Anything Alex Ross illustrates immediately becomes the definitive version of that thing in my mind. If he drew a picture of the back of my hand and showed it to me, even if it looked noooothing like my hand, I would just accept that as the ultimate version of my hand. “You nailed it, Alex. That is my hand,” I would enthusiastically say to him as I forked over the ridiculous amount of money it would probably cost for him to accept such an odd and ridiculous commission.

Admit it, though. When you think of Marvel and DC characters, you think of his drawings. He has a way of making everything he does seem timeless. Take, for example, this variant cover he did for Star Wars #1, the first issue in a new ongoing series from Marvel that will focus on characters from the original trilogy. If you look at Luke, Han, and Leia, even though they’re wearing clothes from A New Hope, their faces look like an amalgamation of how the actors looked as they aged throughout filming the trilogy. Luke, in particular, is a perfect blend of Mark Hamill pre/post the accident that fractured his nose and cheekbone. The cover also serves as an homage to Howard Chaykin’s iconic cover for first issue of the original Star Wars comic that started in 1977, which I’ve included below for comparison.

Marvel’s new Star Wars comic series will kick off in January 2015. The variant cover debuted on Entertainment Weekly.