History of Thanos Explained by Alex Ross

[@tomjames9681]

Ross talking about the storylines of times gone by is so interesting yet quite saddening. That sentiment of not letting a character come to an end is really felt in the stories of the big two these days. The way Alex talks about writers and storytelling shows the kind of experience and wisdom the industry is lacking these days. Nice that we can get this from his channel though.

[@unworthyentertainment5289]

As a published author I still find your work inspiring. You are a living super hero to creators like me.

[@Sousabird]

The Death of Captain Marvel was a beautiful book. Getting a medal from the Skrulls, Fighting Thanos for the last time in the dream scape and finally accepting death was powerful stuff.

[@wolverine9049]

Agreed it's kinda sad how nowadays the character will come back in the next few issues

[@scuppo]

Barry Allen’s death for me is the most impactful death in comics. Superman being the biggest. Just because he was more popular. Jason Todd’s was so heartbreaking.

[@stevehaas6307]

I've always found the genius of Alex's work to be unmatched because the art goes so much further than just technique and its connection to realism. It's as if each piece embodies the power of the characters. I'm equally blown away by his insight and interpretations of comics' history and mythos. Every time I see one of his videos I come away with a deeper understanding of the characters he talks about and then he goes and brings an extra touch of life philosophy along with them.

[@DelightLovesMovies]

I inherited my dads comic book collection from the 60's 70's and 80's, and shows like yours help me to appreciate them a lot more.

[@unboxingfunnierthanboxing5232]

Alex Ross is genius

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

He is.

[@henryjaremek2644]

.,.. ALEX ... Starlin's Death of Captain Marvel story , was actually inspired by the death of his Father . He had several other ideas about how Captain Marvel might die , but then he presented the idea to Jim Shooter about dying of Cancer .Shooter liked it and said , do it . Starlin also dislocated Two fingers on his drawing hand & taped a pen to his fingers so he could Ink it . He said that the Inks are done in short strokes , because he could not Ink a long line with a pen taped to his fingers very well . Yeah , I recognized Thanos' pose instantly when I saw it . I'm Old School , so . Thanks for keeping it Old School . Great Video , looking forward to more of the same . Thanks again .

[@fischkopf]

There's a deep connection with your artwork- perhaps it's from a time period we came from. Thank you for sharing.

[@tomtudorweaver1078]

Always love your work and hearing your perspectives. I love stories where a villain is killed off, but either their death or the events following their death aren't treated as a victory, and instead the weight of their actions resonate with the heroes even long after they're gone. For me it's definitely more common in television than it is in film simply due to the nature of the longer narratives utilized in television, but I think Sam Raimi nailed that idea with how he handled the Green Goblin in his Spider-Man trilogy, he's the central villain of that entire story despite dying in the first installment.

[@ChrisConnolly-Mr.C-Dives-In]

That growing up in the south came through in Alex’s pronunciation of Thane-os. What a great video this is, the drawing and narration are so well brought together.

[@natanmarinofernandez7142]

3:36 That pose like La Pietá…just amazing comic book. I do really hope that, at some point,a death would be let remain consistent. It’s more work to do for you have to create new characters, but if it’s well done can actually make this universe progress in a very good direction

[@LowellLucasJr.]

Thanos: I may die, but I'll have a fantastic painting based on my epicness!!!Best...Deathpose....Ever!!!! Fantastic Painting Alex! Love how you honored his pose from his iconic death! Thanks for showing your reff too from Green Goblin as well!!

[@chwenhoou]

The comic industry's lack of consistent death has done more harm than good. I was there when the Spider-Man Clone Saga unfolded over time. It was a train wreck with no end. TBH, Aunt May should've remained dead. Same with Norman Osborn. Peter and MJ should still have their baby daughter. It would've evolved their world significantly. Life moves on. We lose loved ones. We gain new friends. Sadly, we can't have that in comics. God forbid we upset the man-children both inside and outside of the industry. -_-

[@OYEntertainment]

I always feel like I’m watching a movie whenever I see your art!

[@Sv_vic]

You were so nice to my group at one of the last wondercon's in SF. You chatted us up a little as we were just blown away at you art work . One of those small moments that will always bring a smile . Thank you .

[@richardb6260]

Jim Starlin, who created Thanos, said that he was based on DC's Darkseid.

[@bcapellan6584]

Extremely watchable and extremely listenable at the same time.

[@chandolomite]

I LOVE YOUR ART!!!!!! Ever since Kingdom Come, I can't get enough of your talent. I wish you'd come to STL comiccon. Something closer to the midwest so that I could meet you in person.

