UNCLE SAM

No Alex Ross collection is complete without the most obscure and controversial of his works. Uncle Sam is a very compelling story about a homeless man who resembles the symbol of the United States of America, yet his clothes look tattered, ripped and dirty as he begins his journey through America's past, present and future, only to realize, the "American Dream" looks just like he does, bruised and mangled by corruption, racism, and war mongering. This book was written by Steve Darnall in 1997, yet it is still valid today as it was 10 years ago, because nothing has changed. I consider this view of the USA, eye-opening, because it tells the truth of how America, and most countries for that matter, are rotting because of corruption and deceit and by being led by a small group of opportunists. My favourite part was when Sam encounters the "real" Uncle Sam, the one we see in posters with his crisp suit made of the American flag and his top hat, and finds out the symbol for this country is really a greedy, selfish bastard. I still wonder how DC/Vertigo published this without being censored. The art is as clean and detailed as the one in Kingdom Come, maybe even more, and shows a lot of Ross' and Darnall's political views.IN MY COLLECTION: The original two-issue prestige format graphic novel and the silk flag.

Left to Right: Uncle Sam issues 1 & 2 and the Uncle Sam silk flag which was reprinted in the Hardback edition, as a wraparound cover. Not pictured is the softcover edition because it has the same cover as issue 1.

Left to Right: The promotional poster, the litograph, the UKCAC convention program and the t-shirt.

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.

THIS JUST IN: FLASH GORDON DVD

The latest addition to my collection is the brand new Flash Gordon: Saviour of the Universe Edition DVD. This includes new art by Alex Ross on the cover (pictured above left) as well as a trading card with penciled art of the movie's characters (pictured above center), plus a special edition of this DVD sold only at Best Buy in the United States included a second, fully painted trading card (above right). On the disc, is the film and a documentary with Ross on why he loves this movie and its characters so much.

Here I offer you this documentary in 2 parts for all to watch. Enjoy!

WATCH PART 1

WATCH PART 2

JUSTICE part 2

This part will deal with the action figures based on Alex Ross' designs for his series of the same name. Most of them if not all of them were sculpted by Tim Bruckner and they really capture the heroes and villains you see in the story.

SERIES 1: this series includes, Superman and The Flash (Barry Alllen) and villains Siniestro, Cheetah and Bizarro. There was also a reissue of the Superman action figure with an angry face sculpt but the original is better. In this series I like Bizarro 'cause he's a creepy zombie-like monster and it just looks scary, Supes is cool as well as Flash but this one and Cheetah are hard to pose on the shelf and they keep falling off mine, specially her.


SERIES 2: Heroes, Batman, Aquaman and Black Canary, and villains Black Manta and The Parasite. Batman and Aquaman look great, although I would've prefered the Aquaman from Justice with his 5 o'clock shadow beard and angry demeanor. Black Canary is gorgeous, you never thought they could made and action figure, so pretty. Black Manta is OK and the Parasite is creepy enough, although it looks like the guy is made of gum that has already been chewed.

SERIES 3: This is, in my opinion, the best series so far, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) looks cool, Plastic Man has interchangeable and bendable body parts, so he honors his name, Wonder Woman is hot, although a bit too buff for my tastes, Poison Ivy is naked and The Joker can scare the living crap out of your other figures. 'Nuff Said.

SERIES 4: This series comes with Shazam and his villain Black Adam. Zatanna, Hawkman and Solomon Grundy. Black Adam looks tough but Shazam, well, I like the Kingdom Come version, a whole lot more. Zatanna is cute yet hard to pose, Hawkman rocks with his wings and removable helmet, yet is also a little hard to pose, But Solomon Grundy is the best in this series, he just looks creepy and the paint job in some areas makes him look like he's actually decomposing. Awesome!

SERIES 5: If series 3 is the best, this one is a close second. Green Arrow can be posed as though he's preparing to shoot an arrow, the Martian Manhunter (and its "invisible", transparent variant figure) and Red Tornado, look cool with their capes and all. Lex Luthor sports his weird "suit" which is purple and transparent, but awesome nonetheless, but Brainiac is the icing on the cake, he comes with a bloody, dissected brain and the scalpel he used to cut it out and an experimental monkey with some weird contraption on its head, sitting on the guys shoulder. It's quite gory!

SERIES 6: This series comes with Hawkwoman and The Scarecrow and armored versions of Batman and Green Lanter, taken from the Justice comic book. I still don't know why they didn't give Hawkwoman a winged helmet just like Hawkman but instead she's got another head sculpted without it and she doesn't come with a weapon, only a shield. On the other hand the Scarecrow looks awesome, he's scarier without the mask as he is with it, the level of detail on this figure is astounding, you can see this on the glasses on the guy's face. The Armored Batman and Green Lantern look better in real life than in the pictures, I mean, you see them on the internet and they look alright but they really are a faithful reproduction of what you see on the comic book pages.

