JOHN ROMITA SR Very First PUNISHER Concept Drawing
Artist: John Romita (Penciller)
22 Comments - 6,421 Views - 11 Likes
Additional Images:
On Display at MoPOP in Seattle
Punisher Omnibus
Printed in the Marvel 50th Anniversary book by Les Daniels (1991)
The Hand Off from Mike Burkey (SDCC 2017)
John Romita Sr. - The Original Owner/Creator!
Artwork Details
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DescriptionIn celebration of the release of the Punisher Back to War Omnibus, I wanted to post a grail piece that I was able to obtain this year after a long quest. As a huge Punisher collector, it's great to be able to study and own this great bit of history. I want to thank Mike Burkey for making this happen. This piece has been owned by its original creator John Romita Sr. for the last 44 years. Mike was able to help me to acquire this piece from John so I could add a crown jewel to my Punisher collection.My understanding of the origin of this piece is that Gerry Conway had done a very quick drawing of a character with a skull on his chest. Romita then created this detailed drawing to flesh out the character. It was Romita's genius to make the gun belt form the teeth in the Punisher's skull costume. The key elements of the character are all there in this one drawing - the skull shirt, the white gloves and boots, the receding hairline, the gun and the knife! On this page, you'll see the original names that were toyed with: 1) "The Grim Reaper" - unfortunately there was already an Avengers villain with that name; 2) "The Executioner" - This was the book series from which the character was based. Likely, Marvel didn't want to make the connection that blatant so they ended up with "the Punisher." It's hard to believe that Romita also designed Wolverine around the same timeframe (see Vince Oliva's gallery to view those great designs). Two characters that dominated the Marvel Universe in the late 1980's. And, both are going strong today. It's hard to top this one, but if anyone has a line on the cover to Amazing Spider-man #129, well, I'm up for starting a new quest! If you're a Punisher fan, don't forget to pick up a copy of the Punisher Back to War Omnibus. I helped pull together bonus material for it - it's really a must have for fans of those early Punisher appearances like I am. UPDATE: Through September 2019, you can see this piece live at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It is part of the amazing Marvel Exhibition that you don't want to miss. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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P A 
Member Since 2013
Posted on 9/6/2017
Incredibly cool!!! What an amazing piece of Marvel history!!
John Espinoza
Member Since 2014
Posted on 9/6/2017
What's amazing about this is that I had no idea such a piece existed! Did anyone?! Congrats on this grail find!
Jonathan Mueller
Member Since 2005
Posted on 9/7/2017
Very, VERY, cool! Congrats, and thanks for sharing!
K Gearon
Member Since 2011
Posted on 9/7/2017
Wow! Awesome piece of history you have here. Sincere congrats!
Jeremy Radisich
Member Since 2004
Posted on 9/7/2017
Awesome that you got this from Romita himself--congrats!
Steve Kro
Member Since 2007
Posted on 9/7/2017
Oddly enough I see a strange resemblance to Dolph Lundgren. Congrats on landing a massively important piece of the Mighty Marvel Universe. This is great!
Dan Ripoll
Member Since 2003
Posted on 9/7/2017
LEGENDARY art score! This is huge piece of Bronze Age history. Congrats!
Carlos DS
Member Since 2006
Posted on 9/11/2017
Thanks for posting this wonderful sketch . Absolutely awesome, amazing piece.
Bill C
Member Since 2009
Posted on 9/12/2017
Fantastic piece of Marvel comics history. Congrats on obtaining something of this importance.
David Matheny
Member Since 2021
Posted on 12/20/2021
wow. just wow. what an amazing piece of comic book history you get to give a home. congrats
Steven Dilworth
Member Since 2012
Posted on 1/25/2025
This needs to be put in the Monthly Sketchbook
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