The legendary Alex Ross is back with a new expanded version of his graphic novel focusing on the Fantastic Four. Ross, known for his breathtaking and human-like artwork, expanded his repertoire with Fantastic Four: Full Circle, his first solo writing credit for a graphic novel. Marvel’s First Family has been riding a new wave of popularity and Alex Ross is already doing his best to keep it going.

Now, Marvel has announced that Alex Ross is re-releasing an extended edition of his 2022 graphic novel Fantastic Four: Full Circle. This re-release expands the 64-page comic into a super-sized 352-page epic book, adding 288 pages of bonus content. In addition to the graphic novel, it will also include Ross’ “proposal, thumbnails, sketches, inks, and color guides, models and never-before-seen preliminary artwork.”

This mega re-release also comes with more behind-the-scenes info, including a full catalog of 2023 Marvel Comics cover art by Ross. This graphic novel is the ultimate Fantastic Four celebration book for old and new fans.

Alex Ross Continues His Contributions to The Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four: Full Circle’s re-release comes at just the right time as the world is going through a huge Fantastic Four Renaissance period. For more than 30 years, Alex Ross has been dazzling the world of comic book fans with his incredibly detailed artwork, especially for Marvel Comics. From his Marvelocity art collection book to his modern variant covers, Ross’ dedication shines through to make every hero larger than life. With Fantastic Four: Full Circle, Alex Ross tells a classic, space-themed adventure featuring Marvel’s First Family saving Earth from an alien parasite invasion. But Alex’s love and commitment to the Fantastic Four and their creators is shown with his bonus material for the re-release.

This Alex Ross comic re-release also adds a special reprint of 1966’s Fantastic Four #51 by the legendary Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. One of the greatest stories in Marvel history, “This Man, This Monster” sees Ben Grimm/The Thing re-established as the emotional heart of the team. The comic features an old rival of Reed Richards, Ricardo Jones, stealing Ben’s powers to seek revenge on Mister Fantastic, and then learning the errors of his ways via heroic sacrifice. Including this nostalgic reprint in Full Circle is no coincidence, especially since Alex Ross brings Ricardo Jones back into the story due to his life lesson from being The Thing for a day.

This story gives fans a glimpse into the tragedy of Ben Grimm, but also a touching lesson on what it means to be human. As the Thing, Ben is constantly reminded of how he can’t have a normal life as a “monster.” Ricardo takes Ben’s Thing form for himself for villainous reasons but learns what it’s like to be a hero through the Thing’s eyes. Full Circle is meant to bring every single important moment from Fantastic Four comics into one epic novel and this story is one of them. Alex Ross honors the Thing and this timeless comic by reminding fans of what Ben goes through every day and how the Fantastic Four would be nothing without each other.

The Fantastic Four Revival Tour Continues

In addition to his Fantastic Four: Full Circle graphic novel, Ross has also continued to provide cover art for the Fantastic Four comic series that relaunched in 2022. There is an incredible demand for the Fantastic Four following the announcmeent of the official cast of their 2025 MCU movie. And their recent comics have returned to their wild, psychedelic, and alien-based adventures of the 1960s. This upcoming expanded edition of Alex Ross’ ultimate homage to Marvel’s First Family is a celebration of the team’s greatest stories and will excite fans about the FF’s future. Every single piece of bonus material added to Alex Ross’ book is another reminder that the Fantastic Four is still the greatest family of superheroes in all of comics.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle (Expanded Edition) will be on sale on October 1 from Marvel Comics!

Source: Marvel