Toth Times!

One of the best tabloid comics ever created was this Limited Collector's Edition featuring the Super Friends. The look behind the scenes of the cartoon show by Alex Toth, the guy who designed the characters and who did this eye-popping cover, was highly excellent.

Here's the artwork for that fantastic cover.

And here is the cover to a much more recent reprint volume in which Alex Ross pays homage to Toth's iconic cover.

Here's the follow up volume, sporting another cover by Alex Toth.

That cover seems to be a reworking of elements from this image, one featuring early versions of the Wonder Twins -- Zan and Jayna. We see Gleek here instead of Wonder Dog. Given the letter on "Zan's" suit, he must've been called something else at first, and so was "Gleek".

Here's a vintage ad by which seems to be a casting call for the Legend of Super-Heroes TV Specials. I love how Captain Marvel is front and center on this one. And as always, Toth draws a delicious Black Canary.

And finally here's the sketch for that ad. Toth's ability to capture characters in a few lines is utterly fascinating. He was truly a genius in an industry where that term gets tossed about way too much. Here we see it for real.

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