1990s After graduating, Ross took a job at an advertising agency Ross created all of the art, from pencils through coloring for the series. He performed similar work on a variety of titles over the next few years. His first work for
Marvel Comics was to have been printed in the science-fiction anthology series
Open Space #5 but the
title was cancelled with issue #4 (August 1990). Ross's story was printed in 1999 as a special supplement to ''
Wizard's Alex Ross Special
. In 1993, he completed his first painted superhero assignment, the cover of a Superman novel, Superman: Doomsday & Beyond''. . During this time, Ross met writer
Kurt Busiek, and the two began submitting proposals for series that would feature paintings as their internal art. Marvel agreed to a project that would tell much of the history of the
Marvel Universe from the perspective of an ordinary person. That
limited series,
Marvels, was released in 1994, and chronicled the life of a
photojournalist, as he reacted to living in a world of superheroes and villains. Busiek, Ross, and penciller
Brent Anderson created
Astro City, first published by
Image Comics in 1995 and later by
WildStorm Comics. The series features an original superhero world and continues the theme of
Marvels, exploring how ordinary people, superheroes and villains react to a world where the fantastic is commonplace. Ross paints the covers and helps set the costumes and the general look and feel for the series, which has been published sporadically in recent years. 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
antiheroes. The work featured Ross's redesigned versions of many DC characters, as well as a new generation of characters. Ross co-created the original character
Magog, patterning his appearance and costume on
Cable and
Shatterstar, two characters created by
Rob Liefeld. DC Comics writer and executive
Paul Levitz observed that "Waid's deep knowledge of the heroes' pasts served them well, and Ross' unique painted art style made a powerful statement about the reality of the world they built." Ross followed
Kingdom Come with
Uncle Sam, celebrating the 60th anniversaries of DC Comics'
Superman (
Superman: Peace on Earth),
Batman (
Batman: War on Crime),
Shazam (
Shazam! Power of Hope), and
Wonder Woman (
Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth), as well as two specials featuring the
Justice League,
Secret Origins and
Liberty and Justice.
Universe X, and
Paradise X, which combined dozens of Marvel characters from various time periods. In 2001, 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. He has designed DC merchandise, including posters, dinner plates, and statues. In late 2001, 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. though they were not used in the film. In the film's video game tie-in, as an
Easter egg, it is possible to unlock a playable version of Ross's
Spider-Man design. When using this, the
Green Goblin will feature one of Ross's unused character outfits. 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, Ross designed the promotional poster for the
2002 Academy Awards, 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 Ross, including sketches for his
Justice mini-series. Also in 2004, Ross designed 15 paintings for the opening credits of the film
Spider-Man 2. The paintings presented key elements from the first film. Ross later donated the paintings to be auctioned off on
eBay to benefit the United Cancer Front. He appeared in a featurette discussing his involvement of Gatchaman in his career. In August 2005, Ross worked again with writer Jim Krueger and penciler
Doug Braithwaite on 12-issue, bi-monthly limited series
Justice for DC Comics. The series focuses on the enemies of the Justice League of America banding together in an effort to defeat them. The cover of the "Savior of the Universe Edition" DVD of the 1980 film
Flash Gordon, released on August 7, 2007, features a cover painted by Ross. An avid fan of the film, he starred in a featurette on the DVD where he discussed the movie, which he names as his favorite movie of all time. In 2008, Ross embarked on projects focusing on
Golden Age characters:
Project Superpowers with
Jim Krueger for
Dynamite Entertainment. That same year, Ross wrote and illustrated
Avengers/Invaders. It features Marvel characters but was published by Dynamite Entertainment. The story pits
World War II versions of
Captain America,
Namor, and other classic war characters against the modern
Avengers groups. Late 2008 saw the release of two Ross prints that were made into T-shirts: one, "Bush Sucking Democracy Dry", featuring
George W. Bush as a vampire sucking the blood from
Lady Liberty, and the other, "Time for a Change", featuring
Barack Obama as a superhero. The latter was made into a T-shirt, with which Obama was seen posing at a public event. Ross painted the "Kollectors Edition" cover for the console game
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The artwork was released on October 9, 2008, as was a video chronicling Ross's process of painting it. Ross is featured in his own segment on the Blu-ray/DVD included in the package.
Dynamite Entertainment announced that Ross would illustrate covers for the
Fighting American series.
2010s Other Ross projects for Dynamite include acting as the creative director on
The Phantom comic book series. and teaming with Kurt Busiek on
Kirby: Genesis, an eight-issue miniseries which debuted in 2011. The series was their first full collaboration since
Marvels 17 years previous, and features a large group of Jack Kirby's creator-owned characters, the rights to which were acquired by Dynamite, such as
Silver Star,
Captain Victory, Galaxy Green, Tiger 21, and the Ninth Men. Ross handled the series' co-plotting, designs, and covers, apart from overseeing the book overall with Busiek, who was the writer. Since 2011, 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. that same year, Ross returned to interior painted art with
Masks, a story in which
the Shadow, the Spider, the
Green Hornet,
Zorro, and others join forces to combat a mutual threat. In 2013 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. The game is set in Ross's home city, Chicago, which Ross emphasized in the image by placing the
Willis Tower and the
elevated train tracks in the background.
2020s In 2020, Ross provided the main cover for the Marvel Comics book
The Rise of Ultraman #1. In the ensuing early part of that decade, he had stints as the regular cover artist on Marvel titles including
Iron Man,
Black Panther,
Captain America, and
Immortal Hulk. In April 2022, Ross was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to
Operation USA's benefit anthology book,
Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by editor
Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ross provided the cover to the hardcover edition of the book. In September 2022, Ross released
Fantastic Four: Full Circle, a 64 page graphic novel in which the Fantastic Four venture through the
Negative Zone, on which 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 Ross both wrote and drew, and was his take on a classic '60s
FF story by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby. The American Library Association listed it among their 2022 Best Graphic Novels for Adults, noting "The layouts and storytelling are unmistakably those of Alex Ross, but he has also exchanged his usual realistic palette for a bolder more expressive color scheme." Chris Neill, writing for
Kotaku, praised the book, noting the "fairly meat and potatoes plot", but applauding the art, calling it "the best looking comic you'll see this year". Neill opined that whereas Ross' usual style can exhibit a stiffness by making the reader too aware that they are looking at a painting, thus hampering the storytelling flow, his decision to ink his lines and use a limited palette of flat colors with no modern computer shading techniques gave the art a greater quality of grit and texture. Neill also lauded the digital dot screen effect that harkened back to the technique used to render comics in decades past. ==Personal life==