John Romita, Sr

John V. Romita (; born January 24, 1930) is an American comic book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and for co-creating characters including the Punisher and Wolverine. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002. Romita is the father of John Romita Jr., also a comic book artist and husband of Virginia Romita, for many years Marvel's traffic manager.

Career

Early life and career

Romita was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Marie and Victor Romita, a baker,Romita interview
''Alter Ego'' #9, p. 4 with three sisters and a brother.
''Alter Ego'' #9, p. 6 He is of Italian descent, from Sicily. He graduated from Manhattan's School of Industrial Art in 1947, having attended for three years after spending ninth grade at a Brooklyn junior high school.Spurlock, J. David, and John Romita. ''John Romita Sketchbook''. Vanguard Productions: Lebanon, New Jersey 2002 , pp. 8–9 Among his instructors were book illustrator Howard Simon and magazine illustrator Ben Clements,Spurlock, p. 9 and his influences included comics artists Noel Sickles, Roy Crane, Milton Caniff,Romita interview
''Alter Ego'' #9, p. 7 and later, Alex Toth and Carmine Infantino, as well as commercial illustrators Jon Whitcomb, Coby Whitmore], and his secretary came out ... and I said, 'Stan doesn't know my name but I've worked for him for over a year'. I was in uniform! She must've told him this GI ... wants to do some comics. She said, 'Stan said here's a four-page science fiction story'. I penciled it and struggled with my first inking. That was the first story I did on my own. I did Westerns and war stories then".

Romita went on to draw a wide variety of horror comics, war comics, romance comics and other genres for Atlas. His most prominent work for the company was the short-lived 1950s revival of Timely's hit character Captain America, in ''Young Men'' #24–28 (Dec. 1953 – July 1954) and ''Captain America'' #76–78 (May–Sept. 1954). and Additionally, Romita would render one of his first original characters, M-11 the Human Robot, in a five-page standalone science-fiction story in '' Menace'' #11 (May 1954). While not envisioned as an ongoing character, M-11 was resurrected decades later as a member of the super-hero team Agents of Atlas.

He was the primary artist for one of the first series with a black star, "Waku, Prince of the Bantu" — created by writer Don Rico and artist Ogden Whitney in the omnibus title ''Jungle Tales'' #1 (Sept. 1954). The ongoing short feature starred an African chieftain in Africa, with no regularly featured Caucasian characters. Romita succeeded Whitney with issue #2 (Nov. 1954).

DC Comics romance-comics artist

In the mid-1950s, while continuing to freelance for Atlas, Romita did uncredited work for DC Comics before transitioning to work for DC exclusively in 1958. His first known work for the company is the tentatively identified penciling credit for the cover of romance comic ''Secret Hearts'' #58 (Oct. 1959), and, confirmably, pencils for the seven-page story "I Know My Love", inked by Bernard Sachs, in '' Heart Throbs'' #63 (Jan. 1960). Other titles to which he contributed include ''Falling in Love'', ''Girls' Love Stories'', '' Girls' Romances'', and '' Young Love''.

"I was following the DC ousestyle", he recalled in 2002. "Frequently they had another artist do the first page of my stories. Eventually I became their romance cover artist". He would " swipe"—an artists' term for using existing work as models, a common practice among novices—from movie stills and from the Milton Caniff comic strip ''Terry and the Pirates''. Bernard Sachs and Sy Barry inked some of Romita's romance work, but "by the late '50s and early '60s, I was inking my own stuff".

Shortly afterward, however, romance comics began declining in popularity, and by 1965, DC had "stopped buying any new omanceart", Romita recalled. "They had a large inventory of stories and continued with that and reprints. The other departments just never used me. I didn't go push myself in their face, either".Spurlock, p. 18 Romita's last known DC story work was the six-page "My Heart Tricked Me", inked by Sachs, in ''Girls' Romances'' #121 (Dec. 1966), though his spot illustrations, some or all of it reprints of earlier work, continued to appear on one-page "beauty tip" and other filler pages, as well as on letters pages, through early 1970, as did the occasional reprinted story.

Joining Marvel Comics

Even before his final original DC story was published, Romita had already returned to freelance for what had now become Marvel Comics. His first work for Marvel was inking Jack Kirby's cover and Don Heck's interior pencils on the superhero-team comic '' The Avengers'' #23 (Dec. 1965).

