WIZARD MAGAZINE part 1

Since Alex jumped into the limelight with Marvels, way back in 1994, Wizard Magazine, being the premiere publication about comic books and geek entertainment, has followed his progress throughout the years. So it's only fair that we honor those covers in a series of posts that will feature the fantastic art of Alex Ross as it appeared on Wizard magazine. All of these issues are IN MY COLLECTION from which I have scanned the covers.

WIZARD #42: This issue has a cover date of February 1995 and it came in 2 versions, which meant you had to buy the same issue twice, but it's worth it. Each foldout cover featured Marvel Comics characters separated into heroes and villains, although originally the cover was supposed to be only about the villains, but the guys at Wizard liked it so much that they asked him for the heroes too. Anyway, as you can see, the heroes have that heavenly white tones in its cover and they are wearing their classic outfits as they appeared in the 1960's. Just check out the X-Men and that retro Hulk, it's a big tribute to Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and all those artists from that time. On the other hand the villains are portrayed in a menacing blue, black and purple light with giant menaces like Galactus and Mephisto on the back and Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin on the front, I like the way Alex renders the Goblin and the Red Skull's mask as if those were the guys' faces, brilliant! This issue also includes an article and interview with Alex which I will be posting later on. Now, check out the art below!

Here are Alex Ross' comments on this covers (his first Wizard covers) taken from the Wizard Magazine website:

"It was a concept which I bit into like a hungry wolf, doing the 1960s versions. Having just done Marvels, I was very interested to do a pure 1964 version of these characters, like the third armor design for Iron Man, or the red and yellow Daredevil costume. One of the things that’s funny, I pulled the design of Klytus from 'Flash Gordon' and put it on Dr. Doom, which was a seamless fit! One of the coolest things about doing stuff back then was that Wizard used to do covers where they'd put the logo on the bag. So I put stuff that would be directly behind the logo and once you took it out of the bag, you'd see Angel flying behind it. That was a great period where anything went and I was lucky enough to be in on it with some of the craziest, experimental stuff that just doesn't occur anymore. That's the nature of my career. Right place, right time!"

Hmm! No wonder that Dr. Doom looked oddly familiar...

ANATOMY OF A COVER Part 1

Ever wonder where does Alex Ross gets his ideas for all those cool covers? Well, here you'll find out. On these posts we'll discover that Alex's inspiration comes from many places, sometimes it's a tribute to the classics, others it comes from the strangest of places...

THE DC COMICS PRESENTS COVERS: These issues were supposed to be a tribute to the Silver Age which editor Julie Schwartz helped usher in so Alex Ross got inspiration from 2 covers from that time, with art by comic-book legend Carmine Infantino. The Flash cover (left) was inspired by issue #163 from August, 1963. Here Alex gave the cover a little more movement in the hand as if The Flash just stopped to talk on the cover, whereas the original was a bit more static. The Mystery in Space cover was originally seen in March, 1963 on issue #82. Alex gave the background images new perspectives to look more kinetic but the central character still has the same stiff pose which Alex didn't try to fix or change, probably to keep the same essence on both covers.


THE G.R.A.V.E. GRRRLS #1 COVER: This cover speaks volumes, Alex based the cover to this comic book about some zombie-hunting girls on the photo of Janet Jackson that appeared on the September 16, 1993 cover of Rolling Stone magazine, which proves that inspiration can come from everywhere and anywhere, especially from a hot picture of Janet Jackson...

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NEW SECTIONS!

Now that we've finished the comic book covers by year, and before we go off to something else let me introduce 2 new sections (posts) that you'll see on this blog, shortly.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH: This post will guide you into buying the correct Alex Ross cover (like a first edition) and not a crappy reprint. It will also guide you into NOT buying a cover which has been reprinted from art that appeared in another media, like posters or any other collectible. Notice that in our cover gallery I haven't listed as a cover, things that were not originally one. Case in point: The image on the left is a poster of Superman, the one on the right is the cover of Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, the cover only reprints the poster, therefore it's not listed on this blog's Cover Gallery section.

ANATOMY OF A COVER: This post will show us where, some of Alex's most famous pieces, came from in terms of inspiration. For example: Below-left you'll see "The Right to Know" a painting by Norman Rockwell, which is a clear inspiration for the cover of Kingdom Come #2 (right) or the covers of the hardback editions of Justice (not pictured), not only because of the people's poses but also of the lighting used by both painters. So, just like this, we'll analyze the elements he combined to form the new painting and the pieces of art (or pop culture) he is paying tribute to in his works. Stay tuned!

