Alex Toth Commentary
I found these in my archives, yellowed pages from a newsletter or publication whose name is sadly forgotten–my apologies. In the hope that they might mean something to some of you, I post them here. How much of this critique applies to today’s comics scene? How much has changed since he wrote this in the 1970’s?
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The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Alex Toth speaks truths in this article. Communication, clarity, simplicity.
I have a Toth quote on my wall, it says “I spent the first half of my career learning what to put into my art, and the second half learning what to leave out”
It’s weird seeing one of Toth’s opinion pieces like this and have it typeset, as opposed to the handwritten ones that we’ve all seen so often. Still, I’ve never seen this one before, so thanks a bunch for sharing!
I believe this interview is from Phillipines Comics Revue #1.
Still true today.
This holds true, for the most part, for today’s graphic novels. Too much sameness in style and conception. The ‘autobiographical’ comics are all so much alike you might think all cartoonists lead the same life.
His message is always the same. Simple yet difficult to master. At some point his gruff character overtook his message and he just seemed disgruntled.
At the end of the day while he is right about many things he was more of gifted storytelling than a gifted artist. Probably wouldn’t have it any other way either.
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Hmmm….not sure what you mean when you say “he was more of gifted storytelling than a gifted artist”…??
He only ’seemed disgruntled’ because that’s the image which was painted of him, people telling negative stories about him, mostly online. He wasn’t there to defend himself. There are others who met him personally and have stories which are very positive…but those were less reported.
Well the cadence of a lot of what he writes seems like that “old guy” “In my day comics used to be good…” or when he’s beating himself up for being too “fussy” and “not getting to the point”. It feels like the inner thoughts of a tortured artist who is never happy and almost appears joyless in his work.
To me being a “gifted artist” in this example, means someone who can render beautifully and has an attractive quality to their work. His work was as too the point as it could get. Granted in his pursuit of sparseness and extraction of the unnecessary he captured a certain beauty like in the instance of Bravo for Adventure or The Fox. Compared to a laundry list of a lot of other stuff he’s done…everything else lacks any real attraction. So then you’re really forced to see the story and I believe that’s probably really what he wanted anyway, right?
Maybe it’s personal conjecture and I’m sure many do not share my opinion in this.
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Alex Toth was an extraordinary craftsman, a clear and economic storyteller; and while his opinion of 70’s-era comics is rife with passion and vigor, one finds a torrent of broad strokes and caustic rhetoric peppered throughout an argument for encapsulation and clarity. This belies his message, a critique of modernity without specificity, leading the reader toward an understanding of the author’s frustrations (if only that he has them), without necessarily knowing why. There is much negativity here, and that much is clear. As one familiar with his work and his position on the matter, I understand the message–it is a doctrine of work ethic, attentive observation, and direct communication. In this, I agree.
It’s the oldest thing in the world to simply shoot the messenger, if you don’t like the message or something about it, and to me that is what these previous two comments are doing. He was quite specific in what he wrote, but instead the focus is switched onto Toth himself, and his supposed ‘old guy cadence’ or ‘negativity’?
It’s ironic that HE gets called ‘negative’, when his whole article is actually calling out too many comics for being exactly that–negatively focused only on simplistic non-stories of violence, leaving aside truth, beauty, charm, etc etc.
It’s not really that complicated a message. You either understand it, or you don’t. But to me everything he wrote back then applies today, only a lot more so, that’s all.
I get the message…and agree 100% with his cause, and the reasoning of what was wrong and still is wrong with comics and especially storytelling.
His message is simple, I get it. It’s also very hard to master and I get that too. One would strive to be a better storyteller no matter what the medium is.
I never knew Toth personally, but I’ve read a lot of his criticism of comics and himself and I’m never uplifted by what he says. His truth rings loudly hopeless when it comes to the state of comic art and storytelling. That it’ll never be as good as it could be. I guess that’s more to the point of what I’m saying and maybe says more about my point-of-view than anything.
And if it’s not clear, I do love Toth’s work, and most artist and/or comics creators I know do. They’d be missing vital information if they ignored it.
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I think Toth was a perfectionist. He obviously had very high standards for himself and others as well. But when he criticized others work ( and most especially his own work ) I believe he did it out of a love for the medium and how good that medium could possibly be. I think he had such harsh words for modern comics not because he wanted the medium to go backwards in time, but because he wanted to move the medium forward. I think most modern cartoonists have lost the fundamental skills to communicate an idea clearly and simply, no matter what the idea is. If you haven’t mastered the basic tools, you can never effectively communicate any “new” or “modern” idea. Younger cartoonists seem to have “stalled out” in terms of those fundamental tools. There are basics in drawing, design and storytelling that most modern cartoonists simply ignore.
Toth told me that he considers the Hernandez Brothers to be the most “complete” cartoonists working today. Obviously, Alex and the brothers are worlds apart creatively,culturally, generationally…but he respects the basic fundamentals of storytelling they bring to their work.
Thanks for the comment, Benton.
I couldn’t agree more, with every particle of your statement. The younger/modern cartoonists often have a lot of energy, but too often lack those fundamentals. The great irony is that never before was there such as vast, accessible library of examples to learn from , for almost free–the internet!
Toth had good words for others, too, for example (but not limited to) David Mazzuchelli, Corben, his friend Pat Boyette. He admired beauty and the great achievements in all the arts. He didn’t restrict himself to the narrow views found in the cloistered, inbred ‘comics scene’. He reported what he found in the vast outer world, and returned excitedly to the comics tribe living in their squalor. He called this tribe to a higher standard: and they hated him for it, for the most part,except the ones who saw what he meant…except the few.
Hey Paul…thought you might dig this…as well as anyone else who found this blog entry:
http://www.sidebarnation.com/my_weblog/2009/09/alex-toth.html
The guys at sidebar are doing a two-part remembrance. Very touching stuff…really nice hearing various points of view from those who were close to Alex.
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