Comic Book Resources has published an interview with Alex Ross about where he drew inspiration for his redesign of Kevin Smith's Green Hornet. Here's an excerpt:
"I was going hyper-superhero in my interpretation because the visual medium of comics needs something a bit more flamboyant. That's why a character like Batman thrives in comics where as Green Hornet was always played realistically in his radio shows and his TV show. It's the most realistic superhero show on television, and it seems lost in the confusion by juxtaposition to the Batman TV show produced by the same company back in the '60s."
Read the rest of the interview. Click here.
Monday, January 25, 2010
NEWS: GREEN HORNET INTERVIEW!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
APRIL 2010 SOLICITATIONS
ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE BOOK 4 #4
Written by KURT BUSIEK
Art by BRENT ANDERSON
Covers by ALEX ROSS (50/50 split covers)
This grand finale is the extra-length climax to the biggest Astro City epic ever! The Silver Agent! The Pale Horseman! Lord Sovereign! Honor Guard! Charles and Royal’s quest for vengeance reaches its shattering conclusion, changing their lives – and Astro City’s destiny – forever! With two Alex Ross covers and an extra eight story pages, this is the big one!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers.
On sale APRIL 28 • 4 of 4 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US
THE TORCH #7 (of 8)
Written by ALEX ROSS & MIKE CAREY
Penciled by PATRICK BERKENKOTTER
Cover by ALEX ROSS
A Funeral in Berlin, part 2 of 3
The Torch and Toro explore the city of New Berlin, where Hitler won the war, the Nazi Reich is conquering the world one piece at a time, and the regime's ultimate champion is a man of fire...
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99
PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: CHAPTER TWO #10
Written by ALEX ROSS & JIM KRUEGER
Art by EDGAR SALAZAR (main story) & DOUG KLAUBA (origin story)
Main Cover by ALEX ROSS
The countdown to issue #12 begins here as the closing volley of Project Superpowers: Chapter Two marches towards its thrilling conclusion! As the team battles Zeus (their former ally, Captain Future), the human populace begins to make a strange transformation into an age-old enemy that will stand revealed and pose an entirely new threat to the heroes. Plus: The Huntsman makes a shocking accusation against the Death Defying ‘Devil! All from Ross, Krueger and Salazar!
32 pages FC $2.99
BLACK TERROR #10
Written by ALEX ROSS & PHIL HESTER
Art by WAGNER REIS
Main Cover by ALEX ROSS
Writer Phil Hester takes the Terror on a thrilling new adventure, joined by new story artist Wagner Reiss and all under the watchful eye of mastermind Alex Ross! “Inhuman Remains” kicks off and will change the world of Bob Benton and his superhero alter-ego, The Black Terror, FOREVER!
32 pages $3.50
KEVIN SMITH’S GREEN HORNET #2
Written by KEVIN SMITH
Art by JONATHAN LAU
Main Cover by ALEX ROSS
The Green Hornet is back, and Dynamite is the new home for the avenging hero and his faithful sidekick, Kato (and, their ride, Black Beauty, ‘natch)! Issue #2
continues the incredible opening blast from Dynamite and Kevin Smith: the original Green Hornet struggles with forces put in motion against him while his son unwittingly becomes a pawn in a world not of his making! Never before seen, this comic adaptation of the unproduced Kevin Smith screenplay is THE comic book event of 2010 (and beyond!) Featuring an incredible array of covers by Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Joe Benitez and Stephen Segovia!
32 pages $3.99
THE GREEN HORNET: YEAR ONE #1
Written by MATT WAGNER
Art by AARON CAMPBELL
Main Cover by ALEX ROSS
The Green Hornet expansion continues as Dynamite presents the original tales of comics’ most iconic hero! Matt Wagner, one of the most creative minds in comics takes the reins, bringing the characters to their basic roots a la All-Star Superman! And Matt Wagner is the man to do it! Rooted in the pulp tradition, the original tales of Britt Reid and Kato begin here! Joining Wagner is artist Aaron Campbell (Sherlock Holmes), whose stunning recreation of the industrial world of 1930’s Chicago is sure to wow fans across the globe! Plus, covers by Wagner, Ross, Cassaday and Segovia!
