Alex Ross interview

If you started reading comics in the 90’s, I wager that you fall into one of two camps; those who were drawn into comics by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman or those who discovered Alex Ross’ Marvels. Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’ Marvels revived the ailing super hero genre.

In the 90’s, things had gotten very very bad in the world of comic books.

Just pick up any random 50 cent comic at your local comic shop and you’ll see why. From bad fashion decisions to over-blown emotive ’sagas’ that ‘changed everything,’ it was the decade that nearly killed comics.

Ross‘ hyper-realistic style brought a new life to the ‘comic book fanboy’ mentality, giving a kind of real-life quality to these spandex-clad characters that had become dulled over the years with over-exposure. It’s hard to remember a time when the sight of Spider-Man or the Flash on a comic book cover was not a good thing, but in the 1990’s, such vibrant characters had become lifeless husks. Books like Marvels and later Kingdom Come brought back a sense of gravity and wonder to these characters.

The Busiek/Ross series Astro City (anyone keeping tabs on how many times I’ve name dropped that one?) was a veritable love letter to the ‘days when comics were good’ which also brought a new wonder to super heroes that was sorely missed at the time. Again, it’s hard to imagine a time when this was not so. That’s how important Alex Ross is.

You can listen to an excellent interview with Alex Ross here courtesy of the folks at
Around Comics. It’s a nice little interview where Ross gives his 2 cents on Infinite Crisis and other modern cross-over mega-events and also comments on a few other comic book items of interest.

Aside from his comic book work, Ross has been a very vocal political artist. I always get a kick out of his political art whenever I find it.

Recommended

Justice, Vol. 1
Marvels
Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross
Earth X TPB (New Printing)
Astro City: Life in the Big City