Superman Through the Ages! Forum

ALEX ROSS Superman is now offically a Bodybuilder. That said, when was the last time he need that much muscle? How does this connect with his power when he was in his Superboy era? Oh, Batman, hrrrrrrrrr...... not just a man of bodybuilder size, the costume is gray on black, nice contrast not, might as well do even try to make any contract at all (lose the emblem). I guess if Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't work out with his re-election, he could alway apply for a job for one of them if he is getting to old to be another cyborg (which should a cyborg ever looking old). Tell me how you feel about Alex Ross.

Well today I got Alex Ross's Mythology book as an early birthday present. Some beautiful work in there. A lot of the colouring in Kingdom Come I didn't like but the art was still amazing. He's one of the few artists who can make Superman seem heroic to me again after all the dark whiny crap that the comics have been spewing in recent years.

Um... I can't really determine whether Alex Ross is on his right career path or not. But I like his artwork...

Well, since he is one of the most on demand and highest paid artists working in comics today, I guess he would be on the right path, career wise.

I'm actually impressed with how versatile his style can be, he can do period art, overly muscled heroes, as well as a realism where he demonstrates how he actually knows how to draw clothes on figures etc.

Ross is one of my favorite comic artists. As for his career path, I'm not sure how to answer that. Almost every cover he does seems to sell well, so I guess he is on the right path.

He's an excellent artist, but he is not that good at writing.

Does this Superman look like a bodybuilder to you?

http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Justice/justice_pre_pg05_lg.jpg

He's big and well muscled, certainly, but compared to the other artists out there who make him downright bulbous...

I'm not even sure what the point of this thread is supposed to be.

Alex Ross is a great artist who really knows how to capture the grandeur,  and size these characters deserve. I don't think his Superman looks like a bodybuilder per-se, but he does follow the idea that in superhero artwork glorification of the human form is used to convey a sense of power and nobility. C'mon, this is Alex Ross we're talking about. Not Bart Sears.

I'm sure there is some degree of wanting to make Supermans muscles look cool or making Wonder Woman have a nice rearend, but I think that's still a far cry from some of the more blatant artwork out there where you can tell the artists have a copy of Penthouse and Muscle Fitness mags beside their board at all times.

I will say that I actually like Ross better when he's going over Doug Braithwates pencils in Justice. Are you sure you aren't mistaking things that Doug is doing in his art for Ross's own?

Dougs basic figure drawing approach has a bit more dynamics to it than Ross's own but he still brings with him a sense of light, shadow, and color that is second to none in the realm of painted superhero art.

As for the question of his career path? That's for him to decide. But as a superhero fan I'm really darn glad we have him.

Alex Ross's Superman doesn't look anything like these guys: http://www.emusclemag.com/

You are confusing him with Ed McGuinness or something.

Let's not start this debate again. Seriously.

I don't think anyone would debate that he doesn't draw his characters like bodybuilders. There is no debate.

I don't think we need to worry about Alex Ross' career.  :)

That said, I find the more time passes, the less interested I am in his work.  For a while, I thought, "I wonder how he'd draw [insert character name here]," and that kept me coming back for more.  But now that I've seen his versions of pretty much every major DC and Marvel character, there's not much to keep me interested.  I just don't see enough variety and inventiveness in his layouts and poses to keep things exciting.

I love "Mythology" as a sort of album collecting Ross' take on all the DC big guns, but it occurs to me this "album" approach is much more enjoyable, in the end, than any of Ross' "comics" (Peace on Earth, War on Crime, etc).  For me, the true geniuses of comics are guys like Eisner, Cole, Kirby, Sprang, Gil Kane, etc...guys who remained unpredictable and innovative throughout their careers and could always surprise you with new ways of telling a story, visually.  Ross, in contrast, does nice majestic poses but there is rarely that sense of energy, enthusiasm and giddy chaos I associate with true "comics" (as opposed to pretty, painted panels).

Actually, I find some of Ross' pencil work more intriguing than his finished works, and almost wish he'd put away the paint brushes to try a new career as a penciller.

And I don't have an issue with Superman's muscles.  If anything, what bugs me about Ross' Superman is the same thing that bugged me about Bama's Doc Savage...he looks about 65 years old!

Personally, I think Superman ought to be physically impressive. Wayne Boring's version of the character has come under a lot of scrutiny recently, however, Superman should always look big, powerful and impressive, and Boring's art got this across pretty well, giving the character an incredible solidity and anatomy.

Superman is a Sampson and Hercules esque character whose primary feature is that he does amazing feats of strength; he ought to be George Reeves-esque.

I can't find a single bad thing to say about Alex Ross. How could I possibly denounce anybody that loves BATTLE OF THE PLANETS as much as Yours Truly?

Though in terms of painted covers, Alex Ross has a ways to go before he can catch up to the standard set by Steve Rude "the Dude." Now there was a talent!



Wow, somebody needs a rage-dump. :)

I agree, Rude's covers are bursting with life and do not look stiff like Ross's covers.

For example, check out this painting of Supergirl:
http://www.adelaidecomicsandbooks.com/Steve%20Rude/supergirl00.jpg

Another Supergirl Painting:
http://www.adelaidecomicsandbooks.com/Steve%20Rude/sgwwbg.jpg

Superman Vs The Hulk:
http://www.adelaidecomicsandbooks.com/Steve%20Rude/supermanhulk.jpg

two beauties enjoying soda at the beach:
http://www.adelaidecomicsandbooks.com/Steve%20Rude/cokefinal72.jpg

Looking at Rude's works I get a Norman Rockwell vibe.

For Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Superman and other bright heroes the style feels right.

On the other hand, I don't know how it would do with the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider

Not so much Rockwell to me as striaght up American pin-up, from a number of illustrators...it does work in some spots...

Well said.  Pretty stuff, but basically a series of majestic portraits, not comics.  Or if it is comics, it has more in common with the work of Hal Foster.  On the other hand, it is an imaginative (maybe too literal?) answer to the question, "What would it look like if you had to tell a story in pictures about god-like beings with impossible abilities who seem to get into a lot of fights with each other."  But I like Kirby's answers better (and for that matter, Steve Rude's).

As a picture book, Mythology looks fine --although there is a tendency towards ugliness and awkwardness in some of his figures and compositions.  Some of his ideas and variations on characters I love are charming and fun.  And I like his pencil sketches more too --Earth X, etc.  He is obviously someone who takes a craftsman's approach to his art and the success he has won guarantees that for the most part his art maintains the same level of quality no matter what project he is engaged in.  From what I've read, we share many of the same concerns about the treatment of classic characters and what is important about kids comics.  And the projects he has developed are attempts to stem a tide of crap that has continuously spewn out of Marvel and DC over the last 25 years --but it is a losing battle.  The most influence he has had has been in terms of art --Ross has inspired a host of painterly devotees who are not as motivated by the same respect for the icons of his childhood (or whose economic position does not allow them the same freedom and distance from crappy comics projects).

The older-looking characters (and I love those Doc Savage covers) give the characters a gravitas and experience that seems apt for what he is trying to do (although the premises of Earth X and Kingdom Come lent themselves to that look).  Ironically, portraying these characters as ancient probably has a negative effect on younger audiences in terms of reader identification and marketability.  

I've seen some sketches that suggest Ross has a cartoony ability that he should use more --he needs to loosen up!

The strength of Ross'  approach is that most of us grew up wondering what superheroes would look like in real life and his paintings get us as close as we're likely to get.  But if you're going to ask, "what would this character look like in the real world" then you have to be ready when the answer is, "stupid."

Superman comes off fairly well, but for my money, Ross' Flash looks ridiculous, with that shiny suit and a seam right down the center of his cowl.  Hal Jordan, whose Gil Kane-designed costumed always seemed so classy to me, looks like a reject from a ballet company when drawn "realistically."  So many of these great, body-hugging outfits are revealed as goofy leotards when rendered by Ross.  Which isn't so much a criticism of his abilities as his outlook.  Sometimes the only thing separating "fun" from "stupid" is that well-crafted sense of UNreality, the ability of pencillers and inkers to take us up to the edge of reality but never over it.  Even Neal Adams, who pioneered "realism" in comics (and in retrospect opened a Pandora's Box) actually created a sort of alternate reality, a world where everything looked accurate and tangible, but just slightly better than real.  To me, comics offer something bigger, flashier and more exciting than reality and in the end, making superheroes "real," whether in story or art, is a comedown, a waste of potential.



I have a soft spot for those old Bama Doc covers, too, since they got me into Doc's world and by extension the world of pulps in general.  Like Ross, Bama worked with models, and if anyone ever looked like a real life superhero it was Doc model (and former Flash Gordon) Steve Holland.  But in retrospect, he really was too old to be the Doc in the stories (a "kid brother" to the Fantastic Five) and I have to wonder why Bama didn't just "leave out" a few facial crags and wrinkles.

KC Superman and Earth X Cap were fine with me, they were supposed to look older.  But "Peace on Earth" Superman should have looked a lot younger.  I'm as much a fan of "mature" heroes as anyone (to this day I think Chris Reeve looked too young for Superman, and Brandon Routh is a baby!), but there's a difference between grown-up and worn-out.

As far as posing, Ross' Supes isn't so bad, as a real-life Superman could afford to stand still and let the world throw things at him.  But his Batman looks too beefy to raise his leg high enough to climb into the Batmobile, let alone kick a bad guy in the head.

Ha! Yeah, those seams and leotards just look dumb in that style (maybe why he gave GL a suit of armor and Flash a helmet in Kingdom?).

I wonder, who do fans think of as the "great" 20th Century superhero painters?

Alex Schomburg?  Frazetta? Bill S?

I liked the Kirby prints I've seen.

Saw the link, yes, very much so like a bodybuilder. Perhaps I prefer to see Superman like a gentleman with super power and can defeat big bullies without huge muscles or being bigger than them (don't like to see Superman pick on someone smaller than him, special he already has the super unfair advantage). Superheroies should be able to get into a "human" formal suit and still looking reasonably normal rather than giving everything away. The best Superman that I have seen is someone looking rock solid (not solid muscle or muscle mass but something else foreign to us), reasonably flexible but not overly, and rather importantly, has a face that is capable of more than one form of expression. I truly enjoy reading all your responses (nightwing in particular), and that put us in touch with what we enjoy seeing in various situations.

As for painters, I prefer it as real as possible. I personally own the original painting featured on the Batman Forever pinball translite (which has nothing to do with creativity really), which is very much different from Alex Ross non-realistic approach to facial expression and features (once again, a huge give away even if compare to the trademark square jaw look).