Comic Books Comic Strips Obituary

Tod Smith – RIP

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D. D. Degg Published: May 26, 2025 Updated: May 28, 2025 1 minute 3 comments

Comics artist Tod Smith has passed away.

From the Providence Journal obituary:

Tod Garfield Smith, 72, of Rocky Hill, CT, passed away on April 4, 2025, after a long illness.

Throughout his childhood, Tod was a fan of comic books and comic book heroes and was known in school as an artist and a musician. After graduating from Cranston High School East in 1971, Tod went on to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, NJ. He became an illustrator of comic books and graphic novels and penciled for DC and Marvel Comics in the 1980s and 1990s. He worked on a number of popular titles, including, but not limited to, Omega Men, Green Hornet, Wolverine, The Punisher, Spiderman, Vigilante, and Elvira. In addition, Tod illustrated for educational publishers. In the early 2000’s, he was a co-penciler for the syndicated comic strip Zorro, working with his friend Tom Yeates.

According to the Grand Comic Book Database Tod was a constant comic book artist from 1983 to 1996 for a variety of publishers. He then became the regular artist for the Elvira, Mistress of the Dark series.

Comic Art Fans has a gallery of Tod’s comic book pages.

In August of 1999 Tod Smith took over the pencilling duties of the Zorro comic strip from Thomas Yeates, who continued on the strip as inker for a time. Tod stayed on the strip until it ended on April 15, 2001.

From a 2010 Tod Smith interview:

I’ve always had a great affection for the character Zorro, which is now being published (once again ) by Dynamite Entertainment. But recent interpretations have lost the flavor of the character and the time period…nowadays, to be a swashbuckler also means to be a modern action hero, an acrobat, and a martial artist. My favorite interpretation of the character is the 1940’s “Mark of Zorro” with Tyrone Power, followed by the Disney version with Guy Williams, who looked great in the costume, and really knew how to fence.

In the 21st Century Tod showed his humor with specialty drawings of comic book characters.

Update: Brian Cronin at Comic Book Resources explores Tod’s comic book career.