Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jan 22, 2023 | 8 comments

The megastar artist was born 53 years ago on Jan. 22, 1970…

By WALT GROGAN

Alex Ross made his first major splash with the 1994 four-part miniseries Marvels, created with writer Kurt Busiek. Marvels was a revelation. Ross’ photorealistic style gave us true-to-life widescreen superheroes well before the Marvel Cinematic Universe or DC Extended Universe series of movies. When he illustrated 1996’s four-part Kingdom Come for DC, co-written with Mark Waid, he showed he was just as adept at painting the Distinguished Competition’s cast of characters.

Ross’ art has not only adorned the covers and interiors of sequential comics, it can be found in magazines and books, as well as on t-shirts and posters. It has also inspired action figures and collectibles. His characters are grounded in reality; whether superheroic, villainous, or a person on the street, they all come across as believable human beings.

Ross’ latest project, from Marvel and Abrams ComicArts

Since Ross, with seeming ease, can capture the likenesses of actors and actresses as well as the style of other artists, he often mashes up characters from the comic book, television and cinematic universes.

Here are 13 times Alex pierced the multiversal veil:

(Note from Dan: Many of these images are lower resolution. High-res images of the spotlighted work are difficult to find online.)

—

Alex’s homage to the back cover of the Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man tabloid, featuring Nicholas Hammond’s Spider-Man from 1977 and Christopher Reeve’s Superman from 1978.

—

George Reeves’ Superman flies over Adam West and Burt Ward’s Batman and Robin in their magnificent Batmobile.

—

The Cornerstones: George Reeves as Superman, Adam West as Batman, Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, and Jackson Bostwick as Captain Marvel. These four proved that superheroes could work on the small screen and Alex gives them their due.

—

The Pre-DCEU: Christopher Reeve as Superman, Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, Michael Keaton as Batman, and John Wesley Shipp as the Flash.

—

Superman of Two Worlds: Christopher Reeve’s Superman meets George Reeves’ Superman while changing to their heroic guises in a phone booth. A common occurrence in the pre-cell phone days!

—

Alex recreates the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, swapping in Christopher Reeve’s Man of Tomorrow from the Superman movies and Helen Slater’s Girl of Steel from Supergirl.

—

The good-natured rivalry of Star Trek and Star Wars mashed together as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise joins the Rebel Alliance!

—

By cleverly adding Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Lynda Carter’s Wonder Wonder to the team of TV-special “Legends,” Alex creates a live-action Justice League.

—

Ross’ Superman meets Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker. What a crossover this would have been! Plus it’s always a treat to see Alex’s pencils!

—

Here’s another one with Alex’s pencils, this time a line-up of the TV portrayals of the Flash and Wonder Woman matched with the movie versions of Superman and Batman! That Michael Keaton Batman is Bat-tacular!

—

The DC superheroes take on the warriors of Mortal Kombat! Alex provided this amazing painting for the cover of the “Kollector’s Edition” of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. This Captain Marvel fan loved that the World’s Mightiest Mortal was included.

—

Batman and The Shadow! Ross’ take on the Darknight Detective and Lamont Cranston is appropriately moody, and I love how he turns the Shadow into a literal shadow.

—

Alex’s homage to the awesome Ross Andru Superman vs. Spider-Man cover is a sight to behold. Superman’s trailing color lines from his uniform emphasize his speed while Spider-Man is unfazed by the glare of the sun as he nimbly pitches forward to address the Man of Steel.

—

MORE

— ALEX ROSS Ranks the TOP 13 JACK KIRBY FANTASTIC FOUR Covers. Click here.

— SHAZAM! POWER OF HOPE by ALEX ROSS and PAUL DINI to Get 2023 Re-Release. Click here.

—

A 10-year-old Walt Grogan fell in love with the Big Red Cheese thanks to essays written by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson in the paperback edition of All in Color for a Dime, released in 1970 and bought for him by his father off a paperback spinner rack in a liquor store on the South Side of Chicago. Walt runs The Marvel Family Web Facebook page devoted to all incarnations of the Fawcett/DC Captain Marvel and blogs about Captain Marvel at shazamshistorama.com.