Does Alex Ross belong on Lubbock’s Walk of Fame?

alexross

I’d been trying to decide for quite a while whether I really wanted to jump out on this particular limb, but I finally decided, what the heck, ya only live once. So I dropped an e-mail to the folks in charge of the West Texas Walk of Fame and suggested they add Alex Ross to their nomination list.

At this point, I guess I should explain a couple things both to local Lubbockites who read this blog and to non-Lubbockites.

For non-Lubbockites, the West Texas Walk of Fame started out in the ’70s as a tribute to Lubbock’s rock-and-roll roots, with Buddy Holly as the first inductee, followed by Waylon Jennings, Mac Davis, and a bunch of other musicians. Over the years, some actors and artists have been added to the list, but Lubbock has produced a lot of musicians over the years, so the vast majority of the inductees have been from the field of music.

Okay, for Lubbockites, especially Lubbockites who aren’t so familiar with comics, Alex Ross is a comic book illustrator and painter. He was born in Oregon, but he grew up here in Lubbock. He’s one of the most sought-after illustrators in comics, because his painting style is amazingly photorealistic, with a strong sense of everything that makes comics into modern mythology. He’s done comics for Marvel, like “Marvels” and “Earth X.” He’s done comics for DC, including “Kingdom Come” and “Justice.” He’s done covers for “Justice Society of America,” “Astro City,” “Project Superpowers,” “Batman,” “Superman,” and many others. He’s even done artwork for album covers, for movies, even for the 2002 Oscars.

Here are a few examples of his artwork.

alexrossjla

alexrossspidey

alexrosssuperman

Nice, am I right?

I’m not going to argue that Ross is a perfect artist — he has some trouble drawing action, a lot of his work looks like it was meticulously posed, and he’s way, way, way too devoted to the Silver Age of comics in the 1950s to ’60s. But I just love looking at his artwork — his characters look like real people, with realistic muscles, fat, wrinkles. His clothing looks like actual clothing, not painted-on spandex. He’s absolutely fantastic when it comes to the use of light.

Obviously, Alex Ross is no Buddy Holly. I doubt he or any other comic artist will ever achieve Buddy’s level of global fame. But he’s done really, really well for himself. He’s probably got the most recognizable artistic style in comics, he’s probably the most famous comic creator to the mainstream public outside of Stan Lee or Jack Kirby, thousands and thousands of comic fans have his books in their bookshelves, and every comics publisher looks forward to getting to publish his artwork, because they know that his work sells.

Alex Ross learned how to draw here in Lubbock. He discovered comics here in Lubbock. I think he’d be a great addition to the West Texas Walk of Fame.

What do you think?

No Comments

  1. Kenny Said,

    November 18, 2008 @ 9:38 am

    ABSOLUTELY!

  2. Steph Said,

    November 18, 2008 @ 10:07 am

    I love Alex Ross! I think his art work is fantastic!

  3. Robert G Said,

    November 18, 2008 @ 10:15 am

    Yes sir! How could we make that possible -other than what you have already done.

  4. Scott Said,

    November 18, 2008 @ 11:28 am

    Robert, I’m not real sure what else could be done.

    I know some folks would say to make sure the Walk of Fame folks get lots of mail supporting Ross, but I’m not sure that would work. Might be seen as a bunch of comic people being pests and antagonizing people — I don’t think that would help anyone.

    Polite and professional mail or e-mail to Civic Lubbock probably wouldn’t be out of line — though remember, they may be months or even *years* away from selecting new inductees — they don’t necessarily add new people to the Walk of Fame on a regular schedule…

  5. Larry Simmons Said,

    November 18, 2008 @ 5:30 pm

    Yes- AR is an outstanding nominee for the Walk. It is about entertainers not strictly musicians. E-mail your council person.

  6. Kenny Said,

    November 18, 2008 @ 10:51 pm

    We need to get ORGANIZED! 🙂

  7. Will Terrell Said,

    November 19, 2008 @ 12:14 am

    Maybe we could do a petition? We would need to find out what they are looking for as far as verification. But maybe we could do a petition at the next Comic book Expo?

    He’s also done work for the Academy awards, covers for TV guide and did the opening shots from Spiderman 2. As far as comics go, he is the Buddy Holly of the comic book world. He’s huge.

    Lets make this happen.

  8. Over the age of 12 Said,

    November 19, 2008 @ 9:15 am

    Lets be honest, comic books fit somewhere in between coloring books and cartoons on the scale of pre-teen interests.
    Is someone that is huge in the comic book world really relevant to the rest of us who are over the age of 12?
    Sure, we will put Alex whoever on the walk of fame – right next to Waylon Jennings. Then we can also put Pikachu next to Marsha Sharp, at least that yellow thing is actually famous.

  9. Scott Slemmons Said,

    November 19, 2008 @ 10:44 am

    Shorter “Over12”: “Just a little random trolling here to try to get people ranting at me. It’ll let me feel superior to someone, somewhere, somehow. And you’ll note that I’m not putting my real name or a useable e-mail address or link here, ’cause I secretly worry that comic book geeks will kick my butt. PHEAR ME, N00BZ!”

    Trolls are so funny.

  10. Josh Said,

    November 19, 2008 @ 11:46 am

    fear is spelled with an ‘f’