644 TOTH, ALEX
moment. In fact, many To m S t r o n g covers are parodies of those of famous superhero
comics throughout the decades. Yet, Moore also manipulates superhero conventions.
For example, although the Strongs have physical encounters with their enemies, the
ultimate resolutions are generally peaceful and brought about by compromise.
Strong characterization and clever storytelling makes To m S t r o n g notable, but the
potency of the series is in its playful demonstration of the power of fi ction. While still
maintaining consistent—as well as relatively mature and sophisticated— characterization,
Moore uses To m S t r o n g as a vehicle for a wide range of stories, including lighthearted
adventures, tense action-thrillers, melodrama, quirky science fi ction, and satire. Many
fans who expected a straightforward adventure series bristled at the drastic fl uctuations
of tone, but, in doing so, Moore highlights fi ction’s fl exibility and adaptability, qualities
that are particularly potent in comics. Without disrupting the basic integrity of either,
Tom Strong the character, and To m S t r o n g the series, can exist and operate in a nearly
infi nite variety of ways—depending on context, subject matter, authorial intention, and
reader’s response—and Moore seems determined to demonstrate that Tom Strong can
succeed, in diff erent ways and for varying purposes, in every milieu and genre. Repre-
sentative of all fi ction, To m S t r o n g (and Tom Strong) is a vehicle for the expression of
ideas: stable enough to maintain coherence, yet malleable enough to serve any number
of possible artistic purposes and styles.
Jackson Ayres
TOTH, ALEX (1928–2006). Alexander “Alex” Toth was an American writer, penciller,
inker, colorist, letterer, and cover artist. Although remembered more for his time as
a character and art designer for the Hanna-Barbera Animation Studios (designing
characters like Space Ghost, Birdman, and Jonny Quest), Toth was an acclaimed comic
book artist who is also remembered for his introduction of adult design while draw-
ing the comic book based on Disney’s Zorro television series, and for redesigning DC’s
stable of superhero characters for the extremely popular Super Friends television series.
While not a household name, Toth was, in the words of Comics Journal editor Gary
Groth, “among the greatest comic book artists ever... an artist’s artist, just because of
his mastery of the form. And though not particularly popular among general comic
book readers, every cartoonist who cared deeply about [.. .] craft learned something by
looking at [Toth’s] work” (Hevesi 2006).
Toth was born in Manhattan to a father who worked as a printer. He graduated
from the High School of Industrial Arts and was taken under the wing of Milton Can-
iff , the creator of the comic strip Terry and the Pirates. Because of his apprenticeship
with Caniff , Sheldon Mayer, an editor at DC Comics, hired Toth in 1947 to work on
Green Lantern, Th e Flash, Th e Atom, and Dr. Mid-Nite. Over the next two decades, he
developed a sparse style, employing sharp contrasts through working for DC and as the
“ghost” illustrator of Warren Tufts’s Casey Ruggles, a realistic strip set during the Cali-
fornia Gold Rush of 1849. Not being allowed to create and design his own characters,
Toth left DC and moved to California in 1952 to start a career with Standard Comics.
