| John Romita Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Romita at a signing at Midtown Comics in Manhattan | |
| Born | (1956-08-17)August 17, 1956 (age 68) New York City, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Penciller |
| Pseudonym(s) | JRJR |
Notable works | The Amazing Spider-Man Daredevil Iron Man Kick-Ass Superman Uncanny X-Men |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (1994) Eisner Award (2002) |
John Salvatore Romita[1] (/rəˈmiːtə/; born August 17, 1956)[2] is an Americancomics artist best known for his extensive work forMarvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2010s. He is the son of artistJohn Romita Sr.
John Romita Jr. was born August 17, 1956,[2] the son of Virginia (Bruno) and comic book artistJohn Romita Sr., one of the signatureSpider-Man artists since the 1960s.[3][4] He studied advertising art and design atFarmingdale State College inEast Farmingdale, New York, graduating in 1976.[5]
Romita Jr.'s first contribution to Marvel Comics was at the age of 13 with the creation of the originalProwler, a sketch of which Romita had produced. EditorStan Lee liked the name but not the costume; Romita combined the name with a design that he had previously intended for a character called the Stalker that was intended for the never-publishedThe Spectacular Spider-Man #3.[6] Inspired by Romita's drawing, Lee,John Buscema andJim Mooney created the Hobie Brown version of the character that would debut inThe Amazing Spider-Man #78 (Nov. 1969).[7]
Romita Jr. began his career atMarvel UK, doing sketches for covers of reprints. His American debut was a pin-up on Kid Colt Outlaw #218 and two months later with a six-page story entitled "Chaos at the Coffee Bean!" inThe Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 (1977).[1][8]
Romita's early popularity began with his run onIron Man with writerDavid Michelinie and artistBob Layton which began in 1978. The creative team introduced several supporting characters, including Tony Stark's bodyguard girlfriendBethany Cabe[9] and rival industrialistJustin Hammer.[10] In the early 1980s, he had his first regular run on the seriesThe Amazing Spider-Man and also was the artist for the launch of theDazzler series. He and writerDennis O'Neil introducedMadame Web inThe Amazing Spider-Man #210 (Nov. 1980)[11] andHydro-Man in issue #212 (Jan. 1981).[12] In 1982, Romita Jr. drewMarvel Super Hero Contest of Champions[13] the firstlimited series published by Marvel Comics. Working with writerRoger Stern onThe Amazing Spider-Man, he co-created the characterHobgoblin.[14] From 1983 to 1986 he had a run on theUncanny X-Men withDan Green and authorChris Claremont and co-createdForge.[15] Romita has downplayed the significance of his run, saying that few of the characters introduced during this time were co-created by him and that his style has had no discernible influence on succeeding X-Men artists. His relationship with Claremont was rather cool at the time, as Claremont did not like his work as much as the artists he had previously worked with.[16] He would return for a second run onUncanny X-Menin 1993,[8] which he said he liked better "because of getting to work with [writer]Scott Lobdell."[16]
After he ended his first run onThe Uncanny X-Men, Romita was assigned toStar Brand, one of the titles on Marvel'sNew Universe imprint, which featured a character the Romita was told would be Marvel's version ofSuperman. The title did not do well in sales, and Romita could not return to the X-Men. This experience, and personality conflicts that he had with those in editorial left Romita so disillusioned that he considered quitting the industry entirely. However, editorRalph Macchio approached him one day as Romita was leaving the Marvel offices and asked him to consider working onDaredevil. Romita had never considered working on that character, despite the fact that his father had done so, but Macchio said he would be paired with writerAnn Nocenti, and that he would not only be allowed to dofull pencils for the first time[17] (having previously been restricted to doing only breakdowns[18]), but would also collaborate on plots, and be allowed to choose his own inker. A skeptical Romita jokingly said he wantedAl Williamson, and was surprised when Williamson was assigned was confirmed a day later.[17] For Romita himself, his stint onDaredevil was most significant for being both the first time he was allowed to do full pencils, and the first time he had a working relationship with the writer on a series. He later remarked that "I finally felt like I was part of the creation process for the first time while I was on DD."[18] In a 2017 interview withSyFy Wire, Romita stated this run reinvigorated his enthusiasm for comics work, marking a turning point in his career. His run on the title from 1988 to 1990 included the creation of long-running Daredevil nemesisTyphoid Mary.[19] AfterDaredevil #282, Romita left the series to pursue other projects, though his experience onDaredevil would influence his later return to the character withFrank Miller.[17]
Stan Lee interviewed Romita and his father in Episode 8 of the 1991–1992 documentary seriesThe Comic Book Greats.
