via The Blog From Another World
You know an artist must be good when a publication retires an award in his honor–and that's exactly what happened after fan-favorite Alex Ross dominated Comics Buyer's Guide Favorite Painter award year after year.
Ross burst onto the comics scene in 1994 with the now-classic miniseries Marvels, with writer extraordinaire Kurt Busiek. His realistic-yet-luminous paintings took comics to an exciting new level and delighted fans, who eagerly followed him to other landmark superhero epics like Kingdom Come, Astro City (again with Busiek), and Project Superpowers.
For years, Ross has created distinctive covers and character designs for Dynamite Entertainment, bringing classic characters like Vampirella, Green Hornet, The Phantom, and the Bionic Man to life. Now he's working with Busiek once again for the ultimate superhero team up, Kirby: Genesis, reviving dozens of Jack Kirby's characters in a brand-new universe with co-artist Jackson Herbert. We interviewed Ross for Dynamite Month and picked his brain about how he started in comics, whether he'll ever do interior work again, and what's coming up next! Read the interview, and then check out TFAW on Facebook to enter a contest to win one of five Green Hornet variant comics signed by Ross!
TFAW.com: First off, I wanted to say I'm a big fan of your work. I remember when Marvels came out, and it blew me away. It still has a special place in my heart.
Alex Ross: Thank you.
TFAW.com: When did you realize you had a love for painting?
AR: Mostly in art school. I had very little opportunity in high school art class before to learn much about various paint media, so the classes I took in illustration and oil painting helped me see how painting was my best facility as an artist.
TFAW.com: Did you originally think you'd be able to use your talent to create comics?
AR: That's all I thought I would use my "talent" for. I had such respect for the art form and business that I didn't expect it to be easy to get into, but it was my grandest desire.
TFAW.com: Your work, in recent years, has focused on creating covers and designing characters. Do you miss doing full interiors?
AR: Absolutely. There are a lot of things where I would like to be fully immersed in telling the stories I participate with, and hopefully will get back into more storytelling over time. As it is, with all the projects I participate with today, it's a very full workload, thankfully.
TFAW.com: How long does it take you to complete a cover?
AR: Two to three days, depending upon the complexity of the composition and number of figures.
TFAW.com: What elements do you think about when you create character designs, such as for Bionic Man?
AR: I'm often looking to connect with first what my greatest inspiration is for the character and content, often with some embrace of the original design and look for a character, first and foremost. Contemporary elements are often influenced by knowing what has been tried in the superhero and sci-fi genres and trying to think of anything that might be somewhat unique to a given take on the characters.
TFAW.com: With Kirby: Genesis, you're doing layouts, art direction, and some of the artwork. What's the experience been like thus far?
AR: Very satisfying, because I'm working with such an extremely talented artist. I'm a detail freak, so when I hand off a layout to someone who then makes it sharper and more realistic, it gratifies me to see it handled in a way that I would have hoped to do on my own.
TFAW.com: How does it feel to re-team with Kurt Busiek, who also wrote Marvels?
AR: Kurt and I have had a steady working relationship for years with Astro City, but this is the most involved in plotting and direct interaction on interiors since Marvels. Kurt has a very strong vision that I can easily respect and concede to, because as I know with Kurt, he's thinking through absolutely everything. Kurt's also been very respectful of my instincts, so there's always been very good give-and-take. I just know I can rely and rest on his efforts in many ways.
TFAW.com: What's your process like with co-artist Jackson Herbert?
AR: Generally, I'm selecting pages out of the script to lay out that introduce new characters and elements that I want to give him the best interpretation through my filter of what Kirby had done or imagined. Often I'm wanting to keep a strong hand in just how the book looks overall, but Jackson's a spectacular artist who doesn't really need anyone to lay out anything for him. He is just, fortunately, indulging this heavy hand of mine on this project.
TFAW.com: Your art really lends itself to grand, cosmic beings, which makes you the ultimate pick to bring Jack Kirby's characters to life. Were you excited at the prospect?
AR: Well, we've been working on and planning this for some years now. It's been an enormous liberty to know that we could use just about anything in the family's library of characters and sketches of Jack's, helping to take some rough ideas and flesh them out as representing some of the archetypal characters that Jack had created for other publishers. Working on Kirby: Genesis, there isn't the feeling that we're missing some grand element that he created and left behind elsewhere. I really feel like I'm getting to play with all the pieces that make up the legacy of Jack Kirby.
TFAW.com: It would take most artists a lifetime to gather the huge amount of acclaim and respect that you've earned in a relatively short timeframe. What do you want to accomplish in the next decade?
AR: In some ways, just the survival of the medium is going to be enough of an accomplishment for any of us to be around for or participate in. My greatest hope is to do more in comics–create more stories, hopefully do original creator-owned graphic novels one day. This art form–not necessarily this business–is what I always aspired to be a part of.
TFAW.com: You're currently doing a lot of work for Dynamite. What are some of the high points of your career with them?
AR: I've been thrilled to work with many characters that are part of the great legacy of superheroes that don't belong to the big publishers. There's obviously a great amount of these left behind in the Golden Age of comics that we revitalized in Project Superpowers, and the freedom to build that world with Dynamite was tremendous fun. Working with other properties, like the Six Million Dollar Man, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and the upcoming The Shadow, keeps me very charged up creatively.
TFAW.com: What other projects are you considering right now?
AR: As I mentioned, The Shadow is in development with my doing some interior work, as well as a new and hopefully even bigger stab at the world of Project Superpowers that we have developed.
We want to thank Alex Ross for taking the time to answer all of our questions–we're huge fans! You can find a huge selection of Alex Ross comics and graphic novels here at TFAW.com–save 10-50%! Plus, remember to visit us on Facebook right now to enter our Alex Ross contest–you could win a Green Hornet variant cover signed by the master himself.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH KURT BUSIEK
BROWSE ALEX ROSS's DYNAMITE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS: SAVE 10-35%
Have you been following Kirby: Genesis? Are you excited for more? Post your comments below!