32 pages $3.99
MY TWO CENTS: Fantastic Astro City covers (and 2 of them this month!) I especially like the one with the space shuttle, it's so realistic. Weird but cool torch cover. Also 2 covers for Green Hornet, how awesome is that, I really enjoy this covers, Alex really goes the extra mile with these ones and I really loved the Hornet as a kid so I'm in geek heaven. Who would've thought that, as cool as they are, the Superpowers covers would be the weaker ones by comparison. ALSO THIS MONTH: Thulsa Doom and a "Meet the Bad Guys" trades with reprinted cover art.
Monday, January 18, 2010
JOYGASM!!!
The day I've been waiting since I started this blog has finally arrived. Read this e-mail I got:
Andres
My name is Sal Abbinanti I rep and run Alex's website.
I love your site and what you do.
Thank you for a great site.
Warmest regards,
Sal Abbinanti
www.alexrossart.com
Yes, you read that correctly, Sal Abbinanti, Alex Ross' art dealer and webmaster is aware of this little, old site and likes it. I mean, he represents THE GUY, so that means that Alex Ross himself knows about this blog you're now reading. WOW!
By the way, in case you didn't know Sal is also the penciller of Atomika (right), an indie comic I've blogged about before in the cover gallery of 2005 and 2006. You should definitely check it out!
Now, I'm going to finish passing out...
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
KINGDOM COME MOVIE (WHAT IF?)
I love DC Comics' animated movies, I think they're top notch in story and animation and they're easily accessible to anyone young and old. Then, once I heard the rumor that they might do an animated version of Kingdom Come and I thought it would totally suck because the biggest appeal of KC is Alex Ross' art. But, when I saw Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf
Enter brazilian 3D modeler and designer Kris Costa, whose awesome talent landed him a job at the prestigious Industrial Light & Magic (George Lucas' special effects company). This guy, runs a cool blog/website called Antropus.com, he single-handedly modelled this computer-generated KC Superman. Now, if he did this by himself, I think Mr. Zemeckis (or any other cool director like him) could take a bunch of designers and give us the Kingdom Come movie we deserve. Are you listening newly-formed DC Entertainment (a division of Warner Brothers)? Wise up, guys you're sitting on a gold mine.
My question to all of you guys is, who do you think should play/voice the characters in this movie? Sound off in the comments or drop me a line. I'll give you my choices in a short while!
Don't miss the rest of Kris Costa's amazing KC Superman designs. Check out the full gallery!
Monday, January 11, 2010
NEWS: PROMO POSTERS!
Alex Ross, being a citizen of the Chicago area, is always collaborating with any art iniciative that comes from there, mostly comic book-related. That's why he supports Chicago Comics, a comic book store specialized in backing indie writers and artists, by creating this really cool litho (right) called La Femme Comique. Also Alex is the Guest of Honor at this year's first C2E2 (Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo) so he created this promotional poster (left) using 3 of Marvel's biggest guns. Both prints are amazing so don't forget to add them to your collection, 'cause I sure will.
Monday, January 4, 2010
COVER GALLERY: 2009
This year had plenty of cover work from Alex Ross. As usual, we're not going to stop on the covers for mini-series that have their own sections on this site, such as the Project Superpowers titles, Justice Society of America, Avengers/Invaders and more recently Thulsa Doom but on covers for single-issue series or alternates. Here we go!
SUPERMAN #682 - 685: The last covers Alex did for this titles were pretty fine, I specially like the one with Supes holding Pa Kent, it's really emotional and the parasite one is definitely creepy, it feels like he's going to grab you!
BATMAN #682 - 686: All of these covers are great in their composition where Alex isn't trying to encapsulate the story within it as much as he's trying to give you great iconic images like the one with Alfred or the one with Commissioner Gordon and the bat-signal. Classics!
