Customer Reviews

Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross

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Alex Ross brought a new technique and style to superhero artwork that had never quite been seen before in comics. Working almost exclusively in watercolor gouache, he brought a photorealistic style that takes almost everyone's breath away. It marvelously recaptures the essential thrill of comic books: the fantasy of what it would be like if a man could really fly, or run at incredible speeds, or had a magic ring that could do anything. He's often been compared to Norman Rockwell (in his hyperrealism and love of dramatic facial expression), but Ross is his own artist. His intense love of dramatic composition, lighting, and figural motion suggests his roots also extend to the greats of comic artwork, including Dick Sprang, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, and Neal Adams.

This wonderful collection captures many of his childhood attempts at art and documents not only his changing style but also his creative process (using live and inanimate models, photography, and high-contrast lighting). It also showcases a plethora of his best work for DC, and even includes many rare and uncollected images done for fan publications and even a collector's plates series (!). The fancy-shmancy book design by designer and comics fan Chip Kidd is sometimes a drawback (too many images are sometimes crammed into one doublepage spread, reducing the detail to the detriment of all the images), but the book is terrific nonetheless. It greatly benefits from commentary by Ross throughout explaining what he finds interesting and exciting about each classic Golden and Silver Age comics character.

I had forgotten I ordered this until it came in the mail today. It's a pretty amazing piece of work. If you are an artist (like me) it's almost a text book on how to do it correctly. I found the highlight to be the last few pages of the book where Mr. Ross explains exactly how he created the cover from initial concept sketches to photography through finished art. The book also contains several things I'd never seen before or had just seen poorly printed or web versions of. Just amazing. Well worth the asking price.

If you are as big a fan as me of Alex Ross, then rush out a find a copy of this book. No matter what. It gives everything you need to know about his art and the stories behind them. It shows the evolutions of his characters and his backgrounds into how they came to be. If you are in love with comics and the characters then get this. It really shows his love for them as well. From full page spreads to single sketchbook black and white shots, its has it all. Chip Kidd did a wonderful job putting it together and the book is a great read as well. I've been waiting a long time for the definitive Alex Ross book and it's finally here. It's worth every penny.

If you have to buy just one published book or comic having to do with Alex Ross, "Mythology" is it. The book is, for the most part, a visual retrospective on Alex Ross' works on DC characters. This edition is thin on text, but heavy on well reproduced yet great artwork. I, being an illustrator myself, really appreciate all the rough drawings and sketches included in the book, because they really show you the methode to Ross' madness.

I also recommend this book for those interested in learning illustration techniques and watercolor. Interestingly enough, you learn a great deal by observing how Ross tries to capture light and color through his work. There is even a page mentioning Andrew Loomis, the great late illustrator and one of Ross' influences. One can definitly see how the artist has drawn inspiration from the golden age illustrators and those of the 40's and 50's. His depiction of Superman is by far my favorit.

Alex Ross rose to fame with 1994's Marvels, a mini-series that chronicled the Marvel Universe from the perspective of an ordinary person. Yet the comic book painter's career really took off when he began working extensively at DC Comics (the Pepsi to Marvel's Coke). This is largely because Marvel has attempted to strip superheroes of their myth-like aura while DC has more or less embraced it and there is something very mythic about Ross' art. His paintings are larger-than-life, and fully embrace the fantastic nature of superheroes. Common to Ross' work is not only flying supermen, but shocked crowds, birds-eye-views of cities and extremes of light and darkness. Meanwhile his use of vintage costumes and reproductions of classic images resonate deeply in the American psyche, where these characters are held as icons.

Yet his superheroes are also very human in a way. He never forgets Superman's integrity, Batman's determination, or Wonder Woman's pride and makes each hero's defining characteristic evident in their faces. He even paints a wonderfully cheeky Plastic Man.

The coffee table book Mythology is an excellent sampling of the comics books, posters and T-shirts and more Ross has painted for the company. The three biggest focuses are his kindly, luminous Superman, his dark, noble Batman and his almost overwhelming portraits of the all-star Justice League of America. Lesser coverage is given to Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern and others.

Mythology also takes readers behind the scenes of Ross' work. They get to see fully grown men pose in Superman and Captain Marvel costumes as Ross' models and see how a painting develops, step-by-step. There are extensive also looks at Uncle Sam, a series about a homeless man who embodies America's lost dreams (one of Ross' few non-superhero works), and Kingdom Come, Ross' beloved series about the DC Universe's distopian future.

Mythology can be repetitive (How many mighty-looking pictures of superheroes standing together in a chorus line does anyone need?), yet there is no denying that he is the best painter of comic books in the medium's history. His versions of DC characters are bold, captivating and embody all that makes them American icons. For anyone who holds close to his or her heart the creation we call the superhero, Mythology will be a real treat.

DC comics fans who love comic art collections must have MYTHOLOGY: THE DC COMICS ART OF ALEX ROSS: it's a newly expanded paperwork edition of the original and displays all the comic book characters Ross' art brought to life over the decades, from Superman and Flash to Green Lantern. Included also is Ross' new comic book series Justice, new sketches, and an oversized coffee-table format which helps display and profile, in full color, Ross' entire line of DC Comics superheroes. An original Superman and Batman story written by graphic designer Chip Kidd, a re-telling of Robin's origin written by Paul Dini, plus new prototypes produced in the two years since the hardcover MYTHOLOGY appeared makes this paperwork a winner genre fans must own.

