COVER GALLERY: 1997

This year Alex was getting tons of awards for Kingdom Come and Uncle Sam was released, Here's what else he did:

SQUADRON SUPREME (Trade Paperback): This volume reprints the 12-issue mini-series Marvel published in 1985, including this team's origin from Captain America #314 from 1968. It was written by the late Mark Gruenwald with a host of artists. Basically the premise is simple what if a group of superheroes take upon themselves to rid the Earth of all its problems, poverty, disease, etc. which can be seen by some as something incredibly good or horrendously evil, raising the question of the importance of having, or not having, super heroes. The team is formed by JLA archetypes that are easily recognized, Hyperion is Superman, Nighthawk is Batman, Power Princes is Wonder Woman and so on. Now when this series was published in '85, it was dismissed by fans as just Marvel ripping off DC characters, but when the trade came almost 10 years later and with the success of Kingdom Come, people started seeing it as a little more relevant due to their parallel stories. The cover is simple and effective, it features all the characters in formation with Nighthawk looming over them just like Batman would.
Weird Fact: After he died, Gruenwald's ashes were mixed into the ink used to print this volume's first edition. Spooky!


KABUKI: SKIN DEEP #2: Written and pencilled by David Mack and published by Caliber Comics, this issue entitled "Solitaire" featured Mack's most famous character, the girl called Kabuki. This is issue 2 of 3, and it came with 2 different interlocking covers, one by the author (named "Bones"), the other by Alex Ross (called "Skin"). Dynamic Forces later published one version with a wraparound cover and also used the image on a litograph. Alex's art on this one is just too plain for my tastes, but combined with David Mack's, the whole image looks a lot better.



BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #100: This special 100th issue contains 2 stories, one called "The Choice" written by Denny O'Neill and pencilled by Dave Taylor, and the other called "A Great Day for Everyone" by James Robinson and Lee Weeks, now both stories focus on the character of Robin in two of its incarnations, also the cover features the Boy Wonder in a very nice art composition where you see him being watched over by Batman and in the center you see the two taking an oath, or something, to fight crime. This is in my opinion, the best of these 3 covers. Also, as an aded bonus, this issue features a pin-up gallery with art from guys like, Mike Mignola, Gene Ha, Joe Quesada, Frank Miller and more.


IN MY COLLECTION: None of these (YET!)