R.I.P. John Romita Sr: An Art For Art’s Sake Celebration
by Richard Bruton
Another legend of the comics medium leaves us – Rest in peace John Romita Senior…
Over the last couple of days, we heard of the sad death of one of the legends of US comics, John Romita Senior.
Romita’s son, John Romita Jr. posted this on Twitter…
I say this with a heavy heart, My father passed away peacefully in his sleep. He is a legend in the art world and it would be my honor to follow in his footsteps. Please keep your thoughts and condolences here out of respect for my family.
He was the greatest man I ever met. pic.twitter.com/Pe2K3ywbWX— John Romita JR (@JrRomita) June 14, 2023
Romita Sr. passed away on Monday 12th June 2023, thankfully peacefully, at the age of 93. Obviously, everyone in comics is saddened by his passing, but let us praise and celebrate one of the US’s finest comic artists, a man who drew many of our childhoods and a man whose love of art is surpassed only by the love that his millions of fans worldwide have for him and have been showing in the hours and days since Romita’s death.
Born on January 24th, 1930, Romita Senior’s long and glorious career in comics included one of the most well-loved runs on Spider-Man, not to mention, in his role as Marvel’s art director, establishing what would be seen as the Marvel style, designing new characters including Punisher, Wolverine, and Luke Cage, and introducing Mary Jane Watson in this classic moment…
Romita Sr was the husband of Virginia Romita – they were childhood sweethearts – who worked at Marvel as their traffic manager and a key part of the company from the mid-’70s to 1996. He was also the father to two sons, Victor and John Jr, whose art continues his father’s legacy.
He began in comics in 1949 at Timely, one of the early iterations of the company that would become Marvel Comics. He worked at Atlas Comics and DC Comics through the 1950s and 60s, including work on many of DC’s romance comics. But it was his work at Marvel Comics from 1965 that he’ll be most remembered for, particularly his work on Spider-Man, where he became artist after the co-creator and artist Steve Ditko left.
His style was instantly successful, indeed it would become THE style for Spider-Man and for Marvel Comics for many years to come, with his imagery appearing on countless comics and merchandise over the years. Indeed, there’s a high chance that anyone who ever had something with Spidey on, particularly in the last three decades of the 20th Century, would have their own Romita artwork. I know I was one of them.
So raise a glass in celebration of a giant who lived a long life and whose art will continue to entertain and amaze readers long after his sad death.
John Romita Senior – January 24, 1930 – June 12, 2023 (aged 93)
