Captain America Vol 9 #12 Cover D Variant Alex Ross Marvels 25th Cover

Buying a new Alex Ross cover, the most I've spent on a single piece, was definitely not on my 2025 Collecting Bingo Card a month ago. But that is what is so exciting about this hobby and the connections we make.

I was contacted by a collector who wanted to buy my Secret Wars cover that I purchased from Sal, Alex's rep, in 2021. I told him I was willing to sell it if I could find another Ross piece to replace it.

Sal sent me a few scans of what he currently had and this one jumped off my screen. Marvels was so groundbreaking. The book got everyone's attention at a peak moment in my comic collecting teens.
I remember getting those issues signed by Alex, along with Kingdom Come, when he appeared at Heroes Con in 1996.

This tribute piece to that series really checked so many boxes for me. Cap is in his classic costume and there are no scary villains like Red Skull that would give me pause about hanging it where my kids could see it. The scene of social unrest seems so relevant to our times. The coolest part is that the inspiration was taken directly from pages drawn by John Romita Sr. in 1971. I've included photos from that book also.

The timing of this whole deal is pretty crazy also. I bought my first Ross cover in 2017. I sold it in 2021 and purchased my second. I sold that one in 2025 to purchase my third. So my stewardship over these masterpieces is running the length of a presidential term. And each sale has helped me fund its replacement. So I guess we'll see what happens in 2029.