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Is Alex Ross art getting old?

Started by COMICKINGS,

26 posts in this topic

COMICKINGS

COMICKINGS

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Posted

Once,one of my favorite comic artists,I am sad to say,Alex Ross is now boring to me.I don't know what it is.I am sitting here trying to think of the reasons why. The man can flat out paint! But I think maybe he's too good for comics.Or comics weren't meant to look this good. I am all about the realism style of art,but I don't know if I'm just over his style or maybe it's the whole,painted art style,in comics. Maybe I'm too old school,and can get lost looking at peoples CAF galleries for hours,trying to dig out some killer Jack Kirby, John Buscema, or Gil Kane pages!

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Mephisto

Mephisto

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HaHa I was just thinking this over last night. I like Michael Turners X-Men 500 cover better than the one by Alex Ross. I was amazed by the Harley Quinn cover years ago, but his stuff seems kind of static. Also there always seems to be some kind of colored light glowing off of peoples faces on his covers from some other character or object and it's kind of distracting and redundant.

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Jesusjon

Jesusjon

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Maybe he's overexposed. He's doing a lot of cover work right now -- Batman, Superman, JSA, etc. I still love his stuff and would love to buy some of his iconic work if it were priced closer to FMV...

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COMICKINGS

COMICKINGS

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That's another thing...he pretty much only does covers. He's like a pinch hitter...doesn't play the whole game,only comes up to bat,and hits a home run,and gets all the glory! What about the guys hackin' out the whole 9 innings or 30 interior pages?!

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comix4fun

comix4fun

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That's another thing...he pretty much only does covers. He's like a pinch hitter...doesn't play the whole game,only comes up to bat,and hits a home run,and gets all the glory! What about the guys hackin' out the whole 9 innings or 30 interior pages?!

 

 

:gossip: Justice? (shrug)

 

C

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Pirate

Pirate

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That's another thing...he pretty much only does covers. He's like a pinch hitter...doesn't play the whole game,only comes up to bat,and hits a home run,and gets all the glory! What about the guys hackin' out the whole 9 innings or 30 interior pages?!

 

 

:gossip: Justice? (shrug)

 

C

 

didn't he just color those?

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
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That's another thing...he pretty much only does covers. He's like a pinch hitter...doesn't play the whole game,only comes up to bat,and hits a home run,and gets all the glory! What about the guys hackin' out the whole 9 innings or 30 interior pages?!

 

 

:gossip: Justice? (shrug)

 

C

 

didn't he just color those?

 

 

He took Braithwaites pencils and painted them.

Braithwaite's pencils don't look anything like Ross' paints.

 

But I get what ur saying. It certainly helped the process along.

Otherwise I don't think Alex could get t22 page and a cover done pure paints every month.

Still it's an impressive output...22 pages and a cover just for justice...every month.

 

Maybe it's all this available work by Ross that is making it seem more common or less special. Hard to say.

 

C

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NelsonAI

NelsonAI

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Everyone has different views but I happen to love Alex's work. I certainly liked his cover over the version drawn by the late Michael Turner.

 

However, I do understand why some may think Alex's work is "old". He uses similar layouts and color palettes from his earlier work. Perhaps with deadlines, it just makes his output faster.

 

For example, the pinkish red hue of the X-Men 500 cover is similar to the color palette from his Dynamic Forces X-Men Poster done several years earlier. The color is based on the reflection of light from Cyclops' optical blast. The illustrations are different but the color palette makes it seem "familiar".

 

In another example, his recently illustrated Avengers / Invaders # 1 cover, shows Captain America parachuting down holding his shield with Bucky holding onto him. Fans of Alex may have a sense of "deja vu" since he painted the same image in his "Marvels" mini-series.

 

Regardless, I still love his art.

 

Cheers!

N

 

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jjonahjameson1

jjonahjameson1

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I used to like Alex's work a lot and his covers certainly got my attention (as intended by publishers). However, I think his style has a feeling of 'sameness' to me over the past decade or so. Someone mentioned "deja vu" in a previous post while giving specific examples of character pinups/poses. Now, I just ignore Ross' work...nothing new...move on and look at the other books on the rack. zzz

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delekkerste

delekkerste

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I think there is a sense that Ross' art hasn't evolved much over the years. It's not necessarily getting worse, but it hasn't gotten markedly better either. Personally, I still enjoy his work - I love his take on the classic Incredible Hulk #1 cover that he did for the recent Incredible Hulk Omnibus Vol. 1 (released in June).

 

I think, though, that Ross is a classic case of a young artist who burst on the scene and produced some great work - demand for his art swamped supply and prices soared to huge premiums over just about any other of his contemporary peers at the time. Fast forward 10-12 years later, however, and he has produced a considerable body of work while efforts have been made to keep his work as highly priced as ever - I think at this point, supply exceeds demand but the market is not allowed to clear at lower prices. Whereas Ross' art used to be expensive and genuinely difficult to find, now the art is out there...you just have to be willing to spend $4K to $9K on the artist's website for a panel page from "Justice" (which, by the way, I am still stuck on reading issue #2 or #3 of that series because it has literally put me to sleep multiple times trying to slog through its overbearing pompousity). :o

 

Meanwhile, other fresh and exciting artists (well, not necessarily to me, but in the minds of others) have burst onto the scene over the years and captured the hearts & wallets of collectors. So, bottom line, I'm not surprised that Ross has fallen out of favor with a lot of readers/collectors. :juggle:

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comix4fun

comix4fun

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Which of these ;

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=38454

do we think are the tiredest ?

Marvels or Kingdom Come ?

 

 

I happen to love the Marvels series. It is the Ross art, that if I had to choose a single piece from...that would be it.

 

Also...other amazing pieces..

the Justice All Villains Cover

 

and my all time favorite the DF Litho he did in tribute to the Romita's. Pure genius.

heroesvillainsRossRomitaLitBIG.jpg

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