Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross Review
Publisher: Pantheon
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Author: Chip Kidd
Genre: Comics
Hardcover: 312 pages
Dimensions: 9.3 x 1 x 12.2 inches
Introduction By: J.J. Abrams
Art: Alex Ross
It’s been 13 years since we’ve seen an art book highlighting the career and history of the legendary Alex Ross. In 2005, we got the Eisner Award-winning Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross and now fans may get the career-spanning collected works Ross has crafted for Marvel. The vast 315-page hardcover book features over a decade of Ross’ collected works. The dust-jacket opens to reveal a mega multi-page cover art printed on glossy paper of some of our favorite heroes.
Known for his hyper-realism in comics, Nelson Alexander “Alex” Ross is an American comic book writer/artist known primarily for his painted interiors, comic book covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries Marvels, on which he collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek for Marvel Comics. He is also known for his work with DC Comics such as the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come and Batman: War on Crime.
Marvelocity includes over 50 never-been-published sketches, paintings, photographs and working models, and other art by Ross. The 14-panel portfolio gallery of Marvel’s most beloved characters is bold, bright, and even non-comic fans can get a kick out of how wonderful this artwork is. Ross has also written a new 10-page story with Spider-Man up against the Sinister Six seeing the web-slinger’s most popular villains that actually ends with a surprise twist.
As a fan of Alex Ross, it’s always great to see his classic photo-realistic paintings of superheroes. When talking about Ross’ work, one thing I believe doesn’t get enough credit is how he truly captures the facial expressions of characters. Every character leaps off the page with emotion and these make our stories feel as if they are happening in reality. Just their facial expressions alone tell a story and this book showcases so much emotion from characters such as Captain America, Doctor Strange, Thor, and the Black Panther, just to name a few.
Marvelocity is very similar to Mythology and the format is almost just a little too similar. But Ross’ insights and the process of how he goes about his work make this worth checking out. One of my personal favorites that are definitely worth checking out is his pitches for the suits in the live-action X-Men films (which the design for Cyclops is especially badass!).
“Once upon a time, there was a little boy in Lubbock, Texas, who decided that drawing superheroes was his only realistic option if he couldn’t become one.” – Chipp Kidd
On the other hand, right when you feel like seen all of his work, Marvelocity shows us an amazing collection from his childhood. The artwork from his childhood includes paper cutouts of his favorite superheroes such as the Invisible Woman and it was a figure pasted together with transparent tape. Ross also had his interpretation of past comic covers, sketches, comic panels, and his own characteristic artistic style art and cover art. It shows us how talented he was from a young age and as someone who drew superheroes and comics as a kid, it makes me wonder how far I’ve could have gone myself if I continued. His work from a young age is inspiring and can be influential to any artist seeking to take their childhood dreams and make a career out of it.
Furthermore, the book has a lot of focus on Spider-Man. I’m a fan of Spidey just as much as the next person. However, I was wanting a little bit more backstory to other characters that we haven’t seen either much from Ross or haven’t heard Ross talk about all that much.
Marvelocity: The Marvel Art of Alex Ross is a book comic fans and non-comics fans may enjoy and it’s more than just a simple celebration of an icon. It’s a fascinating insight into the world of Alex Ross from his childhood to his very successful adulthood as we follow this artist’s love for one of the world’s best known comic universes.
Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross is available at Amazon and may be found in commercial book stores such as Barnes and Noble.
Nile Fortner
Nile@comicattack.net