[@toons8744]

I love this. I absolutely love the way you implemented the pose. I think I'm gonna go read Death of Captain Marvel. I appreciate how you implement your own intention and preferences and nostalgia into these iconic depictions. For everyone else this is a great image of Thanos, but for you this is an iconic pose and a memory. Love it

[@brodeyleembruggen9910]

Alex Ross is a Master❗📜👨🏻‍🎨📕📓

[@InnesTahtinen]

What a great opening sentence. Love it.

[@KyleBeatz]

So dope man. Just awesome. Your artwork has always stood out to me, ever since I was a kid. You, Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane are my top 3 favorite artists. I'm inspired by all of your work. The attention to detail is astounding, and how the colors you select just make the image jump off the page. It's just amazing to watch how you guys come up with these ideas.

[@Ryleimichareezy]

Amazing art work it is so realistic oh my gosh❤

[@AngelA-qj4jx]

The death of captain marvel was the 1st comic I ever purchased as a kid or shall I say my parents bought me. It’s so cool for you to comment on this one this was my introduction to thanos.

[@kevinwilson5711]

Alex Ross, great artist. Pays great attention to detail, and stands above your average illustrate art. He's an 2# elite. (For sure)

[@NexoProductions]

¡Qué maravilla!

[@The_whimsickal_artist]

You're great Alex 👍🏻💯

[@darkstarcomic.]

Hey Alex Ross excellent and magnific, your paints and pictures of villans and heros , one greeting big.

[@toomanylies7716]

When Warlock killed him and how he did it (and of course the story)was pretty cool. I loved the beginning of the cosmic universe back then. I didn't even know about this Captain Marvel story. Glad to have seen this. Thanos is my favorite character, and I totally respect where you're coming from. I didn't like what was done with him after the Annihilation events, but I guess his resurrection by cocoon may have messed him up a little. He's back to being more mad than the intellectual force I remember him as. The one that was more often saving the universe than trying to cause it's demise, but only because there was something in it for him. Whether it be knowledge, more tangible power, or just his continued existence. Now he comes to Earth and fights the Avengers or something and loses fights to Doctor Doom. Meh to that I say.

[@TheValeyard92]

Alex Ross: Jack Kirby is such a great illustrator and designed so many iconic characters. Video: Here's a picture of Mysterio to go with that.

[@naolerena3193]

yes thanos art

[@micpar2]

Adam Warlock killed Thanos. By coming back as a cosmic being and sucked Thanos soul into the soul gem. His body was turned to stone in that pose. That statue is Thano's body. The story started in Avengers Annual #7 and continued and ended in Marvel Two in One Annual #2. Both came out in 1977. Adam Warlock was killed by Thanos in the Avengers Annual. Warlock came back as a cosmic spirit in MTIO Annual #2 and killed Thanos by stealing his soul into his green soul gem.

[@vincentsolis5149]

I always thought these stories would be more interesting if the characters aged out or stayed dead permanently. New heroes living in the shadow of their predecessors could be interesting.

[@K.ART_vlog]

love your art ... ❤️😍👏👏👏👏

[@Innex7707]

Fantastic 🤩

[@LowellLucasJr.]

I can understand your feelings on being an artist who illustrates drawing fine figures over the exaggerated art styles presented. Even with the animation from the 80s, they had to stick strictly to the character designs to form a cohesion of said show to keep on model( atleast til later seasons) so they had to play it safe. Now, on what makes those artist stand out later( in both comics and animation) was the distinctiveness of their work ( their artstyle and presentation) vs the more traditional way of figure drawing that few can do nowadays. Personally I enjoy both forms of art as you can have great trational figure art like yourself, George Perez, Neal Adams, Brian Stilfreeze, Frank Cho and Adam Hughes; to beautifully stylized work like J.Scott Campbell, Jim Lee, Joe Mad, Marc Silvestri, Micheal Turner and even Ed Mcguinnes that show a great variety in art!

[@warverine]

What's your take on the Juggernaut?

[@clogs4956]

Put off watching this until today, because I knew the Death of Captain Marvel would be included and I’d cry - which I did. I adore Thanos. After Captain Marvel, I hoped he’d become a constant background character, a reminder of the presence of death, the messenger for his mistress.