COVER GALLERY: 2007

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #12: This is a fan-favorite cover! It depicts the Justice League as Alex has never painted them before, and that means with new characters. Yes, this isn't the classic JLA that Alex is so fond of doing, this is 2007's Justice League, with the redesigned costume for Hal Jordan and new team members such as Red Arrow (he was in Kingdom Come, wink, wink) Black Lightning and more. The 2 interlocking covers produce one image that is very energetic and vibrant. These 2 covers appear as one, tilted sideways, image on the 2nd printing of this issue.
BLACK ADAM #1: This is the variant cover to this issue which spotlights the Shazam villain, which became popular after the events in the Final Crisis and 52 mini-series from DC Comics. The image is incredible and shows how much Alex loves the (Captain) Marvel family of characters, and how much he loves to paint really menacing villains. It's superb!
THE ESCAPISTS HC: This hardcover volume collects the Dark Horse Comics series of the same name, created by Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, who are themselves characters from Michael Chabon's pulitzer-prize winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay yes it's hard to understand but any way, this is a character from a fictional 1930's - 1940's "Golden Age" of comics and the cover reflects this by using the old comics' printing method of colored dots in the background, it's a pretty clever gimmick and makes the cover stand out, yet Alex already used something similar for the cover of Astro City #21. Anyways, it still looks quite nice although it's not one of my favorites.

HEROES HC#1: The Heroes hardcover volume No.1, is a collection of the web-comics that appeared online during the TV show Heroes' first season; so why pay for something that is on the net for free? For the kick-ass Alex Ross cover, that's why! Look at that cover, all the characters are there in that awesome composition and their likenesses are dead-on, well except maybe for Claire (Hayden Panettiere's character) she looks waaaay too old (and more like a "femme fatale") in this picture to be just an innocent schoolgirl / indestructible cheereleaderlike like she is on the show. But it's a great cover nonetheless.

IN MY COLLECTION: Everything except for the Escapists hardcover book.

COVER GALLERY: 2006

Very few covers came out this year since Alex was busy with Justice and with the JSA and Astro City: The Dark Age covers.

RAMAYAN 3392 A.D. #1: Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapur are two of the most recognized representatives of the Indian culture, the first one as the author of many spirtuality books, the second as a film director. They teamed up with the new and up-and-coming publisher Virgin Comics to create comic books that would spread the Indian culture just as manga comics had spread Japanese culture. This comic is the retelling of an ancient Indian tale called "Ramayana" which tells the adventures of the warrior prince Rama but this one is set in the distant future. The cover looks awesome, it's a mix of ancient and futuristic motifs which give it a cool blend of east-meets-west and all-out fantasy. Since I consider Indian culture as cool as that Alex Ross cover, I can't wait to get this issue!
RED SONJA / CLAW, THE UNCONQUERED - DEVIL'S HANDS #1: Dynamite Entertainment had such a success with the Red Sonja series that they decided to unveil their own version of Conan, called Claw, the Unconquered on this 4-issue mini-series. Needless to say, Alex amazingly captures the feel of these 2 characters on this cover to make it resemble the work of other fantasy painters such as Frank Frazetta or Boris Vallejo. It's spectacular.
ATOMIKA TPB: The enigmatic character of Mercury Comics' Atomika is featured here on the cover of this trade paperback collection of issues 1-6 of the regular series. The cover looks great but I prefer the cover to issue 1 better because it has more detail. The little detail this one has, gets obscured by that huge logo and the "God is red" captions. Too bad.


UPPER DECK'S ALEX ROSS SKETCHBOOK: This sketchbook was limited to 5000 pieces and it shows Alex's sketches of 2 projects he has done with Upper Deck Entertainment creators of World of Warcraft. One project is the Spider-Man & Spider-Woman litograph and the other is the Marvel Vs. System CCG. This company also works with Alex in creating busts of the Marvel universe heroes and villains (more on this awesome stuff in a future post). This sketchbook was only found in a convention, I don't recall if it was San Diego Comic-Con or Wizard World Chicago, but it's really hard to find.

IN MY COLLECTION: Only the sketchbook.

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.

COVER GALLERY: 2004

Alex Ross' busy years continue, or is it that he was just taking a break?






















On February 8, 2004, Julius "Julie" Schwartz, prominent editor at DC Comics passed away. He had been an editor of all sorts of titles, including Superman and Batman, and instrumental in the creation of characters such as Adam Strange and the Flash family of characters. As a tribute to his creative genius, DC came out with 8 one-shot specials as a tribute to him. They were called DC Comics Presents and they featured Julie as a supporting character alongside the heroes of this publisher. Two covers of these one-shots were painted by Alex Ross in clear reference to 1960's covers, the Flash cover is a bit simple, yet it shows a nice use of forced perspective. The Mystery in Space cover has a bit more detail and makes that goofy rocketship on the cover look more realistic and serious.


CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS VOL. 3: Continuing with the collections of stories from the Justice League of America comics from the 1960's, this volume reprints justice issues-91-92,100-101-102,107-108,113. It's strange that Alex painted the cover to volume 1 but not #2, and now he does #3 and later #4. Anyway, the cover continues with Alex's penchant for drawing as many characters possible on a single cover á la George Perez; this cover has a nice composition of characters, too bad the captions obscure some of them, this cover would work best as a poster.


IN MY COLLECTION: Only, DC Comics Presents: The Flash