M. Night Shyamalan's eerie take on "The Hero's Journey" story, has become a cult classic among comic book fans all over the world. Unbreakable tells the story of David Dunn, a down-on-his-luck security guard who, thanks to the mysterious comic art collector Elijah Price, comes to the realization that he has some form of super powers with dire consequences. Although some people think this movie is a bit slow, I really love this movie, the script is pretty solid and the 2 main characters are troubled individuals whose paths cross apparently by chance, yet the twist at the end reveals a much more sinister motive behind their friendship.
The 2-disc Vista Series
This wonderful 2-Disc package only contains a double-sided card that features the 2 main characters, David Dunn (as played by Bruce Willis - left) wearing the rain poncho he uses to "fight crime", and Elijah Price (played by Samuel L. Jackson - right) in another one of those uncanny resemblances Alex is able to do. This art is also used in some of the menus and it is printed on the discs as well.
Besides these 2 images that were finally used, Alex also did a couple more sketches, which you can see below. I would've loved to see all of them included, i mean look at the last image, it's awesome!!!
To return the favor, M. Night Shyamalan wrote the foreword to Chip Kidd's Mythology book about Alex Ross and his art at DC Comics. It's cool to have that kind of friends!
This very special card is IN MY COLECTION.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
UNBREAKABLE
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
FLASH GORDON
The 1980's film extravaganza called Flash Gordon
The Saviour of the Universe edition of this DVD sports a cool cover by Alex (see above), which is a great composition of the good and bad guys from the movie done in a color palette that resembles the one used in the movie. This DVD comes with a card (left) which shows a little bit more action and again, Ming looming in the back This was probably a rejected idea for the cover because it's not very heroic and the Ming image is almost identical on both. The other card (right) was an exclusive image, only available with the DVD purchased at U.S. retailer Best Buy. As you can see, it's another riff at James Montgomery Flagg's Uncle Sam poster.
ACTION FIGURES - SERIES 1: Bif Bang Pow!, an up-and-coming action figure company, took it upon themselves to transform Alex Ross' designs for the characters in this movie into three dimensional awesomeness. They started small as this series only contains Flash and Ming (pictured). But for action figure lovers there are some repaints, like a Ming with Black robes instead of red and a Flash with a gun instead of a sword (not pictured). I can't stress enough the level of detail in these 2 figures, they are so life-like and detailed. I have to say that this new company is giving its competitors such as McFarlane and NECA a serious run for their moneys.
ACTION FIGURES - SERIES 2: Series 2 is set to contain Prince Barin, Dale Arden and Klytus, along with the special edition Flash with a white t-shirt that was available at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con. These action figures will be released on July 2009 along with a set of variants to be unveiled at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Check out the images below.
If you want to see Alex's designs for this series' action figures, check out the sketchbook here.
Also found at the Comic-Con but in 2007, were 2 litographs by Alex, which depict Flash Gordon in 2 very heroic poses.
IN MY COLLECTION: The DVD with both cards, the series 1 action figures and the SDCC figure with its sketchbook.
UP NEXT! We will continue talking about DVDs that feature Alex Ross' art.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
NEWSPAPERS
Yes, it's true Alex has also contributed with new covers to some small, local newspapers, one from New York city and another from Chicago, which is near where Alex currently resides.
NEW CITY: Published in 2001, this free Chicago-based newspaper focuses primarily on the arts, and supports their local artists, that's why they did an interview with Alex Ross (posted below these lines), including a cover by him in which he paints THE quintessential Chicago hero, Chris Ware's God (or the Super-Man) along with Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth; both are cartoon strips that appear in the back pages of this publication. The cover is pretty sweet, with the slightly overweight hero carrying the little boy in his arm.
Notice the resemblance Super-Man has with Alex Ross, do you think he used himself as the model? I think he might have, otherwise, why would he write "Apologies to Mr. Ware" at the bottom of the piece as an in-joke? Just wondering.
THE VILLAGE VOICE: This New York City newspaper is well known for its left-wing views. Alex has contributed to it with these 3 covers. The Uncle Sam cover (left) is from Nov. 2003 and it's a very irreverent tribute to James Montgomery Flagg's original image. Inside there's an interview with Alex which you can read below. The George W. Bush cover from October, 2004 is even more politically charged and way more graphic than the previous one, and along with the title "Sucking Democracy Dry" it sums up this president's administration very well. Plus the likeness of "the W" is uncanny, I dare to say it's one of the best Alex has ever done!
