Larry Todd – RIP

Science fiction /fantasy artist and underground/overground cartoonist Larry Todd has passed away.

Larry’s career began with Galaxy Magazine in 1967 where he contributed illustrations and stories.

Larry’s interest in science fiction and fantasy led to many projects including writing and drawing the 1975 high end coloring book from Troubadour Press with a one page summary of the character and a facing illustration page.

Said Troubador Press editor Malcolm Whyte:

As we were discussing which tales to include in the book, I was astounded by Larry’s depth of knowledge of great fantasy authors and realized that he had to write the book as well as illustrate it. Tales of Fantasy has more text than most of the other Troubador coloring albums.

Larry is a sweet, engaging, literate, post-hippy eccentric…

Back at Galaxy and the late 1960s is where Larry met fellow Galaxy illustrator Vaughn Bodé and that began Larry’s comic career when Vaughn became editor of Gothic Blimp Works with issue #1 and recruited Larry to contribute to the tabloid comic. Larry and Vaughn would remain friends and collaborators until Vaughn’s early death. Their artwork would appear on the covers of various Warren horror comics.

Larry also, on his own, contributed stories to the horror magazines of the time. It was about this time that Larry decided to try the underground comix market where he found a welcome audience.

Dr. Atomic became his standout character, if not as famous as The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, the character is on a par with Harold Hedd and Dealer McDope in the underground comix pot pantheon.

The late 1970s and the 1980s saw Larry getting into the better paying markets of Epic Illustrated, High Times, and Heavy Metal while stile creating his own comix books and contributing to various anthology comix.

But that was the good times for underground cartoonists and comic opportunities began to disappear. Larry’s Wikipedia entry says that by 2010 “Todd was working for Duncan Designs Inc. of Santa Rosa, California, ‘painting carnival rides: funhouses, mirror mazes & dark rides at Owen Trailers in Riverside, California, where they build such things.'” Giving Larry a living wage, along with commissions from fans for his art.

At the time of his passing Larry was living about 80 miles north of Santa Rosa in Willets where, ironically, the local Center for the Arts opened a Retrospect of Larry Todd exhibit on the day he died.

Rest in Peace Larry.