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On Earth as It Is in Heaven Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996) Writer: Mark Waid Artist: Alex Ross * As I write these essays I keep having to remind myself that in the 1990s I was very very concerned with legitimacy. In those days when Kevin Smith was the only famous comic book fan, when comic book movies were largely terrible, and when many of the comics themselves were embarassing, things were pretty difficult for those of us trying to make an argument that comics should be considered art. So Alex Ross was a godsend.  Ross was born in Portland, Oregon but raised in Lubbock, Texas. His father was a minister and his mother was a commercial artist who proved to be his first artistic influence. Born in 1970, Ross developed a love of superheroes thanks the Super Friends Saturday morning cartoon and Spider-Man's appearances on Electric Company, and began trying to draw them. When he got into comic books, he gravitated toward the work of John Romita, Neal Adams, and George Perez.  He decided t

My Greatest Adventures Batman Adventures   #36  Writer: Ty Templeton Penciller: Mike Parobeck Inker: Rick Burchett Colorist: Rick Taylor * You can't underestimate the influence of the 1992-1995 Fox Kids show Batman: The Animated Series. The series showed that a superhero cartoon could made for kids without insulting their intelligence. It introdcued the actor - Kevin Contry - who many hail as the best Batman actor of all time. It led to an entire interconnected animated DC universe that has encompassed multiple TV shows and films, including the much-loved 2001-2006 Justice League animated series. It introduced the most popular new comic character of the past 30 years, Harley Quinn. It also - improbably - had a huge impact on its own source material, the comics. Batman Adventures was very likely intended is a quick cash-in. It debuted in October 1992, a month after the series premiere of Batman: The Animated Series on Fox. DC likely thought that if they could get some of the show&#