The artist turns people from retro photos into comic book and book characters (19 photos)

"We all have a hero in us," said May, Spider-Man's aunt. New York artist Alex Gross completely agrees with her: he came to the same conclusion while delving into the archive of old photographs taken back in the 1870s.

Alex was able to not only see the hero in each of those photographed, but also visualize his idea: by drawing directly on the photo, he turned the people captured in old photographs into fictional characters.

This idea became the basis for an entire project, and Alex has already collected several dozen funny and creative retro illustrations in his portfolio.