Here is what I wrote in my column on the website comicbookbin.com (11/22/03):

"I finally got my copy of Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross this week. If you are any kind of fan of the work Alex Ross has done for DC you need this book. A plus for me was the design contributions of Chip Kidd. For size, beauty, vividness, and sheer comprehension, this is it. If Ross put down his pencils and brush tomorrow and say he was moving on to other pursuits, I'd thank him for doing it all in superhero art. I would always encourage more, but he has said all he needs to on the amazing array of heroes and villains of the DC Universe. Alex Ross has always done his best work for DC, so I'm glad the folks at Pantheon Books were able to assemble this in time for the holidays."

Absolutely beautiful. Alex Ross have captured the essence of each DC character in near photographic quality paintings.

This books shows of a collection of his work for DC. Not only that, we are also taken through the steps of creating the paintings. From the inspirations (Queen's album cover) to models to the layout, steps & final piece of art.

He also recommended a few techniques and reference books for any budding artists out there.

It's also interesting to know how Alex's talent surfaced at a very young age. His drawings when he was 3, 7, 9 were included. You can tell that way back then, the kid has talent.

Recommended for all fans of good art, not just comic lovers. It's worth every penny.

I have seen Alex Ross refered to as the Norman Rockwell of comic book artists. I would compare him more to Michelangelo, reflecting more of his genius, breaking of the mold, realism, dynamism, depiction of superheroes as divine beings, and being light years ahead of his contemporaries (using this comparison I guess that Greg Horn might be Ross' Raphael). I have been collecting Alex Ross covers, interior art, posters, lithographs, treasury editions, Wizards covers and interior art, sculptures, and busts even before Marvels #1 came out. I have read many of the interviews that have been published over the years, and have had the pleasure of meeting him and seeing him in person three times. I have a scrapbook including most of his published work. In spite of being so familiar with this comic book Michelangelo, I was still awe-struck and amazed at seeing so much of his artwork presented in such a stylized, attractive manner by Chip Kidd. I think it was the breadth and totality of his DC work that is overwhelming. I have enjoyed his art immensely but in a piecemeal fashion, taking it in small doses from month to month and eagerly awaiting each new work as previewed in Previews or Wizard. But to see it all together in a single volume, page after sumptuous page, will leave Alex Ross fans very happy and eager to see a Marvel version of his work. After seeing this book for the first time, it has sky-rocketed ahead to being the favorite and most cherished book in my collection- not only of the comics and graphic art genre but of all my books. If left on a deserted island I will want to be sure and bring this book along to enjoy again and again. The cover from Wizard #99 is reproduced without any copy. This is the only time I have ever seen this image intact and without any additional copy. I think that this would make a wonderful lithograph and was glad to see it presented here. The only criticism I have is that the final three pages were not a gatefold. These pages feature recent covers from Wizards #141 (Bats), #144 (Supes), and #146 (Wonder Woman). Perhaps this will come out as a lithograph or poster in the near future, but it would have been a nice touch to put these three images together in a coherent whole as it was originally intended in a fold out gatefold. Just as Wizard has come out with a second edition of their Alex Ross Millenium Edition, hopefully we will have a second edition of Myhtology to incorporate Alex's future DC art. If so, let's put these images together insted of having them on successive pages. A small criticism in light of how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Highest possible recommendation. Look forward to the Marvel version!!!!

This book will astonish you even before you open it. The jacket has the images of two of the most iconic superheroes of DC, Superman and Batman, and below the jacket you'll find an unbelievable piece of art showing almost every DC superhero battling versus their respective villains.

With an introduction from M Night Shyamalan, the book presents Alex from his early beginnings as a child trying to create comic book characters and how his mother kind of influenced him (even though he affirms this didn't happen, take a look at her mom's works and try to believe him)

He then presents the DC characters one by one (the Batman session has some pages dedicated to the Joker only, no other villains are shown), the early drawings, original artwork from classics and the homage he has paid for covers, posters or special editions. Analysis on the symbols and the myths of each character are used to describe what Ross wants to project with his images. I don't think it necessary to mention which character has the larger amount of pages dedicated to himself only. You get to see in drawings the creative process he follows when creating a piece, the ideas scratched on a piece of paper, the drawings and possible posing and then the final image. There are pictures I has never seen until I got this book, when I first saw them my fisrt thought was ` I need to frame these', which came up as a bad idea as I would have had to frame the entire book.

The abandoned ideas for `Portraits of villainy' are presented here in the form of pencil sketches that look pretty well, it is hard to imagine how they would have looked if the project had been completed. His takes on Hanna-Barbera, Mad magazine, Alan Moore, the animated style and World's finest are also present.

Then there are pages and pages dedicated to 'Kingdom Come', from the early concepts and ideas, passing through sketches until the realization of the project. The possible prequel that never occurred, `The Kingdom' is also mentioned and the preliminary sketches by Ross are shown.

Uncle Sam is also analyzed near the end of the book in the same way the other projects previously were.

Then we have this section called `The process', in which we obviously get to see how Alex works using the book's cover as example. The final part of the book is a very nice bonus, a Batman/Superman special story written by Chip Kidd and Alex Ross created exclusively for this book.

Indeed a great piece of collection, this book is a must for comic book fans. The hard cover presentation, the paper in which it is printed and the bonus stuff are worth the price to pay.