EVEN MORE POLITICALLY INCORRECT ALEX ROSS!: The image on the right is another Village Voice cover Alex did in June, 2006 to reinforce the point about the George W. Bush cover, as if that wasn't clear enough, but this time he offers a "solution" with the caption Make Love, Not War or is the image referring to the other caption? the one that says The Queer Issue? I leave it to you guys to decide. This image has also been used for t-shirts. As you can see, Alex has put special attention to detail yet again with the likenesses of Bush and Cheney and also worthy of note is that lovely sunset over the "couple" and the silhouette of Capitol Hill and the Washington monument.
IN MY COLLECTION: I have all 4 newspapers.
NOTE: IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH ALEX'S POLITICAL VIEWS, DON'T TELL ME ABOUT IT. THIS IS AN ART BLOG, PLEASE COMMENT ON THE ART. ALL COMMENTS ON WHY GEORGE W. BUSH OR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE COOL OR WHY THEY SUCK, SHALL NOT BE POSTED! AGAIN, FOCUS ON THE ART! THANKS
Thursday, September 11, 2008
SKETCHBOOKS AND MORE...
To finish our book section, we are going to deal now with art books and sketchbooks. Although they're formatted to look like comic books or as magazines they are still a special kind of book. So here they are:
BATTLE OF THE PLANETS ART BOOK: This book contains art from the BOTP series, including covers and posters. It's a great book for all those collectors of the art of Alex Ross that wouldn't want to track down all those back issues. The cover (left) and back cover (right) are new pieces of art, made exclusively for this book that were later used elsewhere. Not included in this book is the new art for the Gatchaman DVDs.
UPPER DECK SKETCHBOOK: I consider this book the first official sketchbook Alex Ross did (not counting the ones that came out with the Earth X series). It came out at a convention, it's limited to 5000 issues and everything is printed in heavy stock paper. It contains drawings of a few pieces Alex did for Upper Deck such as the Spider-Man/Spider-Woman litho and the box art for the Marvel "Versus" System trading cards.
THE 2007 SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON SKETCHBOOK: This amazing book came out in the aforementioned Convention with a limited quantity of 500 issues printed. It sold out fast! It includes plenty of character designs and seldom seen art from DC, Marvel, Dynamite, you name it!. The cover features the gorgeous Red Sonja as only Alex could paint her. In the back cover, for all those ladies who like comic book art, there's an equally stunning rendering of Luke Cage a.k.a. Power Man. I just love this sketchbook!
THE 2008 SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON SKETCHBOOK: As a follow up to last year's limited sketchbook and to create a tradition, a new sketchbook was born this year. Although not as big on the variety section (it features A LOT of those unused designs Alex made for the new look of Captain America) and a few DC designs, it still is a great sight. The curious thing was, that even though this sketchbook is, again limited to 500 issues, it was harder for me to find one this year. Anyway, the Cap (him, again?) cover is OK but the back cover featuring The Demon is stunning, you don't see Alex painting monsters that often, so this was a delight.
THE FLASH GORDON ACTION FIGURES SKETCHBOOK: Also available only at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, this mini-sketchbook came with a special edition figure of the Flash Gordon character wearing his white t-shirt with the name "Flash" on it. This limited edition figure and sketchbook combo was a joint effort between Bif Bang Pow!, the company that makes the figures and the retailer Entertainment Earth who along with Alex Ross made this "behind the scenes" book available at the Con as a publicity stunt to present the soon-to-be-released series 2 of these figures that feature Prince Barin, the evil Klytus and the lovely Dale Arden.
THE 2009 SAN DIEGO COMIC-COM SKETCHBOOK: A very pleasant departure from the previous year's sketchbook. This one has variety from cover to cover. Besides the Avengers/Invaders and Project Superpowers sketches, Alex includes some fairly recent endeavors such as his Green Hornet designs as well as the Human Torch and his villains. The cover is such an iconic representation of the Hulk done in the Jack Kirby style. This is not just a bunch of unused concept sketches thrown together, there's a lot of thought and effort put into it. It's way superior than his previous efforts. Congratulations to Alex and his team.
IN MY COLLECTION: I'm proud to say that all of these books are part of it.
