TRANSMETROPOLITAN 645
Toth was drafted into the military in 1954 and served in Tokyo, where he wrote and
drew a weekly adventure strip, Jon Fury, for a military base paper. After returning to the
United States in 1956, he got a job with Dell Comics and was selected to work on the
comic book series based on the Walt Disney Company’s television series, Zorro.
In 1960, Toth left Dell to work as an art director in animation because he was begin-
ning to see the comic book industry as too interested in producing violent products.
1961 was his breakout year in television animation, as he was off ered a job with the
Hanna-Barbera Company. At Hanna-Barbera, he was able to create his own line of
superheroes, as well as re-design the Fantastic Four for their fi rst television series in
1967.
During the 1970s, Toth returned to DC Comics with the short-lived series Hot
Wheels. He created the character Jesse Bravo, a daredevil pilot, for the comic book Bravo
for Adventure. In 1973, Toth became art director on Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends, an
eff ort to bring the DC characters to the children of the 1970s,
Toth died on May 27, 2006, at his home in Burbank, California at the age of 77.
According to his son, Eric, he died of heart failure while at his drawing board.
Selected Bibliography: Hevesi, Dennis. “Alex Toth, 77, Comic Book Artist, and ‘Space
Ghost’ Animator, Dies.” Th e New York Times ( June 6, 2006), http://www.nytimes.
com/2006/06/06/arts/design/06toth.html?scp=1&sq=Alex%20Toth&st=cse;
http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=151;http://http://www.twomor
rows.com/comicbookartist/articles/11toth.html.
Jason Gallagher
TRANSMETROPOLITAN. A 60-issue series published initially by the Helix imprint and
later by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics and written by Warren Ellis with art by
Darick Robertson, Transmetropolitan is the story of gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem
in an unnamed postmodern city of the future. Th e series began publication in 1997 and
ended with the publication of Transmetropolitan #60 in 2002. Besides the series proper,
two stand-alone, one-shot stories have also been published: Transmetropolitan: I Hate
It Here (2000) and Transmetropolitan: Filth of the City (2001). Th ese contain excerpted
columns by Spider Jerusalem as illustrated by a number of comics artists. Also, two
short stories were published in the anthologies Vertigo: Winter’s Edge II (“Edgy Win-
ter”) and Vertigo: Winter’s Edge III (“Next Winters”). Transmetropolitan has also been
released in a series of collections as well.
Transmetropolitan chronicles the return of Jerusalem to a future megalopolis simply
known as the City. His return from the mountain retreat that has been his home for
the preceding fi ve years only occurs under the threat of lawsuit from his former pub-
lisher. Th e fi rst year of the series follows Spider as he irritates the local government and
reacquaints himself with the City in the company of his “fi lthy assistants,” Channon Yar-
row and Yelana Rossini. Th e second year sees Spider, whose original fame and fortune
were due to his coverage of the previous presidential election, forced to cover politics