DETECTIVE COMICS #860: This is a hard-to find, alternate cover to this issue and the image says it all. We can see Batwoman in the classic heroic pose similar to Bats himself. Great image especially if you recall that Alex designed this character's new look and suit.
ABSOLUTE JUSTICE HARDCOVER:
ASTRO CITY - DARK AGE: BOOK 3 #1 - 4: The next installment in the Dark Age saga came with 4 issues full of very noisy covers, there are so many elements in each one and the logos cover most of the art that you can't see much. Issue 3 caught my eye with its strange blend of colors and weird 1950's style aliens from those old B-movies. It's a nice departure from the average heroic covers. I really like that one.
ASTRO CITY SPECIAL: ASTRA #1 - 2: Showing that characters in Astro City grow up and get old and die, Astra Furst who was the little girl member of the First Family in the original Astro City mini-series is now a grown up graduate and these covers are handled in a People -magazine style with inside scoops and stuff. Issue one is one of those truly great flying figures, Alex Ross does so well but issue 2 has this weird LSD-induced hallucination motif which is oddly disturbing yet pleasantly beautiful.
ASTRO CITY - THE DARK AGE BOOK ONE TPB:
SPIDER-WOMAN #1: I've said this once and I'll say it again, Alex paints one HOT Spider-Woman. Wow, just look at that figure, er cover.
CAPTAIN AMERICA - REBORN #1: Minimalist approach to the return of Steve Rogers as Cap. It's like he's exploding or something, which suggest he's dying so, mixed signals are thrown left and right with this cover.
VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT #1: Great approach with Moon Knight's suit that Mr. Ross makes in this cover, 'cause the guy's suit is white and to avoid it looking like a wedding dress, Alex shifted the lighting to make it look dark, kinda silver-grayish which greatly goes with the purple tones of the sky and clouds.
NEW MUTANTS #1: A fantastic composition of little known characters in a great combination of yellow and blue tones. If you don't know the characters, this cover makes you want to read and find out who they are.
DAREDEVIL #500: The times where you can see an Alex Ross-painted Daredevil are few and far between, and I truly like this character, and in this cover, old horn-head looks awesome and ass-kicking (literally and figuratively) yet the all red-tinted cover with no other color to support it takes back a little of its impact.
INCREDIBLE HULK #600: Now, this cover introduces the green color to an almost all red color to create an awesome contrast of colors. Fantastic cover any way you look at it.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #600: Interesting composition, a very heroic and action-packed pose by Cap, yet not knowing how the background characters are relevant to the story, takes a little impact out of it for me. Anyone care to explain who the bearded fellow in the corner is?
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #600: This is a nice Spidey cover, surrounded by the danger of Dr. Octopus, yet again my complaint is the same, why the monotone hue? This cover would've been so much cooler if it weren't all-red.
THE TORCH #1 - 4: This mini-series has a similar sensitivity as Project Superpowers in which Alex is revamping Golden Age characters. Torch is the first Marvel character and Mr. Ross pays tribute to it with some iconic covers (issue 1) as well as throwbacks to previous eras (issue 3) both covers are quite striking. The other 2 covers are cool but more story-oriented than the rest. In my opinion, every time Alex paints flames in a book or cover they keep getting more realistic than before. Kudos to his art!
BUCK ROGERS #1: Alex redesigned these characters, and now they actually look like they're in the 25th century as opposed to the campy TV show. This cover is fantastic, it looks like Alex made the character's spacesuits thinking of Apple computers.
WIZARD #220: Much better than the "Reborn" cover this one shows both Caps in a cool split-screen type art which is a very rare device for Alex but it works really well to promote the fact that there are now two Captains America, Steve Rogers and his former sidekick, Bucky.
Busy year for Alex because, besides all of these covers he also did all the Project Superpowers and their spinoffs covers, as well as Thulsa Doom, Justice Society of America (in which not only did he do the covers but wrote and did interior art on one issue) and Avengers / Invaders. And let's also count the variants and sketch covers for these miniseries. We're talking more than 70 covers by my count. That's hard work. Alex is a real trooper!
Check out the previous cover galleries: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008
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