Comic books make up the bulk of pop culture literature today. And what makes them special is their gorgeous art that gives wings to our imagination. In the history of DC and Marvel comics, very few artists have gone on to receive legendary status. Alex Ross is definitely one of them, whose works in both industry powerhouses are nothing short of dreams coming to reality.
Though Ross has given life to numerous comics and novels during his career, his collaboration with Mark Waid in the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come completely blew the minds of comic book enthusiasts. Not only was the futuristic storyline loved by many, but the life-like etchings of DC superheroes almost felt like a lively screen of a movie or TV show.
Even today that art style is hard to replicate, and Warner Bros. and legendary animator Bruce Timm seem to agree with it.
Bruce Timm Believes Alex Ross’ Art is Too “Photorealistic” For an Animated Film
Bruce Timm is beloved among fans, especially for his work on animated TV shows like Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. He knows all the ins and outs of the industry, and has a thorough knowledge of animation art styles. However, even Timm thinks that it is too difficult to adapt Alex Ross‘ artwork on-screen. Talking to Bleeding Cool at the New York Comic Con back in 2017, he said:
“The one that we hear all the time is Kingdom Come and I have to, like, crush everyone’s dream every single time because it’s just not within the scope of what we can do with these movies. The main thing that people remember from Kingdom Come, beyond the story, is the look. It was Alex Ross, breaking big, doing “photorealistic superheroes”, so if we did an animated version of Kingdom Come it would not look like that.”
He added:
“We don’t have the money, there isn’t enough money on the planet to make it look like that, so there’s really no reason to do it. Automatically, they would be disappointed, that’d be the number one thing on Amazon and Amazon reviews would be “one star – doesn’t look like Alex Ross.”
Timm being a huge comic book nerd himself, knows the delicate intricacies involved in adapting art to animation. And it seems like Warner Bros execs also agree.
Warner Bros Did Have Plans For an Animated Kingdom Come Movie
At one time, before Zack Snyder’s DCEU officially came to an end and birthed James Gunn’s upcoming DCU, there were talks of adapting Kingdom Come comics in the form of an animation. In an interview with ScreenRant at San Diego Comic-Con 2023, Justice League: Warworld executive producer Butch Lukic revealed:
“We originally talked about Kingdom Come after this, but changing regimes, we couldn’t go forward with anything like that. They might incorporate it in the future with the New World, but that was one that we talked about as an obvious possibility to continue…I think adapting graphic novels, there’s too much in there. Whereas if you just take two of the miniseries stuff, you can make a better story.”
It’s rare for an artist’s etching to be so good that it becomes difficult to adapt them. While it is true Alex Ross’ closer-to-life drawings are going to be tough to replicate on-screen, Bruce Timm might be the perfect person who can actually make it happen, given his impressive repertoire. Hopefully, we will get to see it happen in the future, and it will be just as fairy-tale-like as the 1996 graphic novel!
