Alex Ross Writes and Illustrates First Graphic Novel, Fantastic Four: Full Circle (Exclusive)

Legendary comic book creator Alex Ross is writing and illustrating his first graphic novel, titled Fantastic Four: Full Circle. The graphic novel goes on sale August 2, 2022, and is the first of the MarvelArts collaboration between Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts. Fantastic Four: Full Circle will feature a large format that differentiates it from the standard graphic novel size in order to fully showcase Ross’ stunning artwork, while mirroring the 1980s Marvel Graphic Novel format. The Fantastic Four’s origin story will also be retold in a full-color painted foldout poster. Ross’s longtime editor Charles Kochman, editorial director of Abrams ComicArts, will edit Fantastic Four: Full Circle, alongside executive editor Tom Breevort, Marvel VP of Publishing.

“This is the Fantastic Four story I have been wanting to tell for years, and visually it is one of the greatest artistic experiments I have attempted,” says Alex Ross. “I’m excited to share this work with everyone, as it unites the two great publishing forces of Marvel and Abrams ComicArts in a bold new collaboration.”

“Alex and I have been working together for close to 30 years, when I was an editor at DC Comics and hired him to paint his very first book cover back in 1993, before Marvels was published,” says Kochman. “In Fantastic Four: Full Circle, Alex revisits a classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby comic from the 1960s and introduces the storyline for a new generation of readers.”

Fantastic Four: Full Circle has the distinction of being the first graphic novel that Marvel has licensed to another publisher in more than 40 years. It also marks the launch of MarvelArts, a new graphic novel collaboration between Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts.

The cover, an interior page, and solicitation for Fantastic Four: Full Circle can be found below. The graphic novel goes on sale August 2, 2022, and can be pre-ordered from Abrams Books. Alex Ross can be found on Twitter @thealexrossart.

FANTASTIC FOUR: FULL CIRCLE

By Alex Ross

Abrams ComicArts / August 2022

U.S. $24.99

Hardcover with jacket / 64 pages

8 ½ x 11″

ISBN: 978-1-4197-6167-6

It’s a rainy night in Manhattan, and not a creature is stirring except for . . . Ben Grimm. When an intruder suddenly appears inside the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four—Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm)—find themselves surrounded by a swarm of invading parasites. These carrion creatures composed of Negative Energy come to Earth using a human host as a delivery system. But for what purpose? And who is behind this untimely invasion?

The Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter, risking not just their own lives but the fate of the cosmos!