Alex Ross Spotlight: Jack Kirby and the Hulk

Hulk, Alex RossBy Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Alex Ross cites Jack Kirby as his primary artistic influence. In Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross, he writes: “Jack is my ultimate artistic hero. There is no single influence that is more important to me than him, as he is to many other artists as well. He is the ultimate father of comics.”

One of Kirby’s most famous creations is, obviously, the Hulk. And in bringing the angry green giant to life, Kirby, according to Ross, also created an extremely unique physical form.

“The compressed body form [Kirby] created, it’s basically the world’s most muscular giant baby shape,” Ross said in Marvelocity. “That was unique and so effective, no other comics artist could compete with it. It was the embodiment of brute energy, which was also infantilized in a way anyone could relate to. Who didn’t, at some point in their childhood, feel persecuted or bullied or just to cooped up in some way that it just made you angry and want to smash everything?”

More recently, Ross expanded on the Hulk and Jack Kirby in a video on his YouTube channel…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

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