Alex Ross has posted dozens of his paintings and sketches on X since early Wednesday morning, many of them showing DC heroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League, with replies on almost all of them limited to accounts he follows. The run began at 2:07 AM EST on Wednesday, 2 days after Skydance announced that James Gunn and Peter Safran are stepping away from DC Studios. Ross has not posted any explanation for the posts or the reply limits. Check out the official post down below:
That post went up at 11:37 AM EST on Wednesday and has passed 20,000 likes. Like most of the batch, it carries a short caption and has 0 replies.
What Ross Has Posted
The first group of 8 posts went up between 2:07 AM and 2:11 AM EST on Wednesday, and one of them has passed 60,000 likes and 1.3 million views. Another group followed at 11:31 AM EST that morning, and Ross kept posting through Thursday and today. Single-word captions on the later posts include Batman, Cat Woman, Wonder Woman, JLA, Nightwing, The Shadow, Spider-Man and a Watchmen sketch, and today he also reposted earlier batches and shared art addressed to fellow artist Bill Sienkiewicz.
The reply limit is the account's "accounts you follow" setting, which lets only people Ross follows reply. However not every post of his is blocked from public comments, just specific ones after October 22nd. His captioned promotional posts are open to everyone, including his Marvel Timeless variant covers for Spider-Man/Hulk: Fire and Brimstone #2 on Wednesday and Jeff the Land Shark: Superstar #3 on Thursday, and a "Thor Iron Man Marvels" post today at 4:02 PM EST.
The Reason? Might Be Online Harassment
After digging through some of his older posts before he locked replies, there appears to have been a few users that are leaving harrassing comments. Which would likely explain him restricting his comments on his posts.
The DC Studios Change
Skydance announced on Monday that Jeremy Latcham will become President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Studios on December 1. Gunn and Safran will leave their leadership roles after 4 years and return full time to creative work, including Man of Tomorrow, which is in post-production for a July 9, 2027 release, and The Batman Part II. Latcham was part of the founding team of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and worked on Iron Man, The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. The announcement is covered in James Gunn And Peter Safran Exit DC Studios Amid Shakeup That Sees A Former MCU Executive Replace Them.
What Has And Has Not Been Said
Many DC fans on X tied Ross's posts to the DC Studios news, pointing to the timing of the first batch less than 2 days after the announcement and to the number of DC heroes in it. Several of those posts described Ross as "mourning" the change at DC Studios.
The account's own history runs the other way on the reply limits. The "accounts you follow" setting appeared on Ross's October 27, October 29 and October 31 Heritage Auctions posts listing his original art for the Superman #684 Parasite cover and the Justice #3 dust jacket wraparound, and on his November 6 image posts, all before Skydance's announcement, and his Marvel promotional posts this week have stayed open to everyone.
Ross has not explained the posts or the reply setting. He has not posted about Gunn, Safran or Latcham this week, and no statement from him or his representatives about the timing has been published.
Ross's History With DC
Ross first broke out with Marvels, the 1994 Marvel miniseries he painted with writer Kurt Busiek. In 1996, he co-wrote and painted Kingdom Come with Mark Waid for DC, a story in which Superman and other classic heroes come out of retirement to deal with a generation of violent antiheroes. He also painted the oversized Superman: Peace on Earth with Paul Dini, which won a Reuben Award in 1998, along with Batman: War on Crime, Shazam! Power of Hope and Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, and the 2005 to 2007 Justice series with Jim Krueger and Doug Braithwaite.
His recent work has leaned toward Marvel. He wrote and drew Fantastic Four: Full Circle in 2022, has painted the long-running Marvel Timeless variant line, and announced Marvel Dimensions, a 112-page graphic novel with Abrams ComicArts, in February, as covered in Alex Ross Returning To Marvel Comics For MARVEL DIMENSIONS Graphic Novel. His art was exhibited at the ICON Festival of Comic and Narrative Art at the Biltmore in Los Angeles on November 7 and 8, and his account is promoting a Hawaii comic art festival coming in January.
Which Alex Ross painting of a DC hero from this week's posts is your favorite?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.