COVER GALLERY: 1994

We have finished with the mini-series in which Alex Ross collaborated as a cover artist, costume - character designer and/or co-plotter and we're now going to showcase his work as a cover artist only. We'll do this by year so let's start with his earliest cover works.

THE SPECTRE #22 was published in late 1994, it's the conclusion to the story arc called "Spear of Destiny" written by John Ostrander and pencilled by Tom Mandrake. On this cover Alex tries to emulate or give the feeling of one of those classic Frank Frazetta covers with a lone hero (Superman) fighting this supernatural creature. I think it does the job pretty well and for being one of his earliest works the art looks amazing. Also this one of the very few times in which you'll see Mr. Ross paint Superman with long hair, which he hates, but during the 90's after the death and return of the man of steel, the character was wearing it that way so Alex had to stick to the design, which he hated even more.
FUN FACT: The Spectre was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the same guys who created Superman!

PRIME TIME Hardcover Collected Edition: This is a collection of the Prime series, originally published by Malibu Comics, which was later bought by Marvel Comics. This publisher is the one responsible for the Men in Black comic book, which later became a couple of hit movies. Now this superhero called Prime bears a resemblance to DC's Shazam so it was only fitting that for this cover Alex Ross imitated another cover from one of the original Shazam books called Whiz Comics in which Billy Batson poses next to Shazam (which is impossible by the way) so this cover is also of the hero and it's alter ego posing side by side. I really don't like this cover, the hero looks fake even though he's painted "anatomically correct" to look like a weightlifter, he just looks like a cardboard cut-out, awful!

IN MY COLLECTION: No

AVENGERS / INVADERS

In 2008 we saw the return of Alex Ross to the publisher who put him in the spotlight, Marvel Comics. Again, Ross and his inseparable partner-in-crime, Jim Krueger are bringing an extraordinary tale with these classic characters and the interior art of Steve Sadowski. The 12-part maxi series Avengers/Invaders will bring together Marvel's premiere team, The Avengers, with its predecessors, The Invaders, the classic super heroes from the 1940's and 50's which include Captain America, Prince Namor and the original Human Torch. This old group travel in time to our era to find out that the Marvel Universe is not what it used to be and that Cap died a horrible death.


FIRST ROW: The sketchbook for the series which shares the same cover as issue 1 next to it, the Dynamic Forces variant, the director's cut version of #1 (which is the same as the cover for Wizard # 194) and issue 2
SECOND ROW: Issues 3 and 4 and its Dynamic Forces sketch variant, issue 5 with the sketch variant as well.
THIRD ROW: Issue 6 and its Dynamic Forces sketch variant, issues 7, 8 and the sketch variant for #8.
LAST ROW: Issue 9 and its Dynamic Forces sketch variant plus issues 10, 11 and 12

Please note that the sketch covers to issues 5, 6 and 8 are reprints of art from the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive sketchbook which you can see here. The rest is all new art.

IN MY COLLECTION: Not yet.

READ MORE ABOUT THIS SERIES @ MARVEL.COM

PROJECT SUPERPOWERS

In 2008 came a new series from the classic Jim Krueger-Alex Ross team (famous for creating Marvel's Earth X saga). Now, they are dealing with a group of "forgotten" super heroes in PROJECT SUPERPOWERS a new series from publisher, Dynamite Entertainment, written by the pair with art by Steve Sadowski on issue #0 and Carlos Paul for the rest of the series' first volume. This is the story of some very old heroes (The Green Lama, The Black Terror and others) forgotten in the vaults of now-defunct comic companies that this group has taken out and reinvigorated. Volume one is a 7-issue miniseries that features Alex's fantastic covers, character design and art direction. Below is all the art for volume one of this series.


ISSUE #0: The debut issue contains 2 interlocking covers, as well as some interior art, one is on the painting of Fighting Yank (reprinted in the War Journal section) and the other is on the last page. After the story ends, a sketchbook section comes titled Fighting Yank's War Journal, which features Alex Ross' designs of all the characters, sadly, they are all computer-colored by InLight Studio which really takes some of the fun out of Alex's art.



ISSUE #1



ISSUE #2



ISSUE #3



ISSUE #4



ISSUE #5



ISSUE #6



ISSUE #7


After the critically-acclaimed volume one was over, people were craving for more of the characters from Project Superpowers so, The Death-Defying Devil appeared in his one-shot for Free Comic Book Day (left) which included a mini story and the cover art without logos. There were also other one-shots and previews such as the Wizard 1/2 issue (third from left) and a Chapter 2 prelude (right) both of which included a sketchbook of the new characters set to appear in the upcoming installment (below).



To whet people's appetite for more of these characters, there were also some 4-issue miniseries dedicated to The Black Terror, The Death-Defying Devil and Masquerade, the most popular characters from chapter one.

BLACK TERROR #1 - 4: Written by Jim Krueger. Interior art by Mike Lilly.


THE DEATH-DEFYING DEVIL #1-4: Written by Joe Casey. Interior art by Edgar Salazar.


MASQUERADE #1-4: Written by Phil Hester. Interior art by Carlos Paul.

I'll keep updating and expanding this section even further as this series continues with Chapter 2, another mini called Meet the Bad Guys and the adventures of the Black Terror in his solo book plus there is a line of busts based on these characters coming down the pipeline as well. After that, who knows what else might come but, I'll be sure to keep you posted.

IN MY COLLECTION: The 2 interlocking covers for issue #0 and issues 2 and 3. I'm waaaaay behind on this series.