Review: Genius, Isolated - The Life and Art of Alex Toth

Alex Toth started his career during the Golden Age of Comics, illustrating the adventures of the Green Lantern and others, did innovative and influential work on romance and suspense title during1950s stints at Standard and Dell Comics and wound up in Hollywood as an animation designer in the 1960s.

He was one of the greats -- ask any comic book artist and they'll sing his praises, talking about his masterful page design, storytelling, lettering and linework. If you're a product of 1960s and 70s pop culture like me, you grew up seeing his animation character designs on Johnny Quest, Space Ghost, the Super Friends and more.

Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell's "Genius, Isolated" is nearly as masterful as Toth himself. It's a gorgeous, enormous book. And if you're even remotely fond of Toth's work, you deserve to pick it up (warning:  with an an Amazon shipping weight of 5.3 pounds, it's a tad heavy. The dimensions are 13.2 x 9.6 inches, so it'll also cover a big chunk of your coffee table).

I was a bit surprised, when I first saw it, how BIG this book is. What's even more stunning is that it's the first of three volumes the authors' have created to examine Toth's work. The second book will complete their look at Toth's life and career while the third focuses on his contributions to American animation.

Mullaney and Canwell interviewed Toth's children, one of his ex-wives, numerous colleagues and fans who became friends to tell the story of his life: His childhood as the movie-, newspaper adventure strip-loving child of struggling Hungarian immigrants in New York, his early work at DC/National Comics, his stint in the military and his work for Standard and Dell. The volume ends its narrative just as Toth is beginning his animation career in Hollywood.

There are pictures and illustrations galore all along the way -- photos from Toth's life, sketches, reproductions of original comics art pages and several complete comics stories, not to mention the entire run of the Caniff/Sickles-inspired John Fury adventure strip that Toth created for his base newspaper while in the Army.

Along with the biographical details, the authors do a nice job detailing Toth's philosophy of art -- he was obsessed with boiling down every image down to its essence, focused on achieving absolute simplicity and only putting down those lines on paper which are absolutely necessary, which, it turns out, is very, very hard to do. And they deal, objectively and honestly, with Toth's famed temper. He was a moody cuss, possibly dealing with untreated depression through most of his life. That made him a challenging friend, father and husband. But he also could be hugely generous and sweet.

That compelling personality, and his undeniable genius and the brilliance of the work on display make this book an absolute gem for anyone who loves comic art and a must for anyone interested in the history of American comics.