COVER GALLERY: 2003

This was a very heavy year for Alex Ross, he was simultaneously overseeing and painting the covers on Paradise X and the Battle of the Planets project PLUS painting his treasury-sized JLA: Liberty and Justice along with his Astro City covers, so he was only able to do these 3 covers:

CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 & 3: Although this series' first issue came out with the cover date of December, 2002, I've included it this year. This is, I think the 5th series from Marvel to have this title. It tells the story of Genis-Vell the genetically-created son of the original kree captain Mar-Vell. The cover to issue 1 (left) features a sketch with Alex's redesign of the title character, which looks cooler than it ever has and kinda like the Earth X version but still it's just a sketch they've put on the cover, no big effort on behalf of Marvel on that one. Issue 3 (center) however, features a more active and in-your-face cover which I think is better and less half-assed than the first one, this one screams action. HIDDEN VARIANT ALERT! This issue was later re-published with the exact same cover but with a sketchbook section, kinda like a "Director's Cut" version on a DVD. I suggest you get this version, instead of the other one, you can recognize it by a thin black strip on the top part of the cover that states "Special Alex Ross Sketchbook Edition"
HULK - NIGHTMERICA #1 (WIZARD WORLD EAST VARIANT COVER): This was a 6-issue fully-painted mini-series by Brian Ashmore and written by Robin D. Laws, it was released to coincide with the release of Ang Lee's Hulk Movie. The story on this issue resembles the old Hulk TV show, he gets angry, smashes a bunch of stuff and befriends a college girl. This issue's exclusive cover was only found on the Wizard World East convention and it was limited to 1000 issues (I believe). It features one of Alex's trademark images, a raging, furious Hulk that looks very real and very scary too.

IN MY COLLECTION: Hulk Nightmerica #1. Yeah baby, I got one of those!

COVER GALLERY: 2002

9-11 vol.2: DC Comics response to the 9-11 incident came in 2 volumes jam-packed with writers and artists telling stories about real heroes, and coping with loss of loved ones. This cover is simply FANTASTIC, Alex Ross outdid himself on this one, he took a concept from an old All Star Comics cover with a boy and his dog looking in awe at the heroes from the Justice League and made it into what you see on the left, there's such a great symbolism in that image of the greatest super-hero (and his dog, too) looking at our heroes who went above and beyond the call of duty. This cover also borrows a little from a Norman Rockwell painting. Only Alex could mash classic and comic book art into such a wonderful cover.



A MOMENT OF SILENCE: Marvel Comics, having already done a 9-11 benefit book, had still a few stories left to tell so they came up with this follow-up which features 3 stories: Moment of Truth by Bill Jemas and Mark Bagley, Moment of Silence: A True Story by Brian Michael Bendis and Scott Morse, and Periphery by Kevin Smith and John Romita Jr. This book has an introduction by the former Mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani. The cover was pencilled by editor-in-chief Joe Quesada and painted over by Alex Ross, although the image of the fireman was already used, this one features a good combination of these 2 artists' styles and the coloring is pretty nice.




CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS TPB VOL.1: This volume reprints ssues 21-22, 29-30, 37-38, 46-47 of the classic Justice League comics from the 1960's by the acclaimed duo of Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. The cover features a very weird collection of images with the Justice Society and the Justice League and its villains, it's an acid-trip just like the stories from that time.
SUPERMAN & SAVAGE DRAGON - CHICAGO: Your average crossover is at hand when Superman helps the Savage Dragon in the latter one's city. In true Savage Dragon fashion, creator Erik Larsen writes and draws this special issue, even the cover was pencilled by him and painted by Ross, which makes the Superman in the cover look weird and not very Alex Ross-like. Also, the coloring scheme looks too much like the Superman / Fantastic Four cover and Alex's style doesn't translate well with those pointy Erik Larsen-drawn feet.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES: Same as with The Batman and Superman animated series, when the Justice League series came out, a comic book version of it soon followed. This cover was drawn by series creator Bruce Timm and later painted by Alex Ross. Unlike the Savage Dragon cover, this is what I call a perfect blend of styles, this "cartoony" heroes immediately acquire the seriousness of Alex's heroes, making them seem so real, even thought they are simple renditions of the heroes. Cool Fact: Alex Ross is a huge admirer of Bruce Timm's work, so working on this cover was a real pleasure, and it shows.

