Tag Alex Ross Spotlight

Alex Ross Spotlight: Jack Kirby and the Hulk

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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…

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Alex Ross Spotlight: The Mask of Batman

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Batman, eyes, Alex RossBy Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

What’s the right way to portray Batman’s eyes in a real-world scenario? Should the mask have eyeholes that are smaller, and come right up to the eyelids? Or is it the standard set by Tim Burton’s Batman movie, in which the eyeholes are larger, but black make-up around the eyes creates the illusion of a tighter fit?

For Alex Ross the answer, in a sense, is both.

“I wanted it to look like it was just like make up on a face,” Ross said via YouTube video. “That it wasn’t this three-dimensional thing jumping off a human being, but that it was as close to his skin, like as if a human being becoming Batman is just more of a transformation. It’s less about what’s plausible and more about what matches what the comics always did, which is they treat costumes as really just naked skin painted. And that’s what I thought artistically was desired about Batman, not the practicality of, ‘Well how well will that mask take a gunshot?’ Well, it ain’t gonna take a gunshot. It’s imaginary, in effect.”

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Alex Ross Spotlight: Lynda Carter and Wonder Woman

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Wonder Woman, Alex RossBy Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

For a generation of fans and television viewers, actress Lynda Carter truly embodied the titular superhero on the classic Wonder Woman TV series, which ran from 1975 to 1979. So much so, in fact, that Alex Ross had trouble separating Carter from the character when developing his own take on Wonder Woman.

“What I identify Wonder Woman with (as does most of the public, if they think about it at all) is, frankly, Lynda Carter,” Ross said in Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. “She made the greatest single impression on the character in the 20th century – ironically more than any artist who drew her. In fact, Lynda Carter was so perfect, it was hard to come up with a good variation that wasn’t exactly her, but I had to.”

How much the public identifies Carter with Wonder Woman in the year 2023 is up for debate, especially now that Gal Gadot has played the role in a handful of major motion pictures. But Carter’s contribution to the character’s legacy, and just how perfect she was for the role, simply can’t be denied.

Years after the publication of Mythology, Ross would elaborate on Carter’s impact via a YouTube video…

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Alex Ross Spotlight: Spider-Man and The Electric Company

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

It all started with Spider-Man.

Alex Ross has that in common with a lot of comic book fans, who were drawn to Spidey as their first superhero. But for Ross, it wasn’t a comic book or a cartoon or a movie that introduced him to the character. It was The Electric Company, a PBS show meant to teach children about reading, that opened the door to Spider-Man, and by extension a lifetime love of comic books and superheroes.

“Spider-Man was the opening door,” Ross said in Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross. “That was the first time I had seen him – or anyone had – in three dimensions, and in action. It was weird and stilted, but it was thrilling: There he was, the costume was vibrant, he was alive! I hadn’t seen the comics yet, but soon did, and that led to all the other characters: Cap and the rest of the Avengers, the Green Goblin, the Invaders. It was amazing to me.”

Ross would later elaborate on the importance of Spider-Man in his love of superheroes via a YouTube video…

“If I had seen Superman or Batman or anybody else before then, I can’t recall it … But I was just knocked out. I thought he was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. And I wanted to dress up like him and I wanted to draw him. … Once I saw Spider-Man at the age of four my interest turned really sharply in that direction. And so for the remainder of my life I was drawing characters focusing around superhero themes.”

The Spider-Man costume in particular would impact Ross, and his perception of superheroes at large.

“It was just transformative – that completely covered body, no trace of exposed flesh, was the most exciting thing I’d ever seen,” he said in Marvelocity. “Spider-Man was the design for me, by which all others would be measured.”

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

Alex Ross Spotlight: Fantastic Four #3

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

What we have here is a variant cover for this week’s Fantastic Four #3. Ross also drew the main cover for the issue, but I like this one better for its use of grayscale. Not making the Thing his usual orange color allows you to appreciate the painstaking detail Ross puts into his rocky skin. Imagine having to do that every single time you draw a character…

I also love the sense of life that the eyes brings to the image. They bring a great sense of humanity to this otherworldly creature. For me personally, it’s about as close as you can come to making it believable that the Thing could exist in the real world.

Fantastic Four 3, variant cover, December 2022, Alex Ross, The Thing

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Alex Ross Spotlight: The Alex Ross Theory of Superman

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Alex Ross SupermanBy Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

When you hear or read Alex Ross talk about Superman, his passion for the character quickly becomes evident. So it should come as no surprise that he dropped this little nugget of wisdom that I’ve referred to as the “Alex Ross Theory of Superman.” Granted, this sentiment didn’t originate with Ross. But he verbalized it as well as anyone has…

“Superman should never reflect any fashionable trend or other affectation of a specific era – hairstyle, speech patterns, etc. He is beyond that. He is out of time.”

Essentially, what he’s saying is don’t tamper with what’s already perfect.

Ross dropped that knowledge almost 20 years ago in Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. But it’s every bit as true today as it was then.

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Alex Ross Spotlight: Black Panther #12

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I suppose I’m just not as well versed in my Avengers lore as I should be, as I didn’t know they had a big roundtable like we see on the cover to this week’s Black Panther #12. I know the classic Justice League has one. I guess in this case what’s good for one is good for the other…

This is a textbook set-up: One hero walking away from the other heroes to indicate isolation, separation, etc. But as T’Challa is walking toward the camera, we’re able to see Ross’ detailed rendering of his face and get a read on what’s going through his head at this pivotal moment.

One interesting element about this cover is that we get to see Ross depict these heroes in a more “down” moment. We’ve got Thor and Iron Man without their helmets sitting at the table. Their posture doesn’t indicate that they’re relaxed, per se. But they’re not springing into action, or mid-action, as a cover would often depict them. Oddly enough though, Captain America is still in full superhero mode, with his mask on and his shield strapped to his back. Somehow that feels right for Steve Rogers, who might take more of an all-business approach in a setting like this.

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

Alex Ross Spotlight: Living with Mistakes

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Every creative person lives with mistakes, or work they don’t necessarily look back on fondly. To an extent it seems counter-intuitive to think of Alex Ross in such a light, as he’s in such a league of his own among comic book and superhero artists. But indeed, the man is vulnerable to the same things any artist is. Case in point, in Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, he’s very critical of the lithography pictured at right. Gorgeous though it may be, Ross is quick to critique his rendering of Superman’s head.

In the latest video from his YouTube channel, Ross talks about living with certain insufficiencies and failures in his work. I’ve juxtaposed it with a video from two years ago, in which he talks about the importance of completing work. As a former journalist, I can very much identify with turning in work you’re not 100% satisfied with. But a deadline is a deadline, and sometimes the bullet simply has to be bitten.

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