Sunday, February 03, 2019

Totally Toth

The first of three Alex Toth stories from Jimmy Wakely #12. I am not sure about the cover, but inside there are many more Tothism than in the previous stories.

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6 comments:

Tom said...

Comics.org says the cover's by Gil Kane - and I agree. But I also agree that this is the issue where the stories start to look like the real Alex Toth ...

3:50 PM
comicstripfan said...

A sidebar to Jimmy Wakely and Toth of which I’m sure you are aware Ger: it is reported that during the period Toth drew the stories he had a terrible relationship with Julie Schwartz, the editor at DC that oversaw Wakely; and with Carmen Infantino at DC for whom Toth lacked respect; after Toth had passed away, in a later interview (from “Carmen Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur”) Infantino said that Toth “hated drawing Jimmy Wakely and he wanted to draw only what he wanted to draw. Well you coudn’t take that attitude with Julie.” In a 1968 Graphic Story Magazine interview reprinted in “Setting the Standard-Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954” Toth said “…finally, in 1952, I’d had it. In need of a change of pace and environment, I quit DC and went over to Standard Comics…drawing romance, horror, war and science fiction…until…’54.” With all this negativity, it’s amazing how the quality of the art held up.

4:46 PM
Ger Apeldoorn said...

Apparently he was allowed to show a little bit of his own style. And don't forget that he influenced many of his (hated or not) compatriots at DC with his unique renderings.

5:47 AM
Manqueman said...

Also per the GCD (https://www.comics.org/issue/8995/), there's only two Toth stories in issue 12.
As for National's love/hate thing with Toth, however they felt about Toth and his art, the Toth/Barry team became the house style for ~10-15 years. And IMO, his art very, very early on that first stint was just about the best the company was publishing.

1:55 PM
comicstripfan said...

Yes, regarding Dan’s brother Seymour “Sy” Barry - it would be interesting to know his personal relationship with Toth: as Murphy Anderson said in “The Life and Art of Murphy Anderson” (2003) “Alex [Toth] did everything, penciling and inking. But they wanted him just to pencil. He was a very good, sure penciler. Nothing sketchy, everything was very definite and easy to understand. Seymour Barry used to ink a lot of Alex for DC. Everybody wanted to ink his work because it was so clear.”

4:52 PM
The Seditionist said...

Slick as the Toth/Barry work was -- light years beyond just about everyone else at National at the time -- I think my favorite inkers on Toth were Mike Peppe on the gorgeous romance stuff at Standard and Toth himself at least till towards the end of his career.

7:21 AM

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