Only a year ago I called director Craig Brewer’s 2019 biopic Dolemite is My Name–the theatrical return of Eddie Murphy and Wesley Snipes from Netflix–the big Oscar miss of the year. It begged the question: When was the last time Murphy and Snipes were this good, and why did they ever leave the top spot on marquees of movie houses everywhere? Brewer is back again with Murphy and Snipes, this time in a sequel to director John Landis’s quirky 1988 comedy Coming to America, a two-time Oscar nominee for costumes and one of Rick Baker’s makeup nominations for turning Murphy and co-star Arsenio Hall into a host of characters, a box office success that gained favor over the years thanks to video rental stores, and today it’s a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s. The sequel Coming 2 America is a big surprise: a big budget marvel not from Netflix but Amazon Studios, a thoughtful, funny, surprisingly deep sequel we didn’t know we wanted, and a result that is even better than the original. More than “just another sequel,” it’s a fairy tale like The Princess Diaries, a bit A Knight’s Tale, a bit Crazy Rich Asians, and a worthy sequel in concept and art design to Black Panther. It’s also a celebration of the career and characters of Eddie Murphy, and it expands to be a celebration of black culture and comedic films via dozens of great Easter eggs. In short, it’s one of the best direct-to-television movies since studios started moving from movie houses to home screens.
From time to time you hear of references to an artist as THE cover artist, the most sought after, etc., but no artist can touch what Alex Ross has been able to do with his paintbrushes. His work is instantly recognizable from its sweeping heroic themes, idealistic and optimistic characterization, and an elevation of the human form to not only superhero but from superhero to godlike magnificence. His use of color, tricks of light, chromes, reflections and high contrast imagery include themes of hope, confidence, power, pride and sometimes even fear. So with the above pantheon of DC Comics Gods-of-sorts from the cover to the Justice series as #15 and the below Marvel Comics “Avengers Assemble” print sold at San Diego Comic-Con International in 2010 as #14, we introduce a sequence from #15 to #1 of the most striking, stunning, and powerful creations to be featured on comic book covers, posters and marketing materials by Alex Ross–and our “just plain favorites”–created over his standout career so far.
13. THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST. Ross created this work for the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz and it is currently on display at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Those monkeys are… still creepy and Margaret Hamilton’s witch is still one of the best villains of all time.
12. PRINCE NAMOR, THE SUB-MARINER, AND HIS CREATOR, BILL EVERETT. Ross created this piece for the 60th anniversary of the classic Marvel character and his artist gets equal billing, in black and white and reminiscent of Norman Rockwell’s self portrait work.
11. FLASH GORDON DVD COVER. Created by Ross for the 2007 special edition release of the DVD, Ross has said Flash Gordon was his favorite movie. A photograph of Max Von Sydow as Ming, the nemesis of Flash, couldn’t look any better than this painting.
10. SUPERMAN, STRENGTH #1 COVER. This Ross homage to Action Comics #1 features Ross’s most painted superhero, Superman, the man of steel, doing what he does best. If only filmmakers would get an actor to play Superman that actually looks like Ross’s vision of Superman!
9. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA. A 2008 print and Wizard magazine cover of the 44th president of the United States–an homage to Ross’ own similar Superman design. An artist that can make even a president look cool. Obama is known as a comic book fan, and was featured on a cover of Spider-man, among other books.
8. KRYPTO, COVER FOR SUPERMAN, ISSUE #680. Ross features heroes of all sorts in his designs, but often elevates the underdog to supreme being, and with Superman’s dog here he is shown atop a marble lion.
7. CAPTAIN MARVEL FROM ROSS’S GRAPHIC NOVEL “KINGDOM COME.” I once spoke to a friend of Alex Ross. A close friend. Who amazingly looked just like Captain Marvel. Not a coincidence, as Ross regularly paints heroes using his friends as models. This page showing Superman kneeling before him, best shows what Ross could do with even a standard catalog hero of the past. He restored the legendary “Earth’s Mightiest Mortal” to exactly that status.
6. THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. This pantheon piece was used individually and as shown below on numerous posters and books. I love it because, with all the incarnations of the JLA, Ross gets the team exactly right with every member that should be on the team. From the mightily small Atom to Superman, this is who I also think of as DC’s main fighting force. Could these guys be more cocky?
5. THE JOKER AND HARLEY QUINN, FROM GRAPHIC NOVEL “BATMAN: HARLEY QUINN” COVER. Here we get to see the dark side of Ross–his exquisitely frightening Joker, in a dance with his best gal, the homicidal Ms. Quinn. What a couple they make, especially as illustrated by Ross.
4. GATCHAMAN DVD COVER. Like Ross’s ability to make Captain Marvel and other classic superheroes appear great once again, Ross can take nostalgic series, movies, characters, darned near anything and make us want to revisit these characters. Whether you saw this Japanese earliest modern incarnation of anime as G-Force or as Battle of the Planets, these kids turned heroes are as familiar as old friends.
3. SPACE GHOST ISSUE #1. When I saw this issue hit the stands I had to have it. The one problem with Ross only working cover art is that you expect the interior pages to be just as good as the cover art, which is why Justice and Marvels are such great treats to the eye. With Space Ghost, Ross takes an obscure hero that we best know as a TV show host and makes him every bit the counterpart to Superman & Co.
2. WIZARD COMICS COVER ART, BATMAN’s ENEMIES. This is one of Ross’s most univerally acclaimed images and rightly so. Everyone is too close for comfort and Batman goes toward the baddest baddie’s throat first, his #1 foe, The Joker.
1. SESAME STREET’S SUPER GROVER, PACKAGING ART FOR PALISADES TOYS 2005 ACTION FIGURE. How can you beat this painting? If you don’t remember Grover from Sesame Street, dig around You Tube and watch some old episodes. Before Elmo… there was Grover. The muppet who loved everyone, meek and mild, he’s the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and more. And when times are tough, and there’s no one to protect us all, who will rise to meet the challenge? It is Super Grover. When I saw this print at a con a few years ago I froze in my tracks and just couldn’t believe it. It’s not just the art, sometimes it is the choice of subject matter that tells half the story. Kudos to Ross for thinking of this one.
Well that’s my list. Please drop us a comment if you think I have any glaring omission or if you just want to chime in with your list.
*All images above Copyright by Alex Ross or his publishers. Many of these prints and original art are for sale on his website at www.alexrossart.com.
