Dale Evans Comics #6 page 8 by Alex Toth

As a mere twenty-year-old, Alex Toth penciled and inked this Sierra Smith, Western Detective story which appeared in Dale Evans Comics #6 in 1949. By contrast, when I was twenty, I was lucky if I could find two matching socks. Some have said that Toth is the artist’s artist, in other words, the artist whose work many other artists collect.

Philosopher Bertrand Russell once said that nothing new has been written since Plato. I suppose the same might be said of comic art, for I see Caniff and Sickles influences on this page, as well as the seeds of a technique - the scratchy movements in panels one and three - that Romita, Sr. would later adopt as one of his trademarks.

I love twice-up art; it’s just so, well . . . LARGE. While the image area for this Toth page is 13 x 18, the overall board is 14.5 x 22. WOWSER!!

Things I love about this page:

Smith’s flying hair in panel one.
The five planes of depth in panel two, a character inhabiting each one. Also the Levis label on the butt of an outlaw.
The power of the punch and more flying hair in panel three.
The background blacks in panel four. (And Toth’s use of blacks generally to frame action and clarify storytelling: note panel three.)
That sense of composition and, again, depth in panels five and six. Also Nan’s drippy word balloons.
Three quick panels of rising action and climax followed by three, more measured, panels of denouement.

Oh, and Toth didn’t just draw Sierra Smith; he co-created the character with Joe Millard. And all of this accomplished at the UN-ripe age of twenty. YOWZER!!

It has been said that Toth died at his drawing table. I can believe it. The consummate artist.

Thanks to Bechara of Nostalgic Investments.