Michael Oeming, artist of Powers, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, Last of Us and Fortnite comics has found a pile of correspondences with the legendary Alex Toth – and is working them into a video for his Art of Michael Oeming YouTube Channel.
Alex Toth (25th June 1928 – 27th May 2006) is considered a Master of Comic Book Art, his advice to aspiring artists regularly shared.
Attending what is now the School of Visual Arts in New York, he broke into the comic book field as a teenager. In 1947, aged just 19, he began illustrating comic books for DC Comics, tasked with penciling several of the company’s comic book series, such as Action Comics, Detective Comics, The House of Secrets, Green Lantern, All-American Western, and numerous others.
During his sixty-year professional career, he became known as the “artists’ artist”, becoming very much like his great hero, Noel Sickles – the guy all the others wanted to draw like.
He entered the animation field in 1965, and became equally well-known and respected for his groundbreaking designs for Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., inventing and designing many of their cartoon characters, in addition to storyboarding television episodes.
Toth conceived and shaped the look and feel of some of Hanna-Barbera’s most popular characters, including the Bionic 6, Captain Caveman, Space Ghost, the Super Friends, Thundarr the Barbarian, and many others.
Working with Hanna-Barbera over the next two decades, he gave life to the heroes of a generation of television viewers, and his many character designs, sketches and model sheets a joy to see, his long career documented in a highly-recommended three-artbook series by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell – Genius, Isolated, Genius, Illustrated, and Genius, Animated, published by IDW.
Considered one of the most influential and important comic book artists of all time, many of today’s industry professionals are unhesitant in describing him simply the best there ever was, as this interview from Comic Book Artist reveals, few artists of his calibre contemplated and studied the art form as intensely and with such obvious love for the form. He was also one of the first true comics fans, back in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
He frequently gave advice to aspiring artists directly, such as Steve Rude, Toth’s critique of his work on an issue of Jonny Quest much circulated, and Michael Oeming, who has previously discussed his relationship and appreciation of Toth in an episode of Alex Toth in Depth.
During the opening Design Icon Spotlight Series at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2023, spotlighting Alex Toth, the panel discussed his career in depth, passion for passing on his work and mentoring young artists. They emphasised his commitment to sharing his knowledge and experience, a legacy that lives on through the countless artists he inspired and guided throughout his career.
His personality was a bit of a both/and situation – he could be incredibly generous, and the same unwavering dedication to his art also made him, at times, hard to deal with professionally. Fricke illustrated this with an anecdote about Toth. The story goes that he was scheduled to be on a panel in San Diego to discuss comics. Toth walked off the panel before it began once he realised moderators had allotted no time in the program to discuss balloon placement. This was how earnest he was about his craft.
Michael Oeming and Alex Toth
Michael’s The Art of Michael Avon Oeming YouTube Channel is a fantastic resource for aspiring artists and writers, packed with useful tips and tricks videos offering advice on creating comics.
After unearthing his correspondence with Toth, Michael revealed on his Facebook that he’s going to film the art, perhaps 15 to 20 pieces in total, and read the letters in a series of videos about his back and forth with Alex, “how kind he was to me even in his gruff critiques and what these letters meant to me.”
Michael will post the videos on Facebook and on YouTube, so keep an eye out for them – but do check his brilliant videos already published!
• Michael Avon Oeming – Facebook
• The Art of Michael Avon Oeming YouTube Channel
Further Reading – Books
• Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth (AmazonUK Affiliate Link, Paperback Edition)
by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell
This lavishly illustrated biography documents the life and art of one of the most significant comics and animation artists of all time. In comic books, Alex Toth was the foremost proponent of modern design and composition. Starting in 1950, his work influenced almost every one of his contemporaries and has continued to work its magic on the generations that followed. In animation, his 1960s model sheets for Hanna-Barbera are still passed around as swipe sources from animator to young animator in the 21st Century.
The updated paperback edition of this biography was compiled with complete access to the family archives and with the full cooperation of Toth’s children, this biography features many rare comics pages, photographs, and drawings. It also reproduces 20 complete stories, including a previously unknown and unfinished story from 1950, most printed from the original artwork.
• Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell
Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell continue their comprehensive review of the life and art of Alex Toth in Genius, Illustrated. Covering the years from the 1960s to Toth’s poignant death in 2006, this oversized book features artwork and complete stories from Toth’s latter-day work at Warren, DC Comics, Red Circle, Marvel, and his own creator-owned properties, plus samples of his animation work for Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and others, as well as sketchbook pages, doodles, advertising art, and other rarities provided through the cooperation of Toth’s family and his legion of fans.
Two of Toth’s best stories are reproduced complete from the original artwork: “Burma Skies” and “White Devil…Yellow Devil.”
• Genius, Animated: The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell
The third book in this series concludes the in-depth look into the life and art of one of the most significant comics and animation artists of all time. This companion volume to the award-winning Genius, Isolated and Genius, Illustrated zooms in to focus on Toth’s groundbreaking contributions in the field of animation and features many rarely-seen or never-before-published pieces of art, much of it uncovered in the archives of Hanna-Barbera Studios.
Featuring presentation illustrations for unsold series, character designs and storyboards for old favourites such as Space Ghost, SHAZZAN, and Superfriends, and work taken from both the beginning (Space Angel) and end (Bionic 6) of Toth’s “Saturday kidvid” career, this oversized artbook features observations from animation professionals about his work, plus Alex’s own commentary on the cartoon shows that shaped a generation. Winner of the 2015 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book, Genius, Animated is filled, cover-to-cover, with must-see material, making it essential reading for Toth-fans and animation enthusiasts alike.
Further Reading – Online
• downthetubes: That Time Alex Toth Almost Went to Hollywood
• Toth Fans: Official Alex Toth Website
This site takes some time to load: you may prefer to use a Wayback Machine alternative
• The Alex Toth Archives
Includes lists of Toth credits, sample art and more. No longer updated (last updated in 2015)
• Wikipedia: Alex Toth Profile
• TwoMorrows – Comic Book Artist – An Interview with Alex Toth
In considering the most influential and important comic book artists of all time, Alex Toth’s name is never far from the top of anyone’s short list – indeed many of today’s industry professionals wouldn’t hesitate to call him simply the best there ever was. CBA had the pleasure of interviewing the artist in his Hollywood home in February 2000 and Alex copyedited the transcript.
• The Art of the Comic Book: Alex Toth Critiques Steve Rude – Two Master of Storytelling Clash
Steve Rude pencilled the Jonny Quest story City of Time Lost in 1986 (Jonny Quest #1, Comico). Rude faxed the work-in-progress to Alex Toth (1928-2006) for advice. Toth, who did character designs for the 1964 animated series, responded with this hand-written critique. Copies circulated among professionals for years. It got posted on a discussion board in 2006, after Toth died and Rude replied to his feedback in print (Draw! #11, May 2005).
• The Vintage Inkwell: Alex Toth’s Rules for Making Comics (PDF) | The Vintage Inkwell Home Page
• Academy Art University: 2023 Design Icon Spotlight Series Opens with “Artists’ Artist” Alex Toth | Watch the Panel here
• Alex Toth: YouTube-related Videos
• The Hooded Utilitarian: Alex Toth Posts
• The School of Visual Arts – New York – attended by Alex Toth
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Animation, Art and Illustration, Comic Art, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, US Comics
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