For fans of DC’s Stargirl, the series offers up a lot of visual nods and references to the comics be it the moving truck in the series pilot that is lifted right off the pages of Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. to wardrobe elements on the series as well. The biggest visual nod, however, came during the series’ third episode, “Icicle”, which saw Courtney Whitmore visit the Justice Society of America headquarters for the first time — a visit that treated fans to beautiful banners of each of the team’s fallen heroes. But it wasn’t just fans who noticed the banners reminiscent of Justice Society of America comics. Legendary artist Alex Ross also noticed them as well as their similarities to his own work and now he’s calling the show out for a lack of credit where credit is due.
On Twitter, Ross, who did a series of covers and other work for the Justice Society of America series by Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham, shared his covers along with the banners from the episode, letting fans see for themselves the similarities between the show’s images and his work.
“#nocredit given for their use in [DC’s Stargirl] #swipe? #jsa #artists #Monday Motivation #mondaythoughts,” Ross captioned one post. You can check out both for yourself below.
#nocredit given for their use in @stargirl_cw #swipe? #jsa #artists #MondayMotivation #mondaythoughts pic.twitter.com/t3nJ8dCxns
— Alex Ross (@thealexrossart) June 8, 2020
#Stargirl #banners used in @stargirl_cw #JSA #dccomics #art #Stargirl #comic @SalAbbinanti #mondaythoughts #MondayMotivaton pic.twitter.com/McPRB8FfIl
— Alex Ross (@thealexrossart) June 8, 2020
Generally speaking, it’s an interesting situation. While it’s clear that the images on Stargirl are inspired by Ross’s beautiful work from Justice Society of America, they aren’t direct copies. The images used on the series appear to be photographs of actors in actual costumes rather than artwork itself, something that a report from Screen Rant appears to confirm, noting that the images were in fact inspired by Ross but are photographs. They also note that the images shared by Ross had previously been watermarked, but those watermarks were reportedly cropped in his post.
It’s also worth noting that while there are similarities, there are also notable differences in some of them, including poses for Dr. Fate and Wildcat and costuming differences as well — most notable in the case of Hourman — and in general, the costume choices are in line with versions of the characters that predate Ross’ work, something that some on Twitter noted.
Differences and similarities aside, Ross’s comments bring up larger questions about how the contribution of comics writers and artists are credited, especially when a particular image or take is as recognizable as is Ross’s acclaimed art.
What do you think? Should Ross receive credit for inspiring Stargirl’s JSA images? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8/7 on The CW. New episodes debut Mondays on DC Universe.
Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.