Quelques extraits de l'interview accordée à
Graphic Story Magazine en 1968.
Alex Toth (qui a alors 40 ans) répond aux questions de
John Benson et
Richard Kyle.
Il évoque ses débuts chez National Comics (futur DC Comics), où il a été engagé en 1947, et son mentor, l'editor
Shelly Mayer :
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"Shelly was the first and only really creative and knowledgeable comics editor I've worked for all these years in the field. He was rough. he'd tear up my pages if I got too cute, too arty in telling the story.
"(...) He didn't care how pretty the pictures were if they didn't develop the story. "Stop trying to be another Michaelangelo", he's say, "and just tell the story. Just tell the story."" |
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Puis il aborde pour la première fois de l'entretien sa conception du storytelling :
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"The direction of action ; staging ; the importance of dialogue flow, how it should run through a page, panel by panel ; what the eye should read first and what you want the eye to see first." |
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Il cite ses références à ses débuts :
- Milton Caniff,
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Frank Robbins,
- Jerry Robinson,
- Will Eisner ("of course"),
-
Mort Meskin.
Pourtant LA référence de Toth est
Noel Sickles, le dessinateur du strip
Sorchy Smith :
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"Noel Sickles was and still is my most important influence. (...) His renditions of scenes, his knowledge of composition, light and dark, perspective, continuity, action, combined with a loose impressionism, made me see that this is the man to study.
"(...) His work showed a strong, bold assurance that comes through thorough knowledge of himself and his subject." |
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