43 Facts About Alex Ross

Alex Ross first became known with the 1994 miniseries Marvels, on which he collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek for Marvel Comics.

Alex Ross has since done a variety of projects for both Marvel and DC Comics, such as the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, which Ross co-wrote.

Alex Ross has done covers for TV Guide, promotional artwork for the Academy Awards, posters and packaging design for video games, and his renditions of superheroes have been merchandised as action figures.

Alex Ross's rendering style, his attention to detail, and the perceived tendency of his characters to be depicted staring off into the distance in cover images has been satirized in Mad magazine.

Alex Ross was born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in Lubbock, Texas, by his United Church of Christ minister father, Clark, and his mother, Lynette, a commercial artist from whom he would learn many of the trademarks of his artistic style.

Alex Ross first began drawing at age three, and was first influenced by superheroes when he discovered Spider-Man on an episode of the children's TV series The Electric Company.

At age 17, Alex Ross began studying painting at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where his mother had studied.

Alex Ross's first published comic book work was the 1990 five-issue miniseries, Terminator: The Burning Earth, written by Ron Fortier and published by NOW Comics.

Alex Ross created all of the art, from pencils through coloring for the series.

Alex Ross performed similar work on a variety of titles over the next few years.

In 1996, Alex Ross worked with writer Mark Waid on the DC Comics limited series Kingdom Come, which presents a possible future for the DC Universe, in which Superman and several other classic superheroes return from retirement to tame a generation of brutal anti-heroes.

The work featured Alex Ross's redesigned versions of many DC characters, as well as a new generation of characters.

Alex Ross co-created the original character Magog, patterning his appearance and costume on Cable and Shatterstar, two characters created by Rob Liefeld.

Alex Ross followed Kingdom Come with Uncle Sam, a non-superhero work for DC's Vertigo line, an experimental work that examined the dark side of American history.

Between 1998 and 2003, writer Paul Dini and Alex Ross produced annual tabloid-sized editions celebrating the 60th anniversaries of DC Comics' Superman, Batman, Shazam, and Wonder Woman, as well as two specials featuring the Justice League, Secret Origins and Liberty and Justice.

In 2001, Alex Ross won acclaim for his work on special comic books benefiting the families of those killed in the September 11,2001, attacks, including his portraits of paramedics, police and firefighters.

Alex Ross has designed DC merchandise, including posters, dinner plates, and statues.

In late 2001, Alex Ross painted four covers to the December 8,2001, TV Guide, which depicted Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk and Michael Rosenbaum of the TV series Smallville, and Superman.

Alex Ross designed a series of costumes for the 2002 film Spider-Man, though they were not used in the film.

Alex Ross's design was featured as an unlockable costume and available in a white version in the PlayStation game Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro.

In early 2002, Alex Ross designed the promotional poster for the 2002 Academy Awards, which depicted Oscar perched atop the First National Building.

Alex Ross stated that he photographed members of his family as if they were receiving it.

Alex Ross illustrated the cover art on the Anthrax albums We've Come for You All, Music of Mass Destruction, Worship Music, and For All Kings.

In 2003, Pantheon Books published the coffee table book Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, written and designed by Chip Kidd, and featuring a foreword written by M Night Shyamalan.

In late 2005, a paperback version of the book was published to include new artwork by Alex Ross, including sketches for his Justice mini-series.

Also in 2004, Alex Ross designed 15 paintings for the opening credits of the film Spider-Man 2.

Alex Ross later donated the paintings to be auctioned off on eBay to benefit the United Cancer Front.

In 2005, Alex Ross designed the DVD illustration covers for the re-release of Gatchaman by ADV Films.

Alex Ross appeared in a featurette discussing his involvement of Gatchaman in his career.

In 2008, Alex Ross embarked on projects focusing on Golden Age characters: Project Superpowers with Jim Krueger for Dynamite Entertainment.

Alex Ross painted the "Kollectors Edition" cover for the console game Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe.

Alex Ross handled the series' co-plotting, designs, and covers, apart from overseeing the book overall with Busiek, who was the writer.

Since 2011, Alex Ross has been painting covers for several Dynamite titles such as The Green Hornet, Silver Star, Captain Victory, The Bionic Man, Lord of the Jungle, The Spider, among others.

In 2012 Alex Ross drew promotional artwork of Ratonhnhake:ton, the main character of the video game Assassin's Creed III, used on the cover of the April 2012 issue of Game Informer and the collectible steelbook case provided with certain editions of the game.

In 2013 Alex Ross created an exclusive GameStop pre-order poster for the video game Watch Dogs, which was scheduled for debut November 19 of that year, but was delayed to 2014.

In 2015, following the conclusion of that year's "Secret Wars" storyline, Alex Ross designed the high-tech variation of Spider-Man's costume that the character wore during Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli's run on The Amazing-Spider-Man.

Alex Ross provided the cover to the hardcover edition of the book.

In September 2022, Alex Ross released Fantastic Four: Full Circle, a 64 page graphic novel in which the Fantastic Four venture through the Negative Zone, on which Alex Ross served as both writer and artist, in collaboration with colorist Josh Johnson for Marvel Comics.

The book was the first long-form work that Alex Ross both wrote and drew, and was his take on a classic '60s FF story by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

DC Direct released several other Alex Ross-designed characters through their Elseworlds toylines.

Alex Ross designed the costume the current incarnation of Batwoman wears; this character has been released in action-figure form by DC Direct as part of its "52" line of toys.

The toys were released to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Marvel Comics, and included Alex Ross-designed versions of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.

Alex Ross won the Comics Buyer's Guide's CBG Fan Award for Favorite Painter seven years in a row, resulting in that publication's retirement of that category.