Early life and career Alex Toth was born in 1928 to
immigrants from Hungary. His father was Sandor Toth, a coal miner, and also musician of
Calvinist religion who hailed from
Bodroghalász, Hungary, and his mother was the
Roman Catholic Mary Elizabeth Hufnagel, who hailed from
Budapest. His parents, Alexander Tóth and Mary Hufnagel, married in
Hamilton, Ontario, on October 27, 1924, and afterward moved to
Manhattan, where Alex Toth was born. His paternal grandparents were Sámuel Tóth, a wine and grape farmer in Bodroghalász, and Erzsébet Menyhért; his maternal grandparents were József Hufnagel a farmer from
Torontál County and Mária Kroppa. Toth's talent was noticed early, and a teacher from his poster class in junior high school urged him to devote himself to art. Enrolling in the
School of Industrial Art, Toth studied illustration. He began his career when he sold his first freelance art at the age of 15, subsequently illustrating true stories for
Heroic magazine through a
comic book packager named Steve Douglas. he found the industry "dying" and instead moved into comic books. After graduating from the School of Industrial Art in 1947, Toth was hired by
Sheldon Mayer at National/
DC Comics.
Green Lantern #28 (Oct.–Nov. 1947) was one of the first comics he drew for the company. He drew four issues of
All Star Comics including issues #38 and #41 in which the
Black Canary first met the
Justice Society of America and then joined the team. A canine sidekick for Green Lantern named Streak was introduced in
Green Lantern #30 (Feb.–March 1948) and the dog proved so popular that he became the featured character on several covers of the series starting with #34. He worked at DC for five years, drawing the
Golden Age versions of the
Flash,
Doctor Mid-Nite, and the
Atom. In addition to superheroes, Toth drew
Western comics for DC including
All-Star Western. He was assigned to the "
Johnny Thunder" feature in
All-Star Western because editor
Julius Schwartz considered him to be "my best artist at the time." Toth and writer
Robert Kanigher co-created
Rex the Wonder Dog in 1952. For a brief time in 1950, Toth was able to realize his dream of working on newspaper comic strips by
ghost illustrating Casey Ruggles with
Warren Tufts. In 1952 Toth ended his contract with DC Comics and moved to California. It is during that time that he worked on crime, war and romance comics for
Standard Comics. In 1954, Toth was drafted into the
U.S. Army and stationed in Tokyo, Japan. While in Japan, he wrote and drew his own weekly adventure strip,
Jon Fury, for the base paper,
Depot Diary. He served in the Army until 1956.
Animation and later career , one of Toth's most famous designs Returning to the United States in 1956, Toth settled in the Los Angeles area and worked primarily for
Dell Comics until 1960. In that year, Toth became art director for the
Space Angel animated science fiction show. This led to his being hired by
Hanna-Barbera, where he created the character
Space Ghost for the
animated series of the same name. His other creations include
The Herculoids,
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, and
Dino Boy in the Lost Valley. He worked as a storyboard and design artist until 1968 and then again in 1973 when he was assigned to Australia for five months to produce the TV series
Super Friends. He continued to work in comic books, contributing to
Warren Publishing's magazines
Eerie,
Creepy and
The Rook. Toth illustrated the comic book
tie-in to the
Hot Wheels animated series based on the
toy line. His collaboration with writer
Bob Haney on the four page story "Dirty Job" in
Our Army at War #241 (Feb. 1972), has been described as a "true masterpiece". Toth worked with writer/editor
Archie Goodwin on the story "Burma Sky" in
Our Fighting Forces #146 (Dec. 1973 – Jan. 1974) and Goodwin praised Toth's art in a 1998 interview: "To me, having Alex Toth do any kind of airplane story, it's a joy for me. If I see a chance to do something like that, I will. He did a really fabulous job on it." The two men crafted a
Batman story for
Detective Comics #442 (Aug.–Sept. 1974) as well. Toth and
E. Nelson Bridwell produced a framing sequence for the
Super Friends feature in ''
Limited Collectors' Edition'' #C-41 (Dec. 1975 – Jan. 1976). Toth's final work for DC was the cover for
Batman Black and White #4 (Sept. 1996).
Personal life Alex Toth was the father of four children, sons Eric and Damon and daughters Dana and Carrie. His marriage to Christina Schaber Hyde ended in divorce in 1968, and his second wife, Guyla Avery, died in 1985. on May 27, 2006, four weeks shy of his 78th birthday. ==Legacy==