Rough Justice: The DC Comics Sketches of Alex Ross [Hardcover]

I would say this book is as good as Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, his other art book featuring his paintings.

In this book, we see the groundwork he lays for those paintings. There are sketches storyboards and layouts, character designs, covers and hand scribbled notes. Many of the sketches, like various iterations for covers, are appearing from the first time. And it's not really all black and white, there are a few pieces painted quickly with colour for quick colour tests. I've to add that the scans are really good also, showing off the marvelous shading and grain.

You get to see the final pencil stage, before shadows and paint are added, as he focuses on the contours and surfaces. The usual powerhouse cast of DC characters are all in: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, and many more. But it's not all character art. There are also design sketches for the Justice Batmobile, logo designs and concepts he did for a literacy campaign (which shows Batman hanging from a stone gargoyle from some skyscraper while reading a book).

The drawings look really quite different without the colours and I could barely recognise to compared with the original paintings from his previous book. But make no mistake, the same flair and realism is still there on every page. You can still see the intense attention paid to the detail of musculature, composition, lighting, facial expression, drapery and mood.

There's also commentary by Alex Ross himself, in addition to the hand scribbled notes. He talks about his designs, the creative process and on why some ideas just didn't make the cut.

Highly recommended to fans and comic artists.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

...because this man's rough work is better than 80% of popular comic artists finished work period!

Ok let me explain exactly 'why' I hate Alex Ross; because I wish I could draw as good as his bad sketches turn out. I am an artist myself and the work that Alex turns out time and time again is damn near perfect in each and every stroke of his brush. The fact that he draws comic book characters and has the longevity that he has is paramount, most people that are around as long as him don't turn out great work time and time again that strike such immense awe its not funny (I'm talking to you John Byrne!). Thankfully, collaborations with other artists & writers have kept his work fresh and reverent and this book is a prime example of that. My favorite parts of this book are the concept proposals he has made up for the new "Batgirl" and "Batboy" concepts (Batgirl's concept drawings later evolved into the current Batwoman design). This is a perfect companion piece for his "Mythology" book, which finishing made me say "thats it?" I wanted more and this book provides it. If only Marvel decided to compile all his artwork into a few hardcovers like this I would buy it as well.

"Rough Justice" delivers and unfortunately, leaves me wanting more!

I'm a big Ross fan but I must admit that I was a little disappointed.
His work is impressive (like other illustrators out there) but too many roughs and not enough comps and semi-comps (look it up kids).
My advice to any potential buyer is to wait till the price drops a little more then invest.
Excelsior true believers!