COVER GALLERY: 2005

A lot of DC Comics work for Alex this year and some very unusual indie work too.

SUPERMAN - STRENGTH #1-3: This series, written by Scott McCloud with art by Aluir Amancio, centers on the character of Superman as a moral compass and as a human being because that's where Supes' strength comes from, his values given to him by his parents. Now the covers describe various, classic Superman poses; issue 3 (right) has him breaking a wall, which looks very in-your-face but a bit too simple; issue 2 (center) has a very heroic pose which is really nice, he is saving some people from what I guess from the coloring is a burning building. But my favourite is issue 1, because not only, does it have Superman's iconic pose from his first issue but the character's pose has this flow to it that really conveys the idea of the guy actually flying. It looks fantastic.



















GREEN LANTERN #1: This series launches a new era for Green Lantern, especially for everybody's favorite emerald-ringed hero, Hal Jordan. This issue, written by Geoff Johns, returns this hero to the title he was part of since the 50's. And Alex Ross being such a Silver Age enthusiast couldn't let this chance pass him by so he provided this gorgeous cover for this premiere issue and let me tell you this is the quintessential look of the hero, the image is so iconic and, in my opinion, is one of the best paintings Alex has ever done of Hal Jordan. Just look at the use of light from the sun and the ring and the way they combine, it's beautiful.
CAPTAIN ATOM - ARMAGEDDON #1: Captain Atom is one of those small-time superheroes in the DC library, that's why they decided to kill him off in Superman/Batman #6 and ship him off to the Wildstorm Universe. So he didn't die, instead he travelled inter-dimensionally to this other imprint and now with an Alex Ross designed costume. Yes, the new Captain Atom sports an exact look as the Kingdom Come version of the character, which is a big improvement, because his regular duds, were awful. The cover shows the new suit in a very nice way, with him flying off into space. It's too much of a cool cover for such a crummy character.


RED SONJA #1: Dynamite Entertainment, who publishes Alex Ross' Project Superpowers, asked him to draw this character which spun from the Conan: The Barbarian stories. Of course, thanks to Alex, she looks extra hot, and extra scary with that sword. Alex Ross' version of the character is closer to the idea of her being this strong, buff, barbarian woman, not like her usual look of a bikini model that some artists do, Alex's Sonja looks like she can kick your butt in ten different ways.
ATOMIKA #1: Created by some of Alex's friends, including Batman model Sal Abbinanti, Atomika is an insightful comic about the deification of technology. The cover features the god Atomika from this story, it's a very powerful, yet surrealist image. This series was originally published by Speakeasy Comics and now by Mercury Comics. Support this indie book by visiting the Mercury Comics site
G.R.A.V.E. GRRRLS #1: Scott Licina is the guy who composed the music for the Earth X Special Slipcase Edition, he is also the writer of this comic book that mixes hot girls and zombies. Being a friend of Alex is a good thing as you also witnessed on the Atomika comic. He painted this very amusing cover to resemble the famous Janet Jackson - Rolling Stone Magazine cover. It's a horror comic taken lightly, just like this cover.

IN MY COLLECTION: Superman - Strength #1, The Green Lantern and Captain Atom issues and, as I was writing this post, I bought Grave Grrrls on eBay.