Sadly, cartoonist ALEX TOTH, one of the most distinctive stylists in the history of comic books as well as a highly influential designer in the animation field, passed away today.
I learned of Toth's passing via email from Craig Yoe, who has a remembrance of Toth on his "Arf Lovers" blog.
Little has been reported about Toth's death so far, but I found acknowledgments at The Comics Reporter and also at Comic Book Resources, and these led me back to an announcement at tothfans.com.
Toth's elegance and concision were marvelous to behold; he was an artist whose style, honed from the late 1940s onward, outshone most of the commercial properties he worked on. Though not strongly associated with particular comic book characters (in this sense he was unlike, say, Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko or Joe Kubert), he was an artist's artist whose stylistic signature set him well apart. Toth is known by his ability to make a single contour line speak volumes, and his mature work is graphically stunning, because it is so simple, sure-handed, and unfussy.
For the uninitiated, there is a helpful entry on Toth in Lambiek's online Comiclopedia.
A great comic book artist, now lost to us. Damn. R.I.P. Alex Toth.
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