SERIES 7: This series is small but impressive, it features 2 armored character which I never thought I'd like but they have grown on me due to its amazing detail, Superman and Aquaman look incredible, Superman's metallic paint job is great and the details on the scales in Aquaman's armor is superb. Green Lantern, John Stewart has a small but pivotal role on this series and his action figure captures his heroic essence, very well, I really dig the retro-1970's look he has here, because nowadays he's portrayed as this angry black man, with a shaved head and goatee, which distances itself from the character's origins, so Alex captured this character's first appearances on this figure. I still need to comment on the Gorilla Grodd figure which isn't in my collection yet.


SERIES 8: This series will come out mid-to-late 2008 and it will include, heroic hotties Supergirl, and Batgirl, and evil guys, The Toyman and Captain Cold. I'll comment on them as soon as I get 'em!

IN MY COLLECTION: Series 1 - 7, I'll keep you posted if there will be a series 9 or 10. Hopefully, there will be. Keep your fingers crossed, I still want that Armored Wonder Woman figure.

JUSTICE part 1: THE BOOKS

The last fully-painted Alex Ross project to see the light of day was DC’s Justice, a massive 12-issue story arc that took 2 years to complete (2006-2007). In this story written by Jim Krueger and Ross we see a giant event unravel, the villains of the world neutralize the heroes by doing what they were supposed to do, help humanity, so they cure diseases and help the blind to see, in order to gain people’s trust. All this, of course, is just a big scam and you’ll never suspect who the orchestrator of this diabolical plan is and how he achieves this goal. Some of the heroes turn bad, others are nearly killed, and Aquaman ends up being the coolest hero ever! Honest! This story is so amazing that you just have to read it, it’s chockfull of great scenes, battles and even funny moments, like when Plastic Man and Elongated Man start arguing because there can’t be 2 stretchy guys in the League. Awesome! The art was handled by Ross painting over Doug Braithwaite’s pencils, yet what you get in the end is an Alex Ross book, sorry Doug, but it is, the covers are done by Ross and there is a sketchbook section on each issue by both artists. Top row: Issues #1 (with both heroes and villains covers) thru 6. Bottom Row: Issues #7 thru 12 (again with the heroes and villains covers).

This series was such a huge seller that 2nd and even 3rd prints of some issues came out, these usually reprinted the art from the sketchbook sections. Left to Right: Issue #1 – second printing (the only one with new art) and third printing, issues #2, 4 and 5 second printings.

As this bimonthly series progressed, 4-issue hardcover collections came out, three in total, featuring new art by Ross. Top to bottom: Hardcover #1 – issues 1-4 (heroes cover), Hardcover #2 – issues 5-8 (villains cover) and Hardcover #3 – issues 9-12 (heroes in armor cover).

Now, since this series is new, expect to see a complete hardcover as well as a paperback edition soon, I’ll keep you informed. Part 2 will deal exclusively with the action figures that came out of this series. IN MY COLLECTION: Issues 1-12 with variant covers and Hardcover #1.

THE OVERSIZED BOOKS

Starting in 1998 at a rate of one per year, the tabloid-sized or treasury- sized books came out to celebrate each of the heroes’ 60th birthday, each book featured superheroes battling real-world problems. These books are amazing ‘cause they deal with very human problems, such as poverty, greed, and the roots of crime. Also the oversized look of the stories makes them larger than life and features Alex Ross’ art more prominently. They were all written by Paul Dini (creator of Batman: The Animated Series) and the curious thing is that, except for the last one, none of them has word balloons, they are written in prose, so said globes don’t obscure the art. Top of the Picture: The Original 4, anniversary books:

Superman: Peace on Earth – Superman tries to solve world hunger for one day but is met with greed, suspicion, and fear.
Batman: War on Crime – Batman faces a situation similar to the one which created him, which makes him wonder which is the true nature of crime.
Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth – Wonder Woman, sent from Paradise Island to teach peace to humans, encounters that human nature is made for war and violence.
Shazam: Power of Hope – Captain Marvel, whose alter ego is a child, realizes that children have the capacity for awe and surprise that adults sometimes lack, and ponders on why children really are the hope for humanity’s future.

Bottom of the picture: JLA: Secret Origins – A compilation of all the DC superheroes’ origins told in one splash page after another, for those of you who need to know who they are. JLA: Liberty and Justice – The Justice League fights against a plague that threatens to ravage the entire world.

Finally all these books were collected in an oversized slipcase edition called World’s Greatest Super-Heroes, shown are the outer and inner cover respectively. Also from the art of these books, many things were made such as T-shirts, posters, postcards, etc, but if you have the books, you’re set with your collection.

IN MY COLLECTION: All of them except for the slipcase edition.