[@lorenaalaniz812]

😍 paint fantastic 👏👏👏👍

[@leonevelake]

T0 be fair Thanos did change after having been dead and was quite pleasant at times (like his encounter with the gardener in Thanos quest. After the infinity gauntlet he spend about 2 decades as more mature and decent person (particularly when written my Jim Starlin, Peter David and more or less Keith David) more often helping people in larger events than doing horrible things. It wasn't really until he popped into the avengers movie that marvel decided he just had to be evil all the time again and subjected him to a mix of horrible retcons and bad story justifications t strip away those decades of character growth. Alos love the picture and that it doesn't have the infinity gauntlet or cosmic cube in it. It's weird how many people act like he has to have those all the time

[@maxmarvelsworld5074]

What tipe of picture do you use oil?acrilico or temper?

[@dylansearcy3966]

9:38 I still feel x-men can be relatable no matter how big they get

[@williambrown6185]

Think sometimes the danger when developing you’re own artistic style is to loose the fundamentals of draftsmanship. Gesture, contour, form, and value. I love watching JIm Lee draw, for instance, because he still pays attention to the basics. In all honesty what separates Ross from other painters before and after him is his style. Especially in terms of Light and shadow. There have been other painters that are very good, such as Mayhew and Felepe Massafera that have followed in your footsteps, but I’m always drawn to your artistic expression.

[@philippealain-art]

Jim Lee is a sort of opposite to what Alex Ross is doing. Quite detailed but without a good anatomical basis. The anatomy of his characters has become more and more based on an addition of very synthesized forms which makes his characters very artificial, with always the same structure not very realistic, the same faces, the same poses. Alex Ross on the contrary has an excellent knowledge of anatomy, he understands that bodies and faces must express something and be representative of what they are supposed to be. He has the humility to base his work on real models, he represents the body in its entirety, he understands body language, understands that everything is light and shadow and movement, he understand dramaturgy and dynamism, storytelling etc... He is demanding, doesn't just do a decent job and seeks to push the artistic level upwards and regularly renews himself. Mayhew is quite good but Felipe Massafera copies really too much the work of Alex Ross in a less good way. I don't know if you know him, an artist like Gabriele Dell'Otto is a very good drawer/painter with a very personal style.

[@williambrown6185]

@@philippealain-art I can understand what you’re saying about Lee. Sometimes his compositions are cookie cutter. But watching him work he still has a understanding of the fundamentals. This coming from someone who’s classically trained in figure drawing and modeling. There is a difference between drawing from minds eye and using a reference: I couldn’t do what traditional comic artists do because I haven’t trained myself to do so. As far as Ross is concerned his work has evolved a lot since KC and the work he did with his full figure portraits for DC. To me the DC portraits are better. Much more expressive and attention to details, which he’s known for. Believe it or not I think he’s gotten more expressive in the 20 plus years since then. I was really impressed with his FF book and I have the huge calender mural of his Marvel Hero’s mural. He relied a lot on value for that work. Which is cool. And I’m even more impressed with the villains portraits but I’m surprised by him not starting with value in those works. Something he traditionally does.

[@philippealain-art]

@@williambrown6185, Jim Lee does not have a good anatomical basis. He learned to draw by copying other artists, as most comic book artists did, especially the more recent ones, and by using "tricks", which means a simplification of the forms as Gil Kane did. In his first episodes of the X-Men, you could clearly see the influences of each artist that he had copied the way of drawing. But he has not evolved and has instead regressed by being satisfied with what he knows to do. Now his art has become poor and artificial. All his characters are drawn in the same caricatural and unreal way and he is unable to draw different faces and expressions. On the other hand I agree with you Alex Ross has evolved a lot, contrary to what some would have us believe, because he has worked a lot by looking at how the light reacts on the bodies and textures. He has never stopped learning and has not been satisfied with what he knew how to do. This is the great strength of drawing with references. Besides, those who claim to draw only by memory or imagination are liars, they have learned to draw many objects with photo references. Drawing with photo references does not imply that you draw only realistically, you do what you want with the references. And if you know Ross's painting style, you know that previously he used to paint in black and white to get the shades of brightness, which was not the recommended method, whereas now he does it the way we learn academically, from lightest to darkest.

[@vincentsolis5149]

Ross REALLY needs to be the Drew Struzan of comic book movies!

[@Zaiyou]

I found out about Thanos when I got to the end of marvel super heroes then I found out Jack Kirby was dead when I beat him

[@oldgold5848]

Some characters are great at dying and coming back. My favourite Wonderman is an expert at it!

