NEWS: STERLING GATES JOINS KIRBY: GENESIS

Official Press Release

KIRBY: GENESIS - CAPTAIN VICTORY COMING THIS OCTOBER AND STERLING GATES JOINS ALEX ROSS AND KURT BUSIEK FOR THIS EPIC 1ST ISSUE!

July 28, 2011 - Runnemede, NJ - Kirby Genesis: Captain Victory is about a diverse group of intergalactic lawmen who travel the cosmos, fighting against the forces hell-bent on the destruction of everything. Lead by the mysterious warrior named Captain Victory, our team of Rangers fight the most terrifying monsters and mad men they can find! Unbeknownst to his own men, however, Captain Victory is harboring a terrible secret, the kind that could destroy not only the Galactic Rangers, but could bring about the destruction of all of time and space! To find out more, make sure to pick up Kirby: Genesis - Captain Victory #1 this October!

"Captain Victory is the seminal work that Kirby did on his own," says legendary artist Alex Ross. "Of all his many projects and creations for mainstream publishers, Captain Victory is the one where he put forth his greatest push and ambitions to try to break away from the commercial world where he didn't own anything. The Captain Victory series has a great range of fantastic concepts and designs, all led by a perfect archetype of the ultimate Kirby leading man. It is amongst the foremost goals of the Kirby: Genesis series to re-launch this character."

"Captain Victory and His Galactic Rangers was one of the first books Jack Kirby wrote and drew outside of DC Comics and Marvel -- making it one of the first creator-owned books in comic history -- and I'm exceptionally proud to be continuing Victory's story," says writer Sterling Gates. "Fans of Kirby's original Pacific Comics series will recognize these classic Kirby characters and concepts, but we're going to be doing our best to present the Rangers in a bold and exciting way for today's audience. What's the M.O. of the Rangers? Who joins them and why? And just how dangerous is Captain Victory's secret? We're going to be digging into a LOT of that as the book goes along, producing a space opera that will be epic in scope, as well as acting as a huge lynchpin for parts of the Kirby Genesis universe. Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross have showcased Captain Victory over in Kirby Genesis -- and done some of the heavier lifting -- but I'm really going to flesh out Victory's world and his character and make sure he's someone you want to read about every month. I think he's fascinating, and very different from a lot of the heroes you see on stands month to month. As you'll see in issue one, he could almost be an antihero, given some of the lengths he's will to go to stop his--aw, that'd be telling! And a great thing about Victory's crew is that they're all very different from one another. They all have vastly different backgrounds, they all have completely different abilities and interests and morals. Tarin, Mister Mind, Orca, Major Klavus, all of Kirby's characters will be in this book. It's really become an ensemble piece, with each issue in the first arc focusing on a different member of the Captain's crew. I'm trying to write very character-driven and interesting stories against these huge, cosmic backdrops. Which is a lot of fun! Kirby: Captain Victory is going to explore a lot more of the "universe" aspect in the new Kirbyverse, and I can't wait to show everyone what's out there!"

"Sterling has said it all, and we're elated and proud to have him join us on a project that is taking Dynamite to a whole new level" adds Dynamite President and Publisher Nick Barrucci. "We wanted to add to the Kirby: Genesis line of titles, but wanted to wait until several issues were in stores to build excitement for both the fans and retailers. By the time orders for Kirby: Genesis - Captain Victory are due, issues #0 through issue #2 will be out as well as possibly #3, which will give fans enough issues to have a feel for the series. I'll add again that we've wanted to work with Sterling for a while, and we're EXTREMELY happy that he could add Captain Victory to his roster of books. And with covers by Alex Ross, Michael Avon Oeming, Wagner Reis and Sean Chen, it's the icing on top of the cake."

JUST ARRIVED: TWO MORE PLATES

My plate collection keeps growing. The new additions are these two. On the right is a fantastic depiction of the transformation from young Billy Batson into the world's mightiest mortal, Shazam. On the left is one of the oddest of Alex's pieces. It's the Justice League in a very familiar Rockwell-esque, family Christmas, while Batman is overlooking the celebration from the outside, lonely and brooding even more so than usual during these holidays.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: GREATEST HITS

Celebrating the release of yet another Marvel movie (c'mon DC, wise up!) this time is the Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America: The First Avenger. Here are what I consider the greatest hits Alex Ross has had with the character.

