I was sad today to hear that the legendary John Romita Sr. had passed away at the ripe old age of 93. "Jazzy Johnny" was one of the mainstays of the Marvel universe, his smooth style an unmistakable visual roadmap to the time of the Silver and Bronze Ages. From his early days of illustrating the brief Captain America revival of the Atlas era, through his romance comics work for DC, and through to his triumphant run on Spider-Man, Romita lent a touch of class and glamour to everything he worked on. He successfully tackled the tough gigs of taking over from Jack Kirby ( Fantastic Four ) and Steve Ditko ( Spider-Man ), and brought new life and sophistication to Daredevil and Captain America. His work on dozens of comic covers, as well as Marvel's advertising and licensed products, made Romita's style "the" look of the Marvel universe for many fans. I'm going to share a few images of the great man's work from my collection, namely two of my favourite comics, the iconic Amazing Spider-Man no. 50 and the first FF comic I ever owned, Fantastic Four no. 106...
Of course, Romita was well known for drawing fantastic female characters and created the iconic look of Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker's perennial love interest. Romita's glamorous touch transformed the angular world Ditko had originated and gave Peter and the strip a more "grown up" feel.
I've written about this issue of the FF before but it's always good to share it again. The cover artwork and many of the images inside are permanently etched into my brain, a testament to the enduring excellence of Romita's visual ability. I love the sequence below, simply done but hugely effective. And the colouring ( I'm assuming not by Romita ) is just wonderful in all its newsprint glory...
Again, Jazzy Johnny draws a beautiful Susan Richards, showing how he brought his romance comics sensibility to the super hero genre.
RIP John Romita ( 24/02/1930 - 12/06/2023 )
Thanks for the years of spectacular entertainment, Jazzy John, you were truly a master of your craft.
5 comments:
Jazzy John was brilliant, he never produced anything other than great art on his covers and comics. When I read his FF strips in Marvel UK (can't recall the comic) I thought it was excellent and wish he had done more. Two great comics to own Simon by one of the greatest ever comic artists.
Thanks for the comment, Paul. I've got a feeling Romita's FF strips were reprinted in The Titans. I seem to remember reading them in the "landscape" format, but the memory often cheats so I could be completely wrong...
Your tribute to Jazzy Johnny on your own blog is lovely, with some cracking examples of the great man's artwork.
( Sorry I haven't commented on there, but I'm trying to avoid K*d R*bs*n who pops up there a lot. We had a falling out a few years ago and I don't want to stir anything up on your blog. )
Ah it was indeed the The Titans Simon, well remembered. Sorry to hear about the MR issues I wasn't aware of that, He's normally such a placid wee soul as well lol.
Sorry I meant to add glad you liked my Romita piece and the art.
No problem, mate. Thanks, as ever, for your support of this old blog :-)
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