Romita directed most of his efforts, however, toward finding advertising storyboard work. He obtained a position at the large ad agency BBDO through his friend Al Normandia, one of the firm's art directors. "They were going to pay me $250 a week. I'd made just over $200 a week with the romance omicsbut only by killing myself" with long hours of work. "It had become very hard for me to come up with new ideas. ... So I said, 'If I do any comics ... I'll do inking only. ... "Spurlock, p. 19

Marvel editor Stan Lee, however, had heard of Romita's leaving DC, and asked to see him. At "a three-hour lunch", Romita recalled, Lee promised to match the agency salary if Romita would come work for Marvel, and to give him flexibility to work at home or at the office on any given day at Romita's discretion.Spurlock, pp. 20–22 Though Romita felt he no longer wanted to pencil, in favor of being solely an inker, Lee soon enticed him otherwise:

Romita began a brief stint on ''Daredevil'' beginning with issue #12 (Jan. 1966), initially penciling over Jack Kirby's dynamic layouts as a means of learning Marvel's storytelling house style. Sales perked; while the title had a smaller print run than Marvel flagships ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and ''Fantastic Four'', it briefly had the company's highest percentage of sales compared to print-run. It also proved to be a stepping-stone for Romita's signature, years-long penciling run on ''The Amazing Spider-Man''. "What Stan Lee wanted was for me to do a two-part Daredevil story ssues #16–17, May–June 1966with Spider-Man as a guest star, to see how I handled the character".

Spider-Man

The reason for the tryout was the growing estrangement between Spider-Man co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. When Ditko abruptly left Marvel after completing ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #38 (July 1966), Lee gave Romita the assignment. This followed Romita's eight-issue ''Daredevil'' run, the cover of the subsequent issue #20 (Sept. 1966), and an incidental Hulk and two Captain America stories (in ''Tales to Astonish'' #77, March 1966, and '' Tales of Suspense'' #76–77, April–May 1966, respectively). While Romita's depiction of Spider-Man would eventually become the company mascot and the definitive look to the general public, the artist had trepidations:

Lee later commented that this transition in Romita's style actually worked out for the benefit of the series, as it gradually weaned readers off the Ditko look while ultimately allowing Romita to work in the style he most excelled at. Romita took over ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' with issue #39 (Aug. 1966). His first inker on what would become Marvel's flagship series was Mike Esposito, who initially used the pseudonym "Mickey Demeo" to conceal from his regular employer, rival DC Comics, that he was moonlighting at Marvel. After three issues, Romita inked himself for issues #43–48 (Nov. 1966 – May 1967), before Esposito returned — uncredited for issue #49 (June 1967), then as Mickey Demeo until finally taking credit under his own name with issue #56 (Jan. 1968). Except for one issue (#65) inked by his successor, Jim Mooney, the Romita-Esposito team continued through issue #66 (Nov. 1968), establishing the new look of Spider-Man. ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' had been Marvel's second-best-selling title at the time Romita began drawing it. Within a year, it overtook ''Fantastic Four'' to become the company's top seller.

Romita designed the look of Mary Jane Watson, a supporting character in the ''Spider-Man'' series who would later become the lead character's romantic interest. Romita has stated that in designing Mary Jane, he "used Ann-Margret from the movie ''Bye Bye Birdie'' as a guide, using her coloring, the shape of her face, her red hair and her form-fitting short skirts." Mary Jane Watson made her first full appearance in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #42 (Nov. 1966), although she first appeared in #25 (June 1965) with her face obscured and had been mentioned since #15 (Aug. 1964). Peter David wrote in 2010 that Romita "made the definitive statement of his arrival by pulling Mary Jane out from behind the oversized potted plant hat blocked the readers' view of her face in issue #25and placing her on panel in what would instantly become an iconic moment." Other characters that debuted in the Lee-Romita era include the Rhino in #41 (Oct. 1966), the Shocker in #46 (March 1967), and the Kingpin in #50 (June 1967). Lee and Romita's stories focused as much on the social and college lives of the characters as they did on Spider-Man's adventures. The stories became more topical, addressing issues such as the Vietnam War, political elections, and student activism.

Romita, increasingly called upon to do art corrections and touch-ups, and to interface with artists for ever-busy editor Lee, became Marvel's ''de facto'' art director. Cutting back on his Spider-Man workload, Romita began doing only layouts, with finished pencils by Don Heck or Jim Mooney for nearly every issue for a year-and-a-half (#57–75, Feb. 1968 – Aug. 1969). Romita then stepped back for six issues, drawing only covers while John Buscema laid out issues #76–81 (Sept. 1969 – Feb. 1970) for others to finish.

