A Memoriam In Four Colours: John Romita
It is with great sadness that the final bell has tolled for Ring-a-ding Romita. It brings to an end a distinguished career in comics that has seen it all. From Romance, to war and the biggest heroes around. As he pulls his chair up to the great drawing board in the sky we look back on the life of Jazzy John and his legacy.
To begin with my personal connection to John Romita’s work and it’s a pretty significant one, being the writer of Wolverine Wednesday and all. There was a lot of different creative input to the final creation of Wolverine. Romita’s was the costume, though the whiskers may be long gone the blue and yellow theme has stood the test of time. Sure people may love the brown and tan look, but when you think Wolverine, you think blue and yellow! My other big love is Daredevil and he more than left his mark there too despite only working on eight issues. I only currently own one issue from that run, but it is one where he gains a co-creator credit for Gladiator in #18. Two of his issues that are on my wish list are #16 and #17 which feature Spider-Man. Romita gets another co-creator credit for his costume design for Bullseye, another big deal in Daredevil continuity. One lasting memory I have of John Romita is a documentary from the Daredevil DVD. I liken his presence to that of everyone’s favourite Grandpa, a gentle giant. The story that stands out of him packing the car up for a weekend away fishing and plotting stories with John Junior on the drive.
A 60-year-plus career in comics began after graduating from the Manhattan School of Industrial Art. He was making $30 a week for Forbes Lithograph when a friend offered him $20 a page to pencil a ten-page story. The rest is history. One of his first paid gigs was for Famous Funnies, although it was never published it set him on a career path. The story was a love story and for a long period of his career he specialized in Romance comics, in particular the covers. It is crazy to think that Romita worked at DC for fifteen years and never touched the big characters. Stan Lee must have been rubbing his hands with glee when he returned to Marvel in December of ’65. He had previously worked at Marvel in the Atlas days, working on Westerns, war stories and the revived Captain America title. Back at Marvel under the new regime he started out as an inker before getting the Daredevil job. The previously mentioned #16 and #17 didn’t feature Spider-Man by chance. Stan Lee set it up as an audition as his relationship with Ditko was at breaking point and he need a replacement. In August of 1966, John Romita took over the reins of Amazing Spider-Man with #39 and the character changed forever.
Even if you have never read a Spider-Man comic, but have seen a live-action movie, an animated movie or an animated TV series then you have seen imagery inspired by the work of John Romita on his 56-issue run on Amazing Spider-Man. He brought his romance comics background with him and the characters, especially the females of the cast became more fashionable. Most notable of all is the now famous Mary Jane Watson splash page of “Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!” Another image that is homaged time and time again is the ‘Spider-Man No More’ cover to #50 and the subsequent splash page of Peter Parker walking away from the costume he has thrown in a trash can. Other notable creations during this career and character-defining run are The Punisher, The Kingpin and Vanessa Fisk (again huge the Daredevil mythology) and a sleek redesign of Black Widow. Then there is Rhino, Hammerhead, Hobgoblin! Classic villains who are still loved and revisited to this day! Outside of the Spider-Man series he is also responsible for Jack Monroe, Nova and Luke Cage. Previously in 1954, Romita had worked on a series with the first black lead in Jungle Tales #1 now here he was creating a character who would prove to be groundbreaking and popular because of his background. In 1973 he would become art director and it was in this role that many of his costume designs I have already mentioned bore fruit. His work remains relevant to this day and in later years he would often provide panels or pages to milestone issues of characters he has a strong connection to like Daredevil and Spider-Man. In 2007 he provided a variant cover for Daredevil #94 during the Ed Brubaker run harkening back to his romance comic days.
John Romita won the Inkpot Award in 1979 and was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2002. His accolades and awards speak for themselves. His contribution to comics, in particular the Spider-Man mythology is highly regarded as one of the best. His influence and legendary status are set in stone because of it. And most importantly of all young and old fans alike are still finding enjoyment in the work he has left behind. At this time my thoughts are with John’s friends and family.
