April 1st - 2022: 'Marvels Annotated' and Alex Ross

ALEX ROSS

Ever heard of him? No? Well look at this!

Gorgeous isn't it?

In my honest opinion, I think Alex Ross is one of the best comic artists, no wait, bets artists of our modern day and age! His work is so unlike the rest of the people in

his line of work!

Taking on the use of bright colours and shading techniques, all through the use of paints and live models, to help give his characters and world a more grounded and realistic look, using true human proportions and colour palette that reflects our reality and adds a different kind of realism.

I do not own many of Alex Ross' works, but from what I have read, and am about to talk about, it is great nonetheless. A real master of his craft!

MARVELS

Marvels is a 1994 four-issue miniseries published by Marvel Comics, created by Alex Ross in collaboration with Kurt Busiek who wrote the series' story. The comic follows collection of famous marvel characters seen from the perspective of an "everyday character" reporter, as he follows the heroes from the ate 1930s into the early 70s. The protagonist, the reporter, writes about what he thinks of the heroes and their stories, how they affect the small and big pictures of the world, while the comic in whole shows the protagonist change his own views and opinions of the heroes, as he gets caught up in the situations and helps out where he can with the fallout of the hero's actions.

In honesty, its a good story, was definitely great at the time of its release since the miniseries put the two creators on the map, and marked them as two of the best combination of creators in their field, returning to work together on a similar comic styled comic for Image Comics titled Astro City.

Aside from that, what made me like this creators so much, especially Alex Ross, was when I first picked up a comic titled Marvels Annotated. This 2019 (and 25th anniversary) reprint of the original 1994 miniseries was better printed (because of advancements in technology), as well as each of the "books" (longer issue) featured two issues from the series (book one containing #0 & #1), as well as an in-depth breakdown of the comic itself, notations from both artist and writer, sketches, early panels, covers, scripts and foreword/afterword by both artist and writer.

It is a very special series indeed, giving a real insight into the world of how the comic was created, and the creative behind comics overall, as well as giving the series a great anniversary and respect for what the comic achieved, as well as both its creators.

Rereading the three of the four issues that I have of the reprinted miniseries (the issues can be quiet pricy), it has given me a real insight to the comic creation process, from the idea generation stages, to getting it down on paper, and then printing it worldwide, as well as from the perspective of the creators themselves, and not just an general overview of the process for all the comic creators of today.

The behind-the-scenes sections of this reprint is amazing in on itself, regardless of the full remastered issues included in it as well, very carefully planned out and designed so that the reader understand what the process it like and how it was done, and what the creators of the comic thought of there own work. The two sections of the reprint that really stood out to me were the following and why:

1. Early sketches and completed panel comparisons: this section really showed me how much things can change when creating a comic, when a completed panel that is going to be printed differs so much from an original sketch. This being said as well, the original sketches for the panels are rough and often rushed. To us, to me, they still appear great and amazing since Alex Ross knew what he was doing and had been doing it for a long period of time, whilst he may not think the same thing, as it is clear that the sketches he originally did for some of the panels, turned out entirely differently in the end. To this I say embrace the change, if it can be seen from a different angle, or maybe using a different type of paper or ink, go with it until it works. The creators make the changes and the mistakes all the time, and in the other order, so why can't I?

2. The original comic script: the last section of this reprint is the original comic script which Kurt Busiek wrote for Alex Ross to use when creating the panels and layouts for the comic. It is so blunt and straight to the point, but not harsh or rude. It tells Alex Ross exactly what Kurt Busiek has envisioned, yet leaves open to many possibilities for him to venture in to. Some of the page descriptions are rather short, sometimes maybe just an angle or focus point, maybe a characters description. While there are other parts of the script that have long and highly detailed descriptions and notations that specify what Busiek wants and how he wants it, yet still leaving the final version of the panels up to Ross, which as we can see from my images provided, Busiek has nothing to worry about. So how does that relate to me or make any impact? Well, I now know that being harsh on myself or specifying exactly what I want shouldn't be a thing to shy away from, especially since I am creating all the panels myself in the end, but something to not be scared of in the future when working on future projects and working with other people. GO WITH WHAT YOU FEEL!

Marvels Annotated (2019) #1

Marvels Annotated (2019) #2

Marvels Annotated (2019) #3

Marvels Annotated (2019) #4

MARVELOCITY

As well as researching through the comics that I owned which Ross did the artwork for, I forgot that I had an entire book about him, and not just a small quick insight to who the creator is and how he got to where he is today, but a huge, bigger than A3 double page spread, 200+ page hardcover book all about Alex Ross.

Its and amazing book, it is very slow start since there is not a lot to devour during the parts on his early years, but upon reaching the chapters that detail his original pitch to Marvel Comics for the limited-series MARVELS, then the book and his story really kicks off. The amount of work he has done for the Marvel world, the comic world more like, can be seen everywhere, his work has leaked into both the stories and the design/presentation of these beloved characters, new artists and writers taking inspiration from these new foundations of such a unique and intriguing comic artist.

Marvelocity

Bibliography:

• Ross, A., 1994. MARVELS #1. [image] Available at: <https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Marvels_Vol_1_1> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

• Ross, A., 2018. Marvelocity. [image] Available at: <https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0560/7233/9639/files/marvel.jpg?v=1621561706> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

• Ross, A., 2021. The Marvels. [image] Available at: <https://bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/image002-3-1200x900.jpg> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

• Ross, A., 1994. MARVELS. [image] Available at: <https://i.pinimg.com/originals/39/61/9f/39619fe6d534594bf265377ea5e6a8fa.jpg> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

• Marvel Comics, 2019. Marvels Annotated (2019) #1. [image] Available at: <https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/75504/marvels_annotated_2019_1> [Accessed 2 April 2022].

• Marvel Comics, 2019. Marvels Annotated (2019) #2. [image] Available at: <https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/75505/marvels_annotated_2019_2> [Accessed 2 April 2022].

• Marvel Comics, 2019. Marvels Annotated (2019) #3. [image] Available at: <https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/75506/marvels_annotated_2019_3> [Accessed 2 April 2022].

• Marvel Comics, 2019. Marvels Annotated (2019) #4. [image] Available at: <https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/75507/marvels_annotated_2019_4> [Accessed 2 April 2022].