Alex Ross Explains the Inspiration Behind His God-Tier Thor Design

In his latest redesign, Thor is hearkening back to his Silver Age costume, but Alex Ross, the artist behind this throwback, has revealed all-new details that make the young All-Father shine like never before. Ross often uses his skills as a classical illustrator to bring an epic and hefty sense of drama to his art for Marvel Comics. Now, he’s added one genius piece to Thor’s current ensemble to emphasize his power’s cosmic breadth.

Alex Ross serves as the cover artist and character designer for the new Immortal Thor series. In issue #2, from Al Ewing, Martín Cóccolo, Matthew Wilson, VC’s Joe Sabino, and Wil Moss, Ross has a featured segment at the end. There, the artist discusses the inspirations for his designs for Thor, Utgard-Loki, and Toranos. Ross elaborates:

“My own takes on Thor have always tried to sell Kirby’s original design as being impressive enough already. He’s bigger than every hero around him, and his suit is impractical but bold. I envisioned the chance to do a run of Thor covers as my attempt at connecting with the abstract leanings in Kirby’s ’60s-era definition of him–a graphic take that would imbue that classic design with an internal illumination, somewhat like an energy-powered hero. The shadow areas appear to glow with an impression of surreality. It’s my graphic equivalent to inking Thor as if he’s a living comic book contrasting with my painted realism.

Ross continues, “I imagine Thor’s existence is breaking reality as he moves through the world. He is an other-dimensional being who doesn’t belong in this universe.” Accompanying this are a few of Ross’ design sheets where he developed this illuminating, polarizing approach to inking.

Thor’s New Design Bends the Rules of Comic Art

The retro vibe of Thor’s new look is great, yet it still feels new thanks to how Ross tackled the inking. Shifting the black inks into otherworldly highlights twists the shadows and breaks down the boundaries between Thor and the comic world he inhabits. It is a shift in the form of visual storytelling to echo the message that Ross wants to imbue in the content: Thor’s might is uncontainable, and to look upon him is to look upon a deity. It’s a risky move, but Ross, Cóccolo, and Wilson sell the design choice beautifully on the cover as well as throughout both issues of Immortal Thor thus far.

Mainstream comic art is a heavily collaborative medium. Thor’s design shift wouldn’t be that notable if it was only on Ross’ covers. However, with the ways creative teams shift and change, it’s entirely possible that several artists will get to try their hand at rendering Thor this way during the run of Immortal Thor. What begs further questions is if any other reality-breaking heroes might get a treatment inspired by Ross’ Thor inks. Monica Rambeau, Galactus, or even the Phoenix come to mind as potential candidates. Of course, Thor will be teaming up with Storm and the rest of the Thor Corps soon, so perhaps those mighty heroes might also have this inking tweak applied to their design.

Thor Isn’t the Only One Getting God-Tier Redesigns

As previously noted, Ross also designed Toranos and Utgard-Loki’s character models and shared notes on those as well. On Utgard-Loki, Ross says, “I was trying to create an ethereal look where the body has visibly open areas.” As for Toranos, he continues, “The Toranos character design sounds more and more like a dark mirror of Thor, albeit at a gigantic level. I’m imagining a giant, dark, gray thundercloud-looking figure. It’s something to consider that he has this inverse relationship to Thor. With Toranos, his being as the sky equates him to the god legends removed from human masquerading.”

Further, the final pages of Immortal Thor #2 debut Loki’s Teller of Tales aspect. Taken together, Thor is one of many of his current characters to be moving in a new visual direction. That being said, Alex Ross‘ innovative handling of Thor‘s inks are a bold and elegant shift that makes him stand out among the crowd.

Immortal Thor #2 is available now from Marvel Comics.