These steps at reducing Romita's Spider-Man workload had mixed results, Romita recalled in 2001, saying, "Stan was always trying to speed me up. He had Don Heck pencil over my breakdowns for a while. ... Then, when Don had finished the pencils, ee wouldcall me in to fix up anything ... that he didn't like. Even after it was inked, he'd have me changing what the inker had done. I told him, 'This was supposed to save me time, but it isn't!' ".Romita interview
''Alter Ego'' #9, p. 30 Romita's initial run on the title, abetted by the three other artists, lasted through issue #95 (April 1971). Gil Kane succeeded him as Spider-Man's regular penciler through issue #105 (Feb. 1972). Romita then began a second stint, doing full pencils for issues #105–115 and #119 (Feb.–Dec. 1972, April 1974), and providing occasional inking and most of the cover art through issue #168 (May 1977). Romita suggested to writer Gerry Conway that supporting character Gwen Stacy should die at the hands of the Green Goblin in "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" in issue #121 (June 1973). Her demise and the Goblin's apparent death one issue later formed a story arc widely considered as the most defining in the history of Spider-Man.

In his original run on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Romita contributed a string of over 50 covers and an almost unbroken run of story layouts or full pencil-art for 56 issues as well as a 21-page story in ''The Amazing Spider-Man Annual'' #3 (Nov. 1966), the covers of ''Annual''s #5–7, and the covers and stories for the two issues of the magazine-format title ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' (July and Nov. 1968) that themselves totaled 110 story pages, the equivalent of five-and-a-half issues.

Comics-art historian Daniel Herman assessed of Romita's Spider-Man work,

Romita was the artist for the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip from its launch on January 3, 1977 through late 1980. He continued in his role as Marvel's art director during this time, anticipating that the strip would not last.

Marvel Comics art director

After editor-in-chief and art director Stan Lee assumed the positions of publisher and president in 1972, he promoted Romita to the position of art director in July 1973 after Romita had been in that position unofficially but on staff since 1972. In that capacity through at least the late 1980s, Romita played a major role in defining the look of Marvel Comics and in designing new characters. Among the characters he designed or helped design are the Punisher,John Romita Sr., in Wolverine, Luke Cage, Bullseye, Tigra, and Brother Voodoo. In 1976, Romita did uncredited art corrections on the large-format, first DC/Marvel intercompany crossover, '' Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man'', over the pencils of Ross Andru. Later that same year, Romita inked Jack Kirby's pencil work on ''Captain America's Bicentennial Battles'', a one-shot story published in an oversized treasury format.

Later career

Romita inked the debut of new Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau in ''The Amazing Spider-Man Annual'' #16 (1982) and the first appearance of the Hobgoblin in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #238 (March 1983). He was one of six pencilers on ''Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man'' #121 (Dec. 1986), and he penciled the nine-page story "I Remember Gwen" in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #365 (Aug. 1992, the 30th-anniversary issue) and an eight-page backup story starring the hero and supporting character the Prowler in ''Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual'' #13 (1993).

He both penciled and inked the 10-page backup story "The Kiss"—a flashback in which Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and his girlfriend Gwen Stacy share their first kiss—in ''Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man'' #1 (Jan. 1999). He drew an alternate-universe version of the Spider-Man characters in the one-shot ''Spidey: A Universe X Special'' (2001), and penciled the final four pages of the 38-page story in the milestone ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #500 (Dec. 2003). Romita drew one of four covers to the April 27 – May 3, 2002 issue of ''TV Guide''.

Additionally, Romita contributed to multi-artist jams in commemorative issues. He did a panel in ''Captain America'' vol. 3, #50 (Feb. 2002), starring the first Marvel superhero he had drawn; a portion of ''Iron Man'' vol. 3, #40 (May 2001), although the hero was not one of the artist's signature characters; a panel for ''Daredevil'' vol. 2, #50 (Oct. 2003); and a few pages featuring Karen Page in ''Daredevil'' vol. 2, #100 (Oct. 2007), done in the style of the romance comics he had drawn decades earlier. Romita both penciled and inked the cover of ''Daredevil'' vol. 2, #94 (Feb. 2007) in that same romance comics style. The following year he drew a variant cover of his signature series, for ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #568 (Oct. 2008), doing so again with #642 (Nov. 2010).

A Romita image of Spider-Man and a Hulk image penciled by Rich Buckler and inked by Romita were among the "Marvel Super Heroes" set of commemorative stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service on July 27, 2007.

As of 2013, he serves on the Disbursement Committee of the comic-book industry charity The Hero Initiative.

