hero comics.
"Toth was one of the most brilliant artists ever in comic books but also someone who was the odd man out in many ways," said comics publisher and critic Gary Groth. "He was never associated with a particular character, and he was pushed off to marginal titles."
But Toth's forms would prove influential in underground comics and graphic novels in later decades. Comic artist Will Eisner called him "a mastery of realism within a stunning illustrative style."
Toth was born in New York, where he lived and worked until settling in San Jose in the late 1950s. While living there he worked for Dell Comics on titles derived from television shows like "Sea Hunt" and "Zorro." That led to animation work in Southern California, where he moved in 1964.
Drawing for Hanna Barbera in the 1960s and 1970s, Toth designed characters for adventure cartoons "Jonny Quest" and "The Herculoids" in addition to "The Superfriends" and "Space Ghost," and he achieved the wider recognition and commercial success that had eluded him.....
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
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Sad news, but reading that makes me smile.
Rest In Peace, Mr. Toth.
Most of the old cartoonists didn't make much money. Thanks for the ping.
Jayna was my first love. She's still hot.
Xer ping...I think.
Two of my faves as a kid.
Rest in peace.
"Wonder Twin powers, activate!"
Alex Toth gave us not just Space Ghost, but the hilarity mine that is Sealab. Rest in peace, Mr. Toth!
Jonny Quest was predominantly the work of Doug Wildey.
And the headline could have been more appropriate, he did far more than Super Friends (which was a watered down version of DC's Justice League with the name superheroes).
It is a sad story though and the majority of the current crop of cartoonists just don't cut it.
Here's some of what else he was capable of...
The artist equivalent of dying with your boots on. :-)
Rest in Peace, Alex, from a kid who loved Space Ghost.
The Herculoids were awesome.
Those are all good, but that Zorro pic at the bottom...just breathtaking!
"Meanwhile, back in London...."
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