Posted in: Comics | Tagged: alex toth, Romance Comics

Alex Toth Covers DC Comics' Girls' Romances #13, up for Auction

Alex Toth spent a formative part of his early career at DC Comics 1947-1952, and his Girls' Romances #13 cover marks the end of that era.

Alex Toth's earliest credited comic book work is from 1945-1946 on Eastern Color's Heroic Comics, but he more famously began working for DC Comics right after graduating from the School of Industrial Art in 1947.  Superhero work in Comic Cavalcade, All-American Comics, Green Lantern, and All-Star Comics were among his first assignments there.  As the tastes of the comic book reading public changed, Toth proved adept at handling different kinds of material.  He quickly began to get cover and interior assignments on titles ranging from All-American Western and Romance Trail to Gang Busters and Danger Trail.  Toth decided to end his DC Comics contract in early 1952 and move to California.  His covers for Girls' Romances #13 and All-American Western #125 would be his final DC Comics covers for nearly 19 years.  The end of an important period in the career of one of comics' most historically important artists, there's a Girls' Romances #13 (DC, 1952) Condition: VG/FN up for auction in the 2023 October 26 – 27 Romance Comics Featuring L. B. Cole Showcase Auction #40224 at Heritage Auctions.

About his romance work, Alex Toth would later say, "First of all, romance was very special. It dealt with emotions in a different way than the slam-bang adventure stuff. There are a lot of things under the surface… a line of dialogue could say 'this,' but the expression of the person would say 'that.' Maybe only the camera/us/the reader's viewpoint would reveal the truth when she said, "I love you, too, George." Her face, eyes were saying something else! And the reader knows that, but "George" doesn't! He can't see that! So, there were all of these little nuances of line readings, acting, reacting, interpretation, layers of character personality, integrity, etc., people bouncing off each other… that was suddenly very grown-up, as opposed to the slam-bang… It was a whole new ballgame, and it forced me to really pay attention, and look, learn and listen. I was lucky to have good scripts. The best romance writing was by Kim Aamodt, really good! I looked for ways to put more into interpreting ping-pong dialogue scenes, the give-and-take between a guy and a gal, or gal and boss, and not reduce it to talking heads. Though a lot of it did wind up being close-ups. I was enjoying characterizations, overdoing it! Not as subtly as I might've."

After being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1954, and serving until 1956, Alex Toth returned to comics work for a few publishers including Dell and DC Comics, where he worked on interior story assignments for titles like My Greatest Adventure and House of Secrets.  In 1962, Toth entered the animation field as the art director for the series Space Angel.  This led to his work for Hanna-Barbera, where he created Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman.  Toth returned to cover work for DC Comics with the 1970 Hot Wheels series.  His cover for Girls' Romances #13 (DC, 1952) marked the end of his formative DC Comics era, and there's a copy up for auction in the 2023 October 26 – 27 Romance Comics Featuring L. B. Cole Showcase Auction #40224 at Heritage Auctions.

Girls' Romances #13 (DC, 1952) Condition: VG/FN. Alex Toth cover and art. Carmine Infantino art. Overstreet 2023 VG 4.0 value = $40; FN 6.0 value = $60.

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