Hot Wheels #5 - An Alex Toth Masterpiece

For today I thought I would break out an Alex Toth classic, Hot Wheels #5 published by DC comics in 1970.  Most comic collectors today aren't aware that there was a very brief run of Hot Wheels comics that ran in 1970 and 1971.  There were only six issues, but all the art was done by either Alex Toth or Neal Adams...two of the greats in the industry then or ever.

This book is one of Alex Toth's best.  He did all of the writing, penciling and inking here.  This was not something he regularly did, but it meant that he had total control of the work.  Toth was an illustrator.  Like his primary mentors Noel Sickles and Milton Caniff, he took his craft very seriously.  And his pages were practically cinematic.  They flowed the way a well made movie might...using perspective, figure placements, lighting and shadow to communicate story.  Toth didn't just draw his comic stories...he directed them.

Much has been written about Toth as he is truly one of the greats.  But I will leave off today with this quote from an interview published in the January 2001 issue of Comic Book Artist:

If I hated a script, I couldn't send it back to the editor.  I was capable of doing a "throwaway" job, to just "get it out," not see it anymore!  But, if really interested in doing my very best, not repeating myself, not falling back on easy ways out, because this script warranted better-than-average effort, I'd give 110%.  

Well..I will suggest that he was always interested in doing his best.  And this book is a great example of him at the top of his game.  I will be featuring more Alex Toth in future posts.

Until next time...