He worked on a host of Marvel titles during the 1990s, including a return toIron Man for the second "Armor Wars" story arc, written byJohn Byrne;The Punisher War Zone;[20] theCable miniseries;[21] and thePunisher/Batman crossover.Klaus Janson was a frequent inker.[8]
Romita contacted Frank Miller and told him that he wanted to collaborate on agraphic novel, suggesting they work onWolverine. Miller dismissed this, saying that too many other creators were producing books featuring that character, and instead sent Romita a rejected 64-pagefilm treatment for what was essentially a "Daredevil Year One"-type story. After Romita completed adapating the story into comics form, Miller told him that he had written an addendum to be set in between Pages 17 and 18, which ended up adding 84 more pages to the book, changing its format. The result was the 144-page, 5-issue miniseriesDaredevil: The Man Without Fear,[17][18] which was published in 1993,[22] The book was a retelling of thecharacter's origin, which reunited Romita with Williamson on inks.[18] In multiple interviews, Romita said that in terms of storytelling, he thought thatMan Without Fear was the best work he had ever done,[17][18] due to the strong storytelling and the quality of the story.[3][17][23] Elements from the storyline were adapted into the 2015Netflix seriesDaredevil.[17]
In July 1998Dan Jurgens and Romita Jr. relaunched theThor series.[24]
A January 1999 reboot ofPeter Parker: Spider-Man was handled byHoward Mackie and Romita Jr.[25]
In 2001, Romita returned to Spider-Man for a collaboration with writerJ. Michael Straczynski beginning withThe Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 #30 (June 2001).[26] The creative team produced a story for issue #36 (Dec. 2001) that served as memorial to the victims of theSeptember 11 attacks.[27] He drew Marvel'sWolverine with authorMark Millar. In 2004, Romita's creator-owned projectThe Gray Area was published byImage Comics. He subsequently worked on the Marvel seriesBlack Panther,The Sentry and "Ultimate Vision", a backup feature in theUltimate Marvel line, written by Mark Millar.[8]
In 2006, Romita collaborated with writerNeil Gaiman on a seven-issue miniseries reinterpretation ofJack Kirby's characters theEternals.[28][29] Romita worked with Greg Pak on the five-issue central miniseries of Marvel's 2007crossover storyline, "World War Hulk".[30][31]
In 2008, Romita again returned toThe Amazing Spider-Man.[32] He also collaborated once more with Millar, for a creator-owned series,Kick-Ass, published by Marvel's Icon imprint. This was later adapted into the2010 filmKick-Ass. Romita, one of the producers, directed an animated flashback sequence in the film.[33]
Also in 2010 he relaunched theAvengers title with popular writerBrian Michael Bendis as part of Marvel'sHeroic Age initiative.[34]
On April 9, 2011, Romita was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at theIGN stage at the Kapow! convention in London to set twoGuinness World Records, the "Fastest Production of a Comic Book" and "Most Contributors to a Comic Book". With Guinness officials on hand to monitor their progress, writer Millar began work at 9 a.m. scripting a 20-page black-and-white comic book of his characterSuperior, with Romita and the other artists appearing on stage throughout the day to work on the pencils, inks, and lettering, each drawing a panel.[35][36] The book was completed in 11 hours, 19 minutes, and 38 seconds, and was published through Icon on November 23, 2011, with all royalties being donated to Yorkhill Children's Foundation.[35]
On May 4, 2012, Romita set out to break his own record for continuous cartooning, to support the charityCandlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada. He attempted to continuously sketch characters and sign comics for 50 hours straight.[37]
In 2014, Romita Jr. became the penciller of the DC Comics flagship titleSuperman, starting with issue #32, in collaboration with writerGeoff Johns.[38][39] Romita Jr.'sSuperman pencils have been inked by Klaus Janson.[40] In 2016, Romita Jr. and writerScott Snyder collaborated on theAll-Star Batman series as part of theDC Rebirth relaunch.[41][42] Romita Jr. and writerDan Abnett createdThe Silencer series as part of DC's "Dark Metal" line.[43] In addition, Romita worked with Frank Miller on theSuperman: Year One mini-series.[44][45]
In 2020, Romita drew Kelly Sue DeConnick's story "Fore" forDetective Comics' 1027th issue.[46]
In 2022 he once again returned to the Amazing Spider-Man title, this time with writerZeb Wells[47]
Romita's art influences include his fatherJohn Romita Sr.,[3] as well as comics artistsJack Kirby[3][23] andJohn Buscema,[3] theWyeth family of painters,[3] and illustratorCharles Dana Gibson.[3]
Having illustrated both gritty street-level stories of characters such as Spider-Man and Daredevil and cosmic stories such as those starring Thor, Romita says he prefers the former, because "that is where I grew up. I use the same approach to each of the different story types – the story tells me what to do."[3] He prefers to work in theMarvel Method.
John Romita Jr. received anInkpot Award in 1994.[48]
With writerJ. Michael Straczynski and inker Scott Hanna, Romita Jr. won a 2002Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story:The Amazing Spider-Man #30-35: "Coming Home".[49]
Future Marvel artist John Romita, Jr. – who was thirteen years old at the time- came up with a character called the Prowler and sent a drawing to Stan Lee.
Writer Denny O'Neil's newest contribution to the Spider-Man mythos would come in the form of psychic Madame Web, a character introduced with the help of artist John Romita Jr.
{{cite book}}:|first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)DC has just releasedAll-Star Batman, a dark road-trip story in the American midwest. The superhero-horror comic, created by beloved DC heavyweights Scott Snyder and John Romita Jr., is the freshest and scariest Batman story since 1988'sThe Cult.
The artist described his and writer Dan Abnett'sSilencer title as something akin to 'a female John Wick.'
| Preceded by | Iron Man artist 1978–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Iron Man artist 1980–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | The Amazing Spider-Man artist 1980–1984 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Uncanny X-Men artist 1983–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Daredevil artist 1988–1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Iron Man artist 1990–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Uncanny X-Men artist 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Spider-Man artist 1996–1998 | Succeeded by n/a |
| Preceded by | The Amazing Spider-Man artist 2000–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Wolverine artist 2004–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by n/a | The Avengers vol. 4 artist 2010 | Succeeded by |