IN MY COLLECTION: Only Dc Comics' 9-11 tribute.

COVER GALLERY: 2001

DAREDEVIL / SPIDER-MAN #1 - 4: This book came from the Marvel Knights imprint, which offered edgier versions of Marvel's superheroes. This 4-issue miniseries was written by Phil Jenkins who revitalized "The Inhumans" years earlier. I haven't read this series so I can't comment on the story but the covers are a real mixed bag; the first 2 issues offer the average superhero poses, #2 being more dynamic and less generic than #1. But the other 2 are just strange, issue 3 is too crowded with information and issue 4 has this anime-like Spider-Man with huge eyes and speed lines plus an odd perspective, it just doesn't look like Alex's artwork and I just don't like them that much, especially this last issue. Plus there was a Dynamic Forces variant cover to issue #1 (left) with pencil art by Joe Quesada and painted by Alex Ross. This is a very hard to find variant cover.


HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE: Written by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, who brought us the Crisis on Infinite Earths, this book explains what happened with all those Pre-crisis notions and tells us where they got shuffled off to, hence the name; this book is a great starting point for new readers. Now the cover is AWESOME! is one of those mural-like compositions that Alex makes, which you know I love. The wraparound cover shows details that tell you each of the character's (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Shazam) origins and on the other side shows more of the DCU, like the JSA, The New Gods, The Green Lantern Corps and even Sgt. Rock. Take a look at the cover in full (below) and tell me it's not magnificent.
SUPER FRIENDS: This trade paperback collects a few of the Super Friends comic books that came out in the 70s while the TV show was still on TV. Now for those who think Alex Ross art is just him copying from a photograph, take a look at this cover in which he paints cartoons to resemble the art of Alex Toth. Also, doesn't this cover resemble the one from the Kingdom Come Comicology #1? Pretty cool how the poses are identical, only the characters change. Gotta' love the "Alexes" (Ross and Toth)
SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #58: Another one of Alex's experiments, similar to the Super Friends one, this time, he tries to capture the Bruce Timm-style from the Superman Animated Series, from which this comic book series, sprung out. It's an animated style yet it's still serious and insightful, it's cool how Alex can take what is basically a cartoon and give it that edge.



HEROES #1: The tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001 hit the whole world pretty hard and, in a world where comic book heroes and villains roam free, we got the opportunity to see the real villains and the authentically SUPER heroes. Alex Ross contributed with 3 of these charity books, Heroes was the first one to come out that very same year from Marvel Comics and it also included the works of guys such as Neal Adams, Kurt Busiek, J. Scott Campbell, John Cassaday, Alan Davis, Paul Dini, Evan Dorkin, Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Sam Kieth, Adam Kubert, Joe Kubert, Salvador Larocca, Jim Lee, Jae Lee, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, George Perez, Paul Pope, Joe Quesada, Humberto Ramos, Steve Rude, and Kevin Smith. The cover says it all.

IN MY COLLECTION: None of them, yet

COVER GALLERY: 2000

Another big year with a lot of cover work by Mr. Ross. Let's get right to it, shall we?

STARMAN #57 - 62: I gotta say that I love it when Alex paints interlocking covers that form this cool mural-like masterpieces, just like on Earth X, Universe X and Crisis on Infinite Earths. Well this time he's done this with a very obscure character(s) from DC's vault. Starman and its legacy go back to the 1940's and spans until today. This series of issues feature all the incarnations of Starman to that date. The first issues of this 6-issue affair started in 1999 and finished in 2000. The art is fantastic, as I told you and it was pencilled by Tony Harris and later used on a poster, without the logos of course.
Cool Tidbit: In the background of the art you can see the Starman from Kingdom Come which also currently appears on the Alex Ross / Geoff Jones written JSA title.


