Alex Toth

So little is said about Toth today, and yet so much in terms of the amount of his art, has become available. Though rare in that they are limited in number and produced by smaller publishers, the variety of books with his art is a pleasant surprise to this admirer of his work. DC Comics is really "missing the boat" in regards to their full library of Toth material - from his first through to the 1950s and then spatters through the 60s and 80s. Great stuff - particularly his Black Canary tale.

His influence is widespread among artists, within the industry - both comics and animation - but not among the reading public. His simplicity of line is something artists appreciate, but many a 'layman' don't agree that "less is more". Any heavily delineated, even "over-worked" piece of art is given more value, attributed more required skill to render. That is by no means true, yet there are clear examples where the details are truly penned by masters of great skill...

Bernie Wrightson, Mark Shultz, and Al Williamson readily come to mind. These three gents use great detail with incredible skill, yet, like Toth, understand what it takes to "build" an image from scratch. Each works differently and yet each of them see the mastery in Toth's economy of line. They add great detail, as this piece by Wrightson clearly shows.

These details are by definition, "rendering". Toth's art has very little rendering or modeling of form. The art of Schultz and Williamson evoke fantasy and sci-fi and particularly in Wrightson's work - horror. And that is true also of Toth - more horror than fantasy or adventurous sci-fi like Williamson or Shultz, yet he's been there too - he's done it all. Toth's best know yet rarely seen - DELL Four Color #845, The Land Unknown is a great 1950s adventure romp in the Antarctic.

And here we see his great use of design and economy. The angular, simple, yet defining imagery of the sea ice and its environment - the vast sense of space. Of the men and equipment, and later the jungle and all therein.

Toth's work abounds in several Dell comics - from his work on Disney's Zorro, to a number of other titles, usually adaptations of television and movies.

We'll comment often about Toth here - as an influence upon A First Salvo. But how does his style relate to Contract? Quite simply, Crime comics - noir - black and white, or more to the point, heavy shadows. While Contract is known for its humor and sci-fi elements, it also has its crime comic ties, and that too will be presented as further story shorts and volumes of Contract are presented on the web, through our digital distribution partners and of course in print.

Toth drew hot ladies and knew how to successfully place blacks. How cool to have seen a pugnacious Panzer by Toth? A hot vixen with a gun - Jessie of course! Or the layabout Tsumi, with an Errol Flynn glint in his eye?

Brian Hitch: Reborn

Brian Hitch has, since his early, Alan Davis-inspired work, developed into an amazing artist. What an artist to be inspired by, ablely aided by one of Alan's earliest inkers, Paul Neary.

An inker is the main subject of this post, and not Brian's work on the Ultimates, but instead, Captain America: Reborn.

Jackson Guice is known for his own realistic and detailed pencils. But what his inks bring to Reborn, is a classic approach to comics. Rich blacks, full lines, even some sketchiness in places - but not rushed. Hitch's hyper-realism is still there, but tempered by Butch's pen and brush work. The large-as-life visuals are all modern, but also show how much inks bring to a page. It has always been said that the best inkers knew how to draw, and that is certainly the case here.

Paul Neary is another brilliant inker and he has brought much to Brian's work. However, with Reborn showcasing so much of Cap's history, Guice's style works very well with Brian's, bringing a new yet familiar look to the work.

The work evokes the likes of - at least in appearance of line - the work of Neal Adams, Stan Drake and the newspaper work of Lou Fine. Reminiscent of Dick Giordano's inks and refined.

Pencillers often find they aren't free to try their hand at traditional inking - to test and refine the skill. Guice shows how good it can be.

HAITI

While the major media continues to cover the devastation in Haiti, a bottle-neck of aid continues to delay recovery.

Red Cross appeals via Mobile and Internet sources are proving to be successful, but the public shouldn't become desensitized to the horror that is everyday life in Haiti. The road to recovery will be a long one.

Red Cross

Haiti Quake

Invasions, crises, disasters - the stuff of comics - seem ever more prevalent these days. Disturbing and frequent, these events occur with increasing magnitude. Also, like the Indian Ocean Earthquake which caused the 2004 Tsunami, the tremors struck in roughly the same period of the year.

With a tortured history, Haiti has struggled for decades, for self-rule, for basic rights, and against poverty.  Now, another blow has been struck and the people of Haiti are in desperate need of aid.

The majority of comics history has presented acts of heroism and bravery. Now is the time for action.