Stan Lee interviewed Romita and his son for the documentary series ''The Comic Book Greats''.

Awards

Romita received an Inkpot Award in 1979 and was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2002. Romita was inducted into the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame in 2020.GamesRadar+ 2020 Inkwell Award Winners
/ref>First Comics News: 2020 Inkwell Awards Voting Results
/ref>Inkwell Awards Winners 2020
/ref>

Personal life

John Romita Sr. married childhood sweetheart Virginia Bruno in November 1952, who also worked on staff at Marvel from 1975 to 1996.Romita interview, ''Alter Ego'' #9, p. 10; appears in print version only They lived in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood until 1954, when they bought a house in the Queens neighborhood of Queens Village.Spurlock, p. 17 Some years later, the family moved to Bellerose, New York, on Long Island.

He and his wife have two sons, Victor and John Jr. (born August 17, 1956), who followed in his footsteps to become a noted comic-book artist himself.Romita interview
''Alter Ego'' #9. Romita said when he first went to Marvel in the 1960s, "Somebody suggested I might use a phony name at Marvel — it must've been when I was doing work for both companies — and I wrote out 'John Victor,' for my two boys. Then I said, 'This is crazy. Who am I kidding? Everybody's going to know I'm doing it, so why use a phony name?'"

Bibliography

DC Comics

* '' DC 100 Page Super Spectacular'' #5 (1971)
* ''Falling in Love'' #31, 35, 50, 53–55, 70, 81 (1959–1966)
* ''Girls' Love Stories'' #82–88, 90–99, 101, 116, 120, 138, 140, 162, 165, 170 (1961–1972)
* '' Girls' Romances'' #23, 62, 76, 85, 93–95, 114, 121, 129, 159–160 (1953–1971)
* '' Heart Throbs'' #63, 65–67, 77–86, 90, 93, 99, 101 (1959–1966)
* ''Secret Hearts'' #43, 60, 69–70, 78–93, 109, 152–153 (1957–1971)
* '' Young Love'' #39–43, 45–54 (1963–1966)
* '' Young Romance'' #125–128, 130–132, 171–172, 175 (1963–1971)

