Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross (Pantheon Graphic Library) Paperback – November 8, 2005

Excelente libro, solo tienen que mejorar el empaque este libro viajo hasta Guatemala y debido a que la caja era grande se lástimo de las esquinas, pero fuera de eso el libro es hermoso para los coleccionistas del arte de Alex Ross, totalmente recomendado!

This book will astonish you even before you open it. The jacket has the images of two of the most iconic superheroes of DC, Superman and Batman, and below the jacket you'll find an unbelievable piece of art showing almost every DC superhero battling versus their respective villains.With an introduction from M Night Shyamalan, the book presents Alex from his early beginnings as a child trying to create comic book characters and how his mother kind of influenced him (even though he affirms this didn't happen, take a look at her mom's works and try to believe him)He then presents the DC characters one by one (the Batman session has some pages dedicated to the Joker only, no other villains are shown), the early drawings, original artwork from classics and the homage he has paid for covers, posters or special editions. Analysis on the symbols and the myths of each character are used to describe what Ross wants to project with his images. I don't think it necessary to mention which character has the larger amount of pages dedicated to himself only. You get to see in drawings the creative process he follows when creating a piece, the ideas scratched on a piece of paper, the drawings and possible posing and then the final image. There are pictures I has never seen until I got this book, when I first saw them my fisrt thought was ` I need to frame these', which came up as a bad idea as I would have had to frame the entire book.The abandoned ideas for `Portraits of villainy' are presented here in the form of pencil sketches that look pretty well, it is hard to imagine how they would have looked if the project had been completed. His takes on Hanna-Barbera, Mad magazine, Alan Moore, the animated style and World's finest are also present.Then there are pages and pages dedicated to 'Kingdom Come', from the early concepts and ideas, passing through sketches until the realization of the project. The possible prequel that never occurred, `The Kingdom' is also mentioned and the preliminary sketches by Ross are shown.Uncle Sam is also analyzed near the end of the book in the same way the other projects previously were.Then we have this section called `The process', in which we obviously get to see how Alex works using the book's cover as example. The final part of the book is a very nice bonus, a Batman/Superman special story written by Chip Kidd and Alex Ross created exclusively for this book.Indeed a great piece of collection, this book is a must for comic book fans. The hard cover presentation, the paper in which it is printed and the bonus stuff are worth the price to pay.

Book sleeve arrived torn.

I'm a baby boomer and love the mythology in superhero comics. If you like DC comics, then this book is for you.If you like Alex Ross's interpretation of DC comic characters or just his amazing artwork, this book is for you.If you want to know more about Alex's biographical and professional history beginning with childhood, family influences, professional beginnings and into his creative process .... this book is for you. The wonderful writer/designer Chip Kidd and photographer Geoff Spear have teamed up to produce an extraordinary "illustrated biography" of Alex Ross and his DC characters. Kidd's text is descriptive and insightful and includes numerous studies, hundreds of sketches and artwork and photos on almost every single page that highlight Ross's creative process and method. In addition to Kidd's narrative, the book is peppered with Alex Ross quotes and personal insights. I am especially drawn to how Ross re-envisioned the major characters of the DC universe and created three dimensional icons that owe a debt of gratitude to artists like Rockwell and Wyeth. Now I know how Ross uses photographs to set up other worldly lighting effects that make his characters look more realistic. Like Kirby, he has an innate belief in the iconic power of superheroes that gives them a dimension far beyond the usual four-colored adventures. The end result includes lush and vibrant colors with a scrupulous attention to detail that re-imagine the great super-heroes as they might actually appear if they existed today. His sense of realism is totally cool. I'm no artist, just a fan. so this book took me "behind the scenes" to experience Alex Ross at work in his studio. There is a video review in one of the other reviews where you can see the whole layout of the book. This is my second copy of this book, if I could give it a rating a six stars I would.

Ross, in my opinion, is just about the finest artist operating in comics today, so a collection of his work across the DC universe promised much - and it is all I hoped it would be. It`s a beautiful book, filled with iconic images in Ross`s trademark style, explaining his approach and development, and I was pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the book too - bigger than A4 and very well arranged, on quality paper - essentially, it does the images justice. I can`t imagine how anyone remotely interested in either graphic art or comics in general would not be extremely pleased with ownership of this book.

Alex Ross is truly a meticulous fine artist and not just a comic book artist.Page after page of glorious detail await in this fabulous oversize tome.The fine details in the pictures, the poses and the expressions all lend to bring realism to the character.Anyone wanting something at another level in comic art should have this displayed proudly displayed on their shelf!

A must have book for fans of Alex Ross's realistic paintings! This one focuses on his DC work.

Wonderful item and well packaged, it was also delivered within the date specified. My son loves it!

Absolutely beautiful art from Alex Ross. An essential for any true comic book fan.