FLINCH #9: Flinch was a little know horror anthology book published by DC Comics through its Vertigo imprint, which was cancelled after only 16 issues. It had great talent enrolled into it. Guys like Brian Azzarello, Jim Lee, Frank Quietly and Javier Pulido collaborated on this book, yet could not save it. Now, the cover for Alex's issue is AWESOME, since it was published between December 1999 and January 2000, and this is a horror book, there's nothing scarier than seeing your future's death, and with the Y2K craze running around in that time, it was very fitting to see 2000 already dead. The image of a dead baby is really creepy. Alex Ross exceeded himself with the garishness on this mature-themed book.



AMERICA'S BEST COMICS - 64 PAGE GIANT #1: This "annual"-like issue contains several stories from the different books that make up the ABC line: Tom Strong, Promethea, etc. The cover is OK it crams a lot of information into one cover, very similar to those old 64-page giants from the 1960's and earlier.
SPAWN #100 A landmark issue in this character's career the 100th issue came with special covers by industry legends such as Frank Miller, creator Todd McFarlane and more. This is the first time Alex paints this character and it looks amazing, the scar tissue, the flowing cape, the protective pose of Spawn; the composition is just superb.


BONE #38: Jeff Smith created this series which has the record of being the longest-running, self-published comic book. It's about some cooky cartoon characters that are all white and hairless and look like they came out of a Disney movie. The cover is very odd for Alex 'cause these are kiddy-movie-type characters yet he makes them very real through the clever use of light and shadow, it looks fine.
THE GEAR STATION #1: This was a short-lived series (it only lasted 6 issues), it is a mix of medieval sorcery and magic with technology. Let me tell you, this cover is the most real character in the whole series, not only 'cause of Alex's art but because the characters in this story were kinda dull. Trust me the cover's beautiful "fairy girl" is the only cool thing of this issue.


LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE #28 - 29: This title contained stand-alone stories of DC's most popular heroes, this 2 particular issues were written by Steven Grant with art by the late comic book legend, Gil Kane. The 2 covers focus on Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the Atom, characters made popular by Kane. Both were pencilled by him and painted over by Alex Ross, which resulted in an even more realistic depiction of these heroes. I love both covers.

IN MY COLLECTION: Only one issue of the Starman set, #61

COVER GALLERY: 1999

Even though Alex Ross was busy with Earth/Universe X, Astro City and Superman Peace on Earth, he was able to do all these other covers, this was probably his most productive year, yet.

BATMAN COVERS

BATMAN - HARLEY QUINN: Alex Ross liked so much to work with Paul Dini on the aforementioned Superman project that they decided to work together again on this one-shot that features the interior art of Yvel Guichet and Aaron Sowd. This book introduces to the Batman comic book, a character created by Dini himself for the widely popular TV show Batman: The Animated Series, none other that the Joker's insanely obsessive better half, the former Arkham Asylum psychiatrist-turned-psycho Dr. Harleen Quinzel, better known as the harlequin of horror, Harley Quinn. The story tells the origin of this character, but the cover captures the insanity of this couple, while she embraces him, he barely notices she's there, and they look as if they're dancing, lovely cover which clearly shows that sometimes less is more.


BATMAN - NO MAN'S LAND: This cover was Alex Ross' second attempt at making "animation" with his art, this time he used 4 images of Bats being caught by a spotlight and covering himself with his cape for a lenticular cover (right). Two of these 4 images were also used for the regular cover (left) and for the trade edition (not pictured), this images don't strike the same chord with me as the Superman ones, they look a bit average to me. Now the story is written by Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale and the art is handled by Alex Maalev, it is the aftermath of an earthquake in Gotham City and the goverment declared it "No Man's Land" so the villains start to fight for their piece of the pie, it's quite interesting!.

