McFarlane DC Multiverse

Schizm said:
...and that didn't last - how come no one is talking about how Canary is once again A GIANT?!?
Click to expand...

913328.jpg


Schizm said:
Ha! His art made everyone look so old and mad. Never understood the appeal.
Click to expand...

There's a veneer of respectability to his painted, Rockwell-ish style that really appealed to comics fans who wanted the medium to be taken seriously. I think his work reads as stiff and maybe a little pompous and his faces are often very uncanny valley. I don't enjoy his work at all. But I don't like Norman Rockwell's counterfeit folksiness, either.
 
Last edited:
  • Heart
Reactions: Alt
For me the appeal of Alex Ross was that he painted everything. There weren't a ton of folks doing that, but I agree with the criticisms that they eventually felt samey and/or stiff. It also helped that he worked with some great writers on great projects out of the gate.
 
For the upcoming Milly Supergirl figures, do both the regular and deluxe versions come with fabric capes? I thought the regular version was plastic, but now I’m not so sure.
 
Chooch555 said:
For me the appeal of Alex Ross was that he painted everything. There weren't a ton of folks doing that, but I agree with the criticisms that they eventually felt samey and/or stiff. It also helped that he worked with some great writers on great projects out of the gate.
Click to expand...
For me, it’s not the art, but the stories. Kingdom Come is a Ross plot. Waid tightened it up and added the dialogue, but KC is story by Ross.

Not as successful, but way more ambitious is The Earth X saga. Story by Ross.
 
secondwhiteline said:
There's a veneer of respectability to his painted, Rockwell-ish style that really appealed to comics fans who wanted the medium to be taken seriously. I think his work reads as stiff and maybe a little pompous and his faces are often very uncanny valley. I don't enjoy his work at all. But I don't like Norman Rockwell's counterfeit folksiness, either.
Click to expand...
I feel like this is too narrow of view of both Ross and Rockwell. Ross's early work was incredibly fluid, but then he settled into a comfortable style, and stuck with the same life models, resulting in that stiffer feeling in his later work. As a DC guy when Kingdom Come came out, it was really great to see people giving that book a try (due to that perceived respectability) and then sticking with the company as Morrison and Porter overhauled JLA. Those books were great gateway drugs into the DCU for lots of people I knew back then.

Rockwell is best known for his sugar-coated American life, but he also rocked the boat from time to time, using his position to shed light on societal issues (and creating some of his best work in the process). Most artists of the time would shy away from using his power as he did. You can see a few of those works here: https://library.washu.edu/news/norman-rockwell-and-race-complicating-rockwells-legacy/
 
Yeah, Rockwell was ahead of his time. He might not be progressive by today's standards but he used his status in powerful ways and a lot of that folksiness was a way of expressing an illusory America that never was.

I get some of the criticisms of Ross but I think he found a singular gravitas that few of his peers ever did and I'll always love his work for that. Do I want a line of Alex Ross action figures? Nah. Would I want a print of his work in my office? Absolutely. I think about Kingdom Come, Earth X, and Marvels all the time and that means something to me.
 
docsilence said:
I get some of the criticisms of Ross but I think he found a singular gravitas that few of his peers ever did and I'll always love his work for that. Do I want a line of Alex Ross action figures? Nah. Would I want a print of his work in my office? Absolutely. I think about Kingdom Come, Earth X, and Marvels all the time and that means something to me.
Click to expand...
As a huge fan of a lot of the alt stuff at DC/Marvel I absolutely want Kingdom Come figures. But they don’t necessarily have to be based off of Ross art. The Kingdom Come/Justice figures from DCD were insanely popular at the time. But the KC stuff was minimally articulated as to not detract from the sculpt and the clean Ross lines. Mistake in my opinion.

Kinda surprised Marvel Legends hasn’t ventured into Earth X territory.
 
Atomic Knight said:
I’ve never read it. Always meant to.
Click to expand...
It's actively harder read than Kingdom Come, which is so cinematic and clear-eyed. Earth X is angrier and more raw. But there's two things that happen in it that ripped my heart out in ways that made me forever think of certain characters differently in profound ways. I'd go so far as to say Kingdom Come is by all measures a better book, but Earth X is storytelling as a weapon.
 
I went in a Game Stop today looking for the Platinum Chase version of the 89 Joker. They didn't have that, but they had the regular edition 89 Joker. Since mine hadn't shipped yet from BBTS, I just went ahead and bought it. I also got the newer Hush Batman with the cloth cape.

Both figures look insanely good.
 
Never cared for Alex Ross art, but I have two stories about him.

At a Chicago con in my teens, a friend wanted to get him to sign something. He had never actually read any of his works but because of Wizard he loved the look. His plan was actually to buy Marvels and Kingdom Come at the booth to get them signed.

When he was up at the table, he mentioned this exact thought process to Alex. And Alex told him to make room for real fans and didn't actually let him buy the books to sign. There wasn't even room to let it breathe as a joke. That is what happened, and he dismissed my friend from the line.

14 some years later as an adult, Alex Ross had a booth at Chicago. I was waiting for a crowd to clear at someone else's table, so I was just meandering around in front of Alex and someone else. He had all his original art and prints in portfolios laid out on the table, as they do.

There was a kid, probably like a 4th grader, who was drawn to all the Justice League (the comic series) material laid out, and he started flipping through it. And he was being very gentle and looking at everything with reverence.

Alex walked over, pulled it away, closed it, and then pulled the other portfolios on that section back while saying, "This is serious art for adults."

The kid looked stunned. Myself, my friend Andrea, and some other people at his table all looked at each other. Andrea laughed , really loud and cruel, and asked "Is he serious? Is he somebody?" and I said, "That's fucked up. He paints Batman, obviously kids are gonna be an audience" and he gave us both a dirty look.

I allow that a lot of people I meet at cons can be gruff and aloof because most creative types are introverts and don't actually want to be put on display, and it's also just a very stressful time. I do get it.

But I stand by what I said. You paint f****** Batman dude. Get over yourself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top