Marvel Comics

* ''Adventures into Weird Worlds'' #21 (1953)
* ''All-True Crime'' #44 (1951)
* ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #39–58, 67, 72, 82–83, 87–88, 93–95, 106–119, 132, 365, 500 ''Annual '96'' #1 (as penciller); #89–92, 96, 120–125, 146, 151, 238, 247, 274, 400, ''Annual'' #16 (as inker only) (1966–2003) (Romita drew additional Silver Age issues as layout artist for pencilers Don Heck and Jim Mooney.)
* ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' vol. 2, #18 (inker) (2000)
* ''The Amazing Spider-Man Special Edition'' (1982)
* ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' comic strip (1977–1980)
* ''Astonishing'' #7, 18, 24, 43, 57, 61 (1951–1957)
* '' The Avengers'' #23 (inker) (1965)
* ''Battle'' #14, 26, 39, 45, 49, 53, 57–59 (1952–1958)
* ''Battle Action'' #20, 22, 25, 27, 29 (1955–1957)
* ''Battlefront'' #6, 10 (1952–1953)
* ''Battle Ground'' #9 (1956)
* ''Black Knight'' #4 (1955)
* ''Captain America'' #114, 138–145, 148 (1969–1972)
* ''Captain America'' vol. 3 #50 (among other artists) (2002)
* ''Captain America Comics'' #76–78 (1954)
* ''Caught'' #2 (1956)
* ''Combat'' #3, 6 (1952)
* ''Commando Adventures'' #2 (1957)
* ''Cowboy Action'' #10 (1956)
* ''Crime Cases Comics'' #7 (1951)
* ''Crime Exposed'' #5 (1951)
* ''Daredevil'' #12–19 (1966)
* ''Daredevil'' vol. 2 #50, 100 (among other artists) (2003–2007)
* ''Doctor Strange'' vol. 2 #7 (inker) (1975)
* '' Droids'' #1–4 (1986)
* ''Fantastic Four'' #103–106, 108 (1970–1971)
* ''Frontier Western'' #7 (1957)
* ''Gunsmoke Western'' #38 (1956)
* '' The Incredible Hulk Annual'' #17 (1991)
* ''Journey into Unknown Worlds'' #22 (1953)
* ''Jungle Action'' #2–6 (1954–1955)
* ''Justice'' #42 (1954)
* ''Kid Colt Outlaw'' #70 (1957)
* '' Kingpin'' #1 (1997)
* ''Lorna, the Jungle Girl'' #17–26 (1956–1957)
* ''Love Romances'' #35, 37 (1954)
* ''Marines in Battle'' #3–4, 19 (1954–1957)
* ''Marvel Presents: Guardians of the Galaxy'' #3 (inker, Cover Art) (February 1976)
* ''Marvel Romance Redux: But I Thought He Loved Me'' #1 (inker) (2006)
* ''Marvel Romance Redux: Guys & Dolls'' #1 (inker) (2006)
* ''Marvel Romance Redux: Love is a Four-Letter Word'' #1 (2006)
* '' Marvel Tales'' #108 (1952)
* '' Marvel Tales'' vol. 2 #81 (1977)
* '' Marvel Treasury Special'' #2 ("Captain America's Bicentennial Battles") (inker) (1976)
* ''Men's Adventures'' #22, 24, 28 (1953–1954)
* ''Menace'' #3, 6, 8, 11 (1953–1954)
* ''My Love'' #1–3, 14, 16 (1969–1972)
* ''My Love Story'' #9 (1957)
* ''My Own Romance'' #36, 40 (1954)
* ''Mystery Tales'' #7, 37, 41 (1953–1956)
* '' Mystic'' #11, 15, 23, 25 (1952–1953)
* ''Navy Action'' #5 (1955)
* ''Navy Combat'' #12 (1957)
* ''Our Love Story'' #1–2, 5 (inker) (1969–1970)
* ''Outlaw Kid'' #5 (1955)
* '' Questprobe'' #1 (inker) (1984)
* '' Ringo Kid'' #11 (1956)
* ''Savage Tales'' (Femizons) #1 (1971)
* ''Secret Story Romances'' #16, 18 (1955)
* ''Sergio Aragonés Massacres Marvel'' #1 (inker) (1996)
* ''Six-Gun Western'' #1, 4 (1957)
* ''Spaceman'' #1 (1953)
* ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' #121, ''Annual'' #13 (1986–1993)
* ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' magazine #1–2 (1968)
* ''Spellbound'' #13, 24, 26–28 (1953–1956)
* ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man, Spider-Man'' #57 (penciller) (1995)
* ''Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda'' #0 (1994)
* ''Spy Cases'' #5 (1951)
* ''Stories of Romance'' #5, 11 (1956–1957)
* ''Strange Tales'' #4, 35 (1951–1955)
* ''Strange Tales of the Unusual'' #1 (1955)
* ''Suspense'' #20, 25 (1952)
* '' Tales of Suspense'' (Captain America) #76–77 (1966)
* ''Tales to Astonish'' #67 (Hank Pym, Giant Man); #77 (Hulk) (inker) (1965–1966)
* ''The Tomb of Dracula'' magazine #2 (inker) (1979)
* ''True Secrets'' #4, 13, 38 (1951–1956)
* ''Two Gun Western'' #8 (inker) (1951)
* ''Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special'' #1 (2002)
* ''Uncanny Tales'' #10 (1953)
* ''Uncanny X-Men'' #177 (inker) (1984)
* ''Earth X#Universe X, Universe X: Spidey'' #1 (inker) (2001)
* ''Untold Tales of Spider-Man'' #-1 (1997)
* ''Vampire Tales'' #2 (1973)
* ''War Action'' #10–11 (1953)
* ''War Adventures'' #7, 9 (1952)
* ''War Comics'' #10, 16, 20, 29, 40, 42 (1952–1956)
* ''Web of Spider-Man'' #52 (inker) (1989)
* ''Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man'' #1 (1999)
* ''Western Kid'' #1–17 (1954–1957)
* ''Western Outlaws'' #1, 7, 11, 13–14 (1954–1956)
* ''Western Outlaws and Sheriffs'' #70 (1951)
* ''Wild Western'' #24 (1952)
* ''World of Mystery'' #2 "(1956)
* ''World of Suspense'' #5 (1956)
* ''Young Men'' #24–28 (Captain America) (1953–1954)

Marvel Comics and DC Comics

* '' Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man'' #1 (1976)

Notes

References

External links

*

John Romita Sr.
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics


at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romita, John, Sr
1930 births
Living people
American art directors
American comics artists
American people of Italian descent
American storyboard artists
Artists from Brooklyn
Golden Age comics creators
High School of Art and Design alumni
Inkpot Award winners
Marvel Comics people
People from Bellerose, New York
Silver Age comics creators
United States Army soldiers
Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees