Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth Hardcover – February 26, 2013

I just received this book today, and though I'd usually do a review from a book I've already read, I make an exception on this one seeing how good the first volume was (and a 10 star book at that, if Amazon permitted going over their 5 star rate). I pre-ordered this book more than a year ago (it was supposed to appear last summer), and by the looks of it, don't regret it at all.The first book contained Toth's work up to the 50's, concentrating on the work he did for Standard (yet not including much of the early work he did for DC; maybe because DC doesn't like sharing their work with any other publisher). Since the second volume was going to be from the 60's till the last days of Toth's life, I guess I wouldn't be seeing any of his work for DC again. I mean, the first time around I thought I'd be seeing some of his work for "Sierra Smith", a back-up feature he did for the Dale Evans comics, and, no, I didn't buy those comics, but I did see some Sierra Smith adventures as a back-up feature in some Batman comics in the 60's (it was many years later that I found out they were drawn by Toth in a style reminiscent of Caniff). This new, second volume covers just about every comic work he did after the 60's, DC work included.It starts off with work Toth did for some British weeklies (something I didn't know of), through the work with Dell, DC, Warren and CARtoons in the 60's, to the few work he did later on, including some that appeared in Europe before it did in America. Good to see some of the DC material, even going so far as to show some shot from the original art, i.e. The Rip Hunter comic he drew featuring some of his best work (he only drew two Rip Hunter stories as far as I can remember).We also see the strips Toth drew announcing the movie "How to murder your wife", starring Jack Lemmon. In the film, Lemmon is a comic strip artist who sets out to murder his wife who has put a hindrance on his pretty cool bachelor life. Toth was supposed to draw the "strips" within the film, but that never came to be for two reasons; one, Toth was left-handed and in the film Lemmon is right-handed, and two: Toth, ever the perfectionist was constantly telling the cameraman where to point the camera and giving orders to the director as to how the "drawing scenes" should be shot, reasons why his artwork is never seen onscreen (so if you're a Toth fan don't rush to buy the DVD thinking you'll see Toth's work in the movie).We also get some of the art Toth did for various animated series, though I always felt his storyboards were much better than the films themselves. We also get the stuff he did for Peterson Publishing, who published the "Big Daddy" Roth series of dragsters and hot rod comic books.But it's his work for Warren that really drew my attention, and we get a lot of it shot from the original artboards, which makes this book and the previous one so great. It's cool to see Toth's original "marker" art, even if the tones of the markers have faded and changed "color" with the years (he even did the lettering with a marker).We even get a whole reprint (again shot from the original boards) of a Hot Wheels story done for DC (I didn't even know that title existed; maybe due to the relative success of CARToons, DC jumped on the hot-rods bandwagon for a time, and who better to draw such stories than Toth himself). But of course the best DC stories are some of the war stories Toth drew for them, and we get, again, complete reprints shot from original boards to two of the best; the Kanigher written "White Devil... yellow devil" (reworked by Toth himself after it was published in DC's Star Spangled War Stories) and the Archie Goodwin written "Burma Sky" where we can see Toth's great mastery of using markers to do the inking (a practice he probably learned for working in animation).Again, I must say that this book contains what I feel is Toth's best artwork. Toward the end we get to see some of Toth's last masterpieces, "Bravo for adventure" and "Torpedo 1936", aimed both for the european market. Torpedo was supposed to be a series written by Will Eisner and featuring artwork by Toth, and though it wasn't supposed to be a gangster series, it already had the date "1936" on the title. Eisner never got to write the script and Toth was sent instead a script by a Spanish writer, telling the story of a heartless killer. Toth came up with the name "Torpedo", as that was how they called those "guns for hire" at the time, though he had trouble with the content and the script. Toth always believed there had to be moral somewhere in the story, and had a hard time drawing stories about a relentless killer who doesn't seem to have any morals. Needless to say, the project didn't pan out between writer and artist, and was consequently shelved (until many years later it was picked up by a young Catalan artist named Bernet, and since became a huge hit worldwide; see my review on Torpedo's first volume).It's a pity non of the artwork he inked for Leo Durañona for Warren is shown here. I found the inking highly interesting as Toth was looking for new directions, but apparently no one else in America did. As I said, I haven't had time to read the book, so once I do, I'll get a different appreciation, but just from the look of it, it's already a winner and highly recommended. I'm sorry, Bruce, but I'm just starting to read the book now.By the way, I spotted a color illustration on page 321... I know that for quite some time two italian comic book creators: Giancarlo Berardi, writer and Ivo Milazzo, artist (and perhaps the artist to have best followed Toth's artistic path of "less is more") had tried to get Toth to illustrate a story for the character they had created, "Ken Parker". The illustration in question seems to have been an idea for a Ken Parker cover.If you already own the first volume, this one's even better (at least artwise), so it's a sure buy! Now, must we wait another year and a half for the third volume, guys?Addendum: Finished reading the book, finally! I must say that I'm partial to biographies, as most of the time they're written by people who never knew the artist and gather the information from second, or third hand, or other people who knew the artist, etc. And even if you do have the chance of meeting the artist in person, you won't be getting any real information. I mean, I remember once asking Will Eisner why he chose to become a comic book artist, and he told me it was for the money. Yeah right, as every one knows that comic book artists hardly make minimum wage, but Eisner was one of the first American artists to keep the copyright to his creations, so maybe he was onto something. Anyway, as I said, I finished reading Toth's bio, and I must say that even though I'm not interested in some of his most personal stuff (how many times he got married and divorced, isn't my cup of tea), it's a pretty well written account. I even found myself shedding a tear towards the end.All in all, one of the most well-done biographies I've ever read. And the art inside, as I metioned in the beginning, is just astonishing. I highly recommend it!

This is a masterful, comprehensive work and Alex Toth was a graphic arts storytelling genius. Great biographical coverage and gorgeous artwork. He had few true peers in his chosen field and was among my own favorite comics illustrators in the so-called "silver age" of comics, right up there with Russ Heath, John Severin, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, Wally Wood, and George Evans.Included in this volume are numerous presentation drawings for sold and unsold Hanna-Barbera t.v. cartoon pilots; the Herculoids, Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, et al., as well as strip work for DC and other comics publications. Two of Toth's classic DC war stories are included as well; "White Devil, Yellow Devil", an excellent World War Two character study of two adversaries facing life, death, and each other in a war that neither one of them ever made, and "Burma Sky", a tremendous "Flying Tigers" yarn that revolves around the kind of seat-of-the-pants combat flying that Toth adored. Surprisingly, there is a technical error here that Toth, the perfectionist, would have had a fit over if he'd caught it (and I can't discover that he ever did...though I can't fathom why not). "Burma Sky" depicts the Flying Tigers in their original incarnation as the American Volunteer Group (the AVG) of the Nationalist Chinese Air Force, before they were absorbed into the US Army Air Corps in mid-1942. As AVG the Curtiss P-40 pursuit fighters they flew carried the markings of the Chinese Air Force, but Toth depicts them here with anachronistic U.S. forces wing and fuselage insignia. Not like him at all, but this doesn't impede the flow of this story one iota. Iconic work. This is the second volume of a three volume set on his life and work and is a lavishly...and exquisitely...produced gem of a publication. Most highly recommended.

Loads of artwork and loads of anger. While I greatly enjoy this book I can't help but recall all those stories I've read where Toth was not a nice person to some of the people who really cared for not just his work, but for him. The book is well worth a purchase but watch out for the corners. They nick easily (that's how I received my copy).

While he does not seem to get the attention he deserves, Alex Toth was a master of the comic art form, as well as animation and other mediums. This second volume offers more insight (backed up with tons of art) of how creative and unique an artist he was. A great book for fans of comic book history or those interested in illustration. Toth took his influences (Milt Caniff, Noel Sickles) and pushed them to a new dimension. A great book overall.

What can I say? On the section that deals with Toth in Australia. David Armstrong's head is up his arse. You guys should have spoken to me. Since I was there working with Alex back in 1973 at Eric Porter's Studios which is in Milson's Point and NOT St Leonards. That is where Bill Hanna set roots for Hanna-Barbera's North Sydney Studio in St. Leonards. The rest of Toth in Australia is also wrong. Alex liked the work of the Layout department. The work of Australian adventure cartoonist such as Hal English, Monty Wedd, Anthony Chan, Robbert Smit ( A director in his own right.) & myself as a teenage layout artist. He also knew that we had no time to do anything more. The scripts were shit and even the boys at D.C. Comics were upset with the show. Yet it was a success. Go figure. You guys need to get it right as that section of the book is untrue and woerful. Talk to someone who knows like Mike Royer, Bob Foster or Australians like Cam Ford and me ( Paul Power ) since we were there. What a shame.

Fantastic. Quality treatment for an amazing, influential illustrator. Big, hefty, premium book.

This book should be a must read and part of the collection of books by all artists in the animation field. I have been working in animation for 45 years and I can remember the storyboards the Toth did on Super Friends. I thought the boards were far better then the actual finished show.

If you are interested in 'Golden Age' comics or visual storytelling in general, this is a must have. Kudos to the authors and IDW for curating this book which is a worthy testament to the work of Alex Toth. If you have heard of Toth and wondered what the fuss was about, then buy this book. Quite simply the man was a master of the American Comics medium, up there with the icons like Eisner, Kirby and Kubert. In fact stop reading this and buy the book, you won't regret it!

the second out of three volumes collecting the perspective yet detailed overview of alex toth's oeuvre.in the volume we can see the fully formed style of the master and wide range of examples of his work for animation studios.toth's magnificent and inspiring work has gone from scattered out of print cult item to widely documented master works through these three volumes.

GREAT!!!

Fabuloso el libro excepcional la recopilación y agradable

El libro está perfectamente editado y eso unido a la belleza de los dibujos que contiene, hacen que ocupe un lugar de honor en mi estantería junto con los otros dos volúmenes dedicados a este genio.