Alex Rossenstahl?
So I'd heard there was some sort of hubbub over Alex Ross being a Nazi,
or employing the techniques of Nazi propagandists, or something like
that. I guess the furor started with David Fiore's remarks
here. From
there various bloggers reacted, including
Johnny
Bacardi,
Laura
Gjovaag,
Sean
Collins, and
David
Fiore to clarify
his position. I finally read through everything and I have to
say...I just don't see it—the inherent fascism or the "uncritical
valuation of heroes for their hero-ness." Maybe it's just me, but
I look at Ross' work (which I do like) and I think it makes the heroes
seem frailer, not more formidable. I think my take is something
like Sean's in this respect: When I can see the wrinkles and
folds in Superman's skin, or the seams in Batman's homemade cape and
costume, the heroes seem more like regular schlubs and less like iconic Olympians. In short,
they look like grown men and women running around playing
superheroes. If this is the opposite of what Ross is going for,
then there's a completely different problem with his artwork—namely,
it doesn't achieve what it set out to.
