ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How doesMarvelocitycompare toMythology?
Why did you decide to do it now?
ALEX ROSS:It’s the Marvel version of that.
Pantheon
The simplest way, and the most honest way to describe it.
As fans of all comics know, you generally have these two major companies to pull from.
In many ways it took the inspiration to hit, where it felt like the right time.
Marvel
Certainly it’s been talked about over the 15 years sinceMythologycame out, to do a Marvel version.
What differentiates Marvel characters from DC characters, in terms of their look and aura?
Everything is affected by what he led the charge of.
There’s a kinetic energy and a chaotic energy that embodies Marvel’s stuff.
DC is the foremost component of where the DNA of what makes a superhero came from.
There’s a lot in here that’s completely new, that no one’s ever seen before.
How do you look back on Kirby’s artistic legacy?
How do you wrestle with it in your own work?
It’s constant, and it’s growing.
I speak not just for myself but also other men in the industry who are obsessed with him.
Everything we do becomes a way of trying to connect with his spirit and intellectual curiosity.
It inspires me in all the stuff I do.
Working in American comics, there’s no escaping the legacy that is Jack.
If Ditko and Kirby are the foundational Marvel aesthetics, what differentiates the Ditko influence from the Kirby influence?
Like take the Charlton characters, who are now owned by DC and have been redesigned.
His legacy is a formidable one.
You have to always remember, you’re free to’t skip over Ditko’s legacy.
There’s a lot of unique creativity.
What particular Marvel characters do you love drawing?
We’ve gotten a heavily redesigned and updated and militarized version in the movies.
I really love the aesthetics of how his design was from the earliest days.
I believe you’ve got the option to make the wings look serious, coming off the mask.
That’s actually been the history of the character.
You go back to the ’70s, they were doing stuff about him fighting against an America under repression.
They actually did a story where the ultimate villain was revealed as Richard Nixon.
When you go back now, you see that’s exactly what it is.
The character couldn’t sleep well, he had nightmares about the war.
That was a very advanced take in the way the character’s been used.
Coates is joining in a legacy that should be a good fit for him.
