alex toth - Young Romance # 163, p 8 1970

around the time this page was drawn, i was 10 years old and an avid dc fan. the artist i admired most, for reasons that i hope are obvious to all, was neal adams. when dc published stories by alex toth, i was less than impressed: i specifically remember being scandalized that this guy drew a nose as just two dots (as he did in the fourth panel of this page), which didn't even seem like drawing to me.

over the years, my opinion of toth has reversed, and he now seems like one of the two or three greatest artist to work in american mainstream comics. it's not so much for his draftsmanship (though i appreciate the simplicity and grace of it) as his design. one of the devices he excelled at was the use of negative space, as in panel 4 of this page, its emptiness contrasting with the detailed work in the first tier of panels. another is how he creates a "frame within a frame" by the use of foreground silhouettes, as in panels 3 & 5.

The story was written by Robert Kanigher, and according to GCD, inked by Dick Giordano under the name Ric Dano. Lettered by John Duffy.