I just got my hands on a really cool new book and just had to share some details from my recent Alex Ross interview “Marvel Dimensions”. Alex Ross is basically a legend in the comic book world. He’s known for his incredible painting style, but this time he’s done something completely different. His new book from Abrams ComicArts is a mix of his classic, painted origin stories and a brand-new, 32-page pen-and-ink illustration. It feels like a love letter to the Marvel Universe.
Alex Ross Officially Revamps Marvel’s Origin Stories and Confirms What “Defines His Style”
I sat down with Alex to talk about the project. I told him how much I enjoyed the book. He was really humble and just said, “Thank you.” We talked about how much he loves the concept of a shared universe. He was actually a little worried that someone at Marvel might have the same idea as him. He told me, “I was afraid of that for two years, because it took me a long time to get this from concept to completion. I thought, ‘Someone’s going to step in, and I need protection.’”
Fortunately, no one tried to stop him. We got to talking about the origin stories he’s created. He’s been thinking about them for over 20 years. He mentioned that a long time ago, he’d worked with Paul Dini on an origin story for Captain America. But for this book, he wanted to be the sole writer. He wanted to include a little challenge. He said, “If anything, there’s a kind of mischievous undertone to it that says, so to speak, ‘Hey, do you really know who this person is, and could it be that your perception of them was wrong?’”
I asked him how he chose who should tell each story. He said it was simply a gut feeling. For the Hulk, he chose General Thunderbolt Ross. He thinks it’s important to remember that Bruce Banner actually built bombs. He said, “It’s a Cold War metaphor in which the bomb maker himself becomes a living bomb—and so it’s a story that involves a certain punishment for the main character, which we tend to forget over time.”
We started talking about why some characters seem a bit old-fashioned today. I mentioned that Hal Jordan’s origin story feels strange today because Chuck Yeager isn’t as well-known a name as he used to be. Alex agreed. He believes his own style stems from the fact that he likes the older versions of these heroes. He said: “I’m drawn to the original versions of the characters, in the sense that in the ’50s and ’60s there was an ideal for an American man in his middle years who was at the peak of his life.”
“The Inverse”
Then we talked about “The Inverse,” the new section of the book. It features hundreds of characters. Alex said there were exactly 200. He told me he hadn’t spent much time on each individual background. He said, “Well, background—not that much. You just go with your instincts.” He showed me his sketchbook, and honestly, some of the drawings were so tiny! He just said, “Yeah, that’s enough. I can work with that.”
It’s really cool to see how much thought went into it. Alex really wanted to appeal to readers like me who love the tiny details. He said, “I’m trying to speak directly to YOU. I’m trying to reach exactly the kind of reader I imagine you to be—someone who’s interested in these little things and thinks, ‘What’s that all about? What’s that?’”
We even joked about “Star Trek” and how facial hair in mirror universes usually means someone is evil. Alex had a good laugh about that. He said, “It’s a bit of a joke to say that in a mirror universe, facial hair is evil, just because of Spock’s goatee. I should probably clarify this for the general public and say that I don’t literally mean that facial hair means someone is evil!”
Finally, we talked about his creative process. He compared his book to peanut butter and chocolate—two things that are good on their own but might seem strange together. But it works! He’s really proud of his work. If you love comics, you should definitely check it out. It’s a true labor of love.
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