HIDDEN TREASURES

Two of Alex Ross’ earliest works after Terminator: The Burning Earth are the stories found in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #17 and Miracleman: Apocrypha #3. They are short stories included in these “anthology-type” books and therefore people sometimes don’t know they exist, that’s why, they are the hidden treasures of my collection.
Hellraiser #17

Based on the series of movies with the same name and published by Epic comics, the longest of the 2 stories in this book is called “The Harrowing part 1: Resurrection” and is about a group of people who are gathered by a goddess and endowed with powers so they can become the Harrowers, a team capable of destroying the Cenobites (the demons from the movies). Alex’s art looks very similar to the one on Terminator, still in its early stages and it’s a little unpolished because he didn’t like working on this project and it shows a bit. The cover is also by Ross.
Miracleman: Apocrypha #3

This book contains several stories about Miracleman as well as pinups. The story “Wishing on a Star” is written by Steve Moore with art by Ross and is a very short tale in which some kids are making wishes to falling stars and a former astronaut complains to Miracleman about the cancellation of the space program now that he’s around with all his powers. The art in this story again looks like Ross’ early work yet you can see that he loved working on this project, his paintings have this subtle qualities that make the tale real and at the same time very much like a dream or a fantasy. I love it! The cover art isn’t Ross’, it’s Mark Buckingham’s.