When I plugged that upcoming Alex Toth book a couple of posts ago I didn’t mention that the artist was sick, I didn’t feel like dwelling on his misfortune, but instead I wanted to celebrate, a bit, his brilliant art. I had read recently that he was infirmed and I wrote him warm thoughts along with many other fans who filled up 20 large post office bags of well wishes. But, apparently the well wishes weren’t enough. It was Toth’s time to go. And our loss is great. His thoughts on comics was inspiring to me as his art itself. I must haved read an interview Alex did in Graphic Story Magazine a hundred times, literally. His vision for the potential of comics expressed in that interview deeply affected me.

When I assembled "Jubilee", my first book of comics (with the help of Rick Griffin), I quoted Toth at length as a way of introducing what I was trying to accomplish. I will again quote this passage from Toth’s Graphic Story Magazine interview. Keep in mind that Toth said these things in the late 60′s far, far before any of his ideas were realized. And even in 1975 when "Jubilee" was published Toth’s vison seemed like a dream that one hoped but didn’t count on coming true. Here’s what Alex said:

"If comic books are going down the drain, and if newspaper strips are being killed off by ads crowding ever deeper into the pages-and by the lack of any real contributing function of their editors-then I think the strip may be finished. If they would readh out into new subject areas, maybe graphic novels will happen as dollar or two dollar soft covers in black and white or color. The medium deservesa beter shake than it has gottenfrom its pradctitioners who’re making it go on the way it’s been going down. (Somebody needs to be doing esxperimentation and planning for new ofshoots orf the strip.

"We all talk about it, but nobody’s doing anything about it. And what about distribution? Distributors don’t want to deal with books irreguarly publsihed or one-shots. That’s why I think the adult comic book, or another version of it, will wind up in bookstores. It’s going to hagfe to update itself and improve its quality and change its fcesomehow so it can go in bookstores and stay on shelves for a time and make it as a dollar or two item-but only if it tackles other subject areas that are taboo in other comic strip formats".

Most of Alex’s vision has amazingly come true. There are aspects, though, between the lines and ideas Alex expressed elsewhere that still beg to be explored. Too bad Alex isn’t here to help do that by his own work and the encouraging of others both which he did in big ways while on this planet.

WhenI was an art director in Chicago I commissioned Alex to do some work on a children’s magazine. No fan, freind, fellow artist or relative of Alex will be surprised to hear that Alex was almost impossible to work with. The editors themselves were super picky and opinionated. This pissed off Alex royally and it was a miracle we got through the assignment and that he made the changes the editors asked for. I didn’t bother sending him a subsequant asssignment for that magazine. I have the beautiful art he did around here SOMEWHERE (I hope!). Alex had many people who he couldn’t work for because of situations like this. But, I’m sure not one art director or editor who had bridges burned between them and Alex didn’t also greatly respect that the guy surewas a man of convictions. And great art to back them up.

My correspondence kind of went the same way. He always wrote back to my letters in the beautiful handwriting and fascinating insights he was famous for but at some point he just stopped answering me. I had did or said something that made him mad and my inquiries and apologies (for something I wasn’t really aware of that I did) went ignored. But I admired him to this day.

And I certainly never stopped loving his art and being inspired by it’s innovation and quality. AndI wil always be inspired by what he said in that Graphic Story Magazine interview. That really changed my life. I saw that comics were a serious medium -that I could haved a lot of fun with. And for that I’m really thankful for Mr. Alex Toth.