ALAN MOORE'S SUPREME

ALAN MOORE'S AWESOME UNIVERSE HANDBOOK: Any red-blooded, comic book-loving geek knows who Alan Moore is, if you don't you are totally missing out on the fun. He's the creator of such epic stories as V from Vendetta, From Hell and the classic Watchmen, considered by some to be the best graphic novel ever written.
Alan Moore worked for DC Comics for a long time until they had a falling out and he vowed never to work for that company again, but that meant never to work on Superman, a favorite of his either, so the opportunity came when publisher Awesome Entertainment, let him work on a character called Supreme, which, curiously, had the same feel and powers as Supes, with a super-dog and super-girl included. So, Moore took the chance and crafted some of the most excellent stories about the Man of Steel without having him on that book. Since he loved Kingdom Come so much, Alan and the publishers contacted Alex to revamp these characters' costumes and overall look, giving us this book, which is a sketchbook of said revamp.
This sketches were later used (sometimes digitally colored, which look HORRENDOUS) in variant covers and other books such as Awesome Adventures #1 and the trade Supreme: The Return.




ALAN MOORE'S AMERICA'S BEST COMICS
Famed comic book artist Jim Lee's publishing company Wildstorm, designed a line of comic books with this title, the cool thing was, they were all written by Alan Moore and the covers for all first issues were painted by Alex Ross, what more could you want?!?

TOM STRONG #1:This title, pencilled by Chris Sprouse, is a throwback to the old "pulp" heroes of the early 20th Century, guys like Doc Savage and The Phantom, who had no powers but relied on wit and gadgets. Tom Strong's adventures are a cool mix of Indiana Jones and sci-fi. The cover is a bit plain but the lighting and sepia tones in this one rocks!
PROMETHEA #1: Pencilled by J.H. Williams III, this is the title that handles mysticism, magic and myth. This book shows us how much Alan Moore is into these 3 subjects and the art is very experimental and psychedelic. Sadly, this very nice cover of the title character with her ancient egyptian garb is blocked by the titles, which cover the top AND both sides of the cover.

TOP TEN #1:This awesome book, the best of the "ABC" line in my opinion, is chock-full of sci-fi goodness. It features the story of the 10th police precinct in the city of Neopolis, a place where everyone has superpowers. The interior art is also amazing thanks to Gene Ha. And the cover gives you a sample of these weird characters, all jumping into action!
TOMORROW STORIES:This is a serialized compilation of short stories, also evocative of those old pulp magazines. In it you have many different genres mashed together, you have police drama, crazy science fiction, a masked vigilante, etc. The cover looks like one of those E.C. Comics titles like Tales from the Crypt where they show you the main story and the smaller ones on little circles, is nice for nostalgia's sake.



INDEPENDENTS

SHI - SPIRIT OF BENKEI. STREETS OF FIRE: The "Battlebooks" are a sort of role-playing game in comic book form. Shi is a character created by William Tucci, it's about a Japanese-American woman named Ana Ishikawa who is drafted into an age-old battle between the Sohei warrior monks of medieval Japan; here she's rendered beautifully by Alex on this cover which was a gift from him to Bill Tucci.
UNKNOWN QUANTITIES: Published by Funny Valentine Press, the Chicago-based company which makes Empty Love Stories, this anthology features a lot of artists from this city. This book was made for the March of the Americas charity and has this cool image of Uncle Sam, not the one from the Vertigo series, blindfolded, one of the few images Alex has made in black and white.


SUPERMAN / FANTASTIC FOUR

This "treasury-sized crossover between these premiere characters from DC and Marvel Comics is written and pencilled by Dan Jurgens, one of the orchestrators of the Death of Superman storyline, in it, Reed Richards and company, travel to an alternate universe to investigate the possibility of Galactus destroying the planet Krypton, Superman's homeworld. The wraparound cover was pencilled by Jurgens and painted over by Ross, I have it as a poster and I gotta tell you that Jurgens' and Ross's styles complement each other very nicely, the image is striking with very clean lines and vibrant colors, I love it.

IN MY COLLECTION: Batman Harley Quinn and the lenticular cover to No Man's Land. The Supreme sketchbook and 3 of the 4 ABC titles (I don't have Promethea)