This is the best example of why Alex Ross rocks. He told, only in images, all the history of Cap and made a flag in the process. It's brilliant! People who don't know Cap's background can immediately make out his origin just by watching this poster. Trust me, I have it and people get it and now with the upcoming movie-origin they'll think of this poster.

Left to Right: Captain America from a promo for the Avengers/Invaders mini-series; the redesigned suit Alex made to be worn by Bucky, the new Captain after Steve Rogers' death; the life-size bust of Cap which sports so many details it's insane; and, yet another redesign Alex did for the Earth X trilogy in this very simplistic yet striking cover.

REMINDER: SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2011

AlexRossArt.com will be at their usual booth 2419, this July 21-24 at the San Diego Comic-Con. Like every year, there will be lots of new artwork as well as new lithographs and original art plus a new sketchbook signed by Alex Ross and limited to 500 units, The price of this book will be US$10. Above are the main and the inner covers to the sketchbook, our good friend Sal Abbinanti was kind enough to let us take a peek.
Here's an exclusive for you. A while ago Alex was asked to work on a new take on Green Lantern for an upcoming movie. He did some production art, slightly changing the suit to a more "glossy" version and he stylized the lantern to look like an alien device. Needless to say the producers went in another direction leaving these 2 gorgeous pieces of finished production art you see below. More images are available at the CBR website CLICK HERE.
If you want them at your place drop by booth 2419 at SDCC and you can buy the originals there.

ANTHRAX

In the year 2003, Anthrax, one of the most recognized hard rock bands and a member of the four quintessential heavy metal bands of the world (the other three being Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer), released the album We've Come for you All which sports a cool cover by Alex Ross. On the cover you can see the members of the band as sort of aliens, coming to save us. The color palette is very nice and the band members likenesses are dead on, although a couple of them look a bit stiff and wax-sculpture like.

On September 13, 2011 Anthrax will release their first studio album since 2003's We've Come for you All and luckily they've had the great fortune of having yet another cover by Alex Ross, wow, two in a row, Alex must really dig these guys! Also, to promote their first single Fight'em 'til You Can't Alex did another rendition of the band fighting zombie-versions of themselves. In Both monster-filled covers Alex does an homage to Bernie Wrightson, don't you think?

Music of Mass Destruction is the name of this live album CD/DVD combo (left) of Anthrax's concert at The Metro in Chicago, Alex Ross' town. Fans of this Heavy Metal band were very happy with this release which, in 2004, was the first live DVD released by the band, there were only VHS concerts before this. The art is really cool, there's this horned, Captain America-looking "superhero" trashing (no pun intended) the name of this DVD.
The poster on the right was sold at Anthrax concerts during one of their tours across the U.S. This image was also used for t-shirts which are easier to find than the posters. What strikes me as odd is the use of Judge Dredd for this promo. Not that I'm complaining because he looks really badass on this image holding Judge Death's head in his hand. Not like Stallone at all!
IN MY COLLECTION: Sadly, none.

JUST ARRIVED: NEW COLLECTED EDITIONS

I've finally ben able to get these two Universe X trades with their awesome pseudo-interlocking covers which prominently feature Captain Mar-Vell in both of his versions plus the Marvel characters in their Earth X and original-though-dead versions.

Both covers act like mirror versions of each other. Take a look at the symmetry in the poses on each side.

Also for the first time ever on the 'net, (trust me, I've looked for this image in a good size everywhere!) the wraparound cover to the hardcover version of Astro City: Family Album. It's truly a breathtaking image, check out the fusion of the ordinary (the family picnic) and the extraordinary (the superpowered people), no wonder Alex Ross is consider THE Norman Rockwell of the comic book world.

JUST ARRIVED: METAL MEN PLATE

This is the third plate IN MY COLLECTION (the others being Plastic Man and The Teen Titans plates) and it's an instant favorite. I knew nothing about these characters but the awesomeness of the plate made me go and find out about them, and they're a quirky bunch of heroes and it made me appreciate more the role they play in the JUSTICE series.