[@masenguerra7835]

I still believe Superman and lex are two great rivals as unlike joker and Batman no one says “why doesn’t Superman kill lex.” Lex represents a threat Superman can’t just punch without losing his beliefs. Superman is Superman when he’s saving the day by catching planes and helping cats out of trees, while lex is lex when he embodies the selfish doubt we have as people. The way you described the story of captain marvel and thanos felt a lot like that.

[@shadymostafa9711]

Hi Alex! Will you ever give Carnage a try?

[@willpower8061]

Speaking as an animator, Gi-Joe, Transformers, etc, was done by Toei Animation. Typically they used a side division that only worked on "American" stuff, and no, they didn't use their best people.

[@williambrown6185]

With Dragonball Super, you can always tell when they were phoning it in lol, and when Toei wanted to go all out. But Their Dragonball Z animation is much better than anything the did in Super. Especially in the Kid Boo fight

[@jacksonanimacoes2danimacao815]

Queremos mais tutoriais.

[@Nekorbmi]

hey Alex sign my JLA secret origns lol. poor disney ruined the movie character of thanos and they the movoes were crap. yeah they had moments that were amazing but over all they were just sad. Alex i used to hate your work then one day I realised how unique, beautiful and life like you created them. they are now my most favorite artwork from the comic industry. kudos to the king mention.

[@SatenSheets]

I love G I joe toys back when.

[@OakHogan]

You should reach out to Joe Rogan. He would give you a greater audience. You should have millions of views. It would be nice to hear you stand up for the original creators and show off your amazing abilities

[@unclematt3134]

Capt. Marvel is a man. Ms. marvel is a woman. Why can't Hollywood get that right? I hate current superhero movies and comic books now. Sam Raimi's Spiderman was the last great Superhero movie.

[@Jipjert]

Male Captain Marvel No longer exsits, and Ms Marvel is a completely different character now

[@JohnnyS001]

Alex mispronounces Thanos's name throughout this video and fails to mention that Thanos is just a cheap rip-off of Jack Kirby's Darkseid. And by the way, what they did with Norman Osborn by bringing him back to life was just stupid. Why didn't they also bring back Gwen Stacy? Hey, they even brought back Bucky! What a mess.

[@plaidchuck]

Yeah but Thanos got a proper big screen adaptation first. That’s all that matters.

[@JohnnyS001]

@@plaidchuck What you mean is, that's all that matters to people like you, who really don't care about comics.

[@cioni9956]

ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏsᴍ

[@cosmicfxx]

I hate it when comics became serious and mostly I hate when it became political ... I went to comics for the same reason i went to see movies ... to escape reality, not to have to just live it again through comics

[@nerdieone1]

What do you mean by 'political '?

[@VladyO]

...Read Captain America #1 again, please. Even just the front page. Also read any early Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four issue. Also read any issue of Clairemont's X-Men. I also recommend finding scans of fan letter columns of those decades so you can find comments remarkably similar (and just as short-sighted and nostalgia-blinding) as yours with some going back as early as 1963.

[@toons8744]

Comics have always been stories about us and our experience. An escape yes, but not an escape from the evils of rhe world... in fact comics require that in spades. But an escape in the sense that it presents an ideal we can strive towards, it shows us people who face the same challenges we do and rise above and become better people because of it. That includes issues like inequality, corruption and the like.

[@jonguyxx4531]

@@VladyO how great are the sales of the past several years compared to 10 or 20 years ago? Your “modern” comics are trash and you still want to bang out that old argument several years later. WW2 was way more serious than the propaganda you kids keep eating up. Also X-Men were way better in the Claremont era than the garbage Krakoa arc of today as X-Men overall were about peaceful co-existence with mankind otherwise something like Days of Future Past or AOA would happen.Even he doesn’t care for the current era of the mutant segregationists plant clones.And as for Lee/Kirby’s Fantastic Four the large amount of those stories were Sci Fi action and drama. The only political thing was Galactus being an analog of a War Monger and The Surfer being a dog of war.Stan Lee didn’t preach or lecture like these lame activists writers that you want to simp for do all the time.He wanted to entertain overall,he said so himself,look it up. His creations wouldn’t be around 60 years later if he just wanted to write propaganda pamphlets 24/7 that your hack writers of today are running into the ground because of folks like you and your 500 fake accounts on twitter or whatever.

[@jonguyxx4531]

@THE NEW HOUSE why don’t you bring something to the table instead of commenting on a subject your ignorant on normie. Come up with a better insult that’s not been played out next time pumpkin,Kay.