John Romita Sr. (1930-2023) RIP

Almost impossible to put this loss into words (but I'm sure there will be others on this site who will do it much more eloquently). If Marvel Comics had a Mount Rushmore, certainly John Romita would have a guaranteed spot on it. His impact and influence at the company was both staggering and profound. I guess it would be easy enough to refer to him as just “the Spider-man guy.” But anyone who knows anything about comics, and especially Marvel, knows he was so much more than that. He joined Marvel in 1966 and for the next almost half century he not only became a go-to artist, a star artist, and eventually Marvel’s Art Director, but was basically THE art guru at Marvel. He created, co-created, or helped design countless characters, he mentored up and coming young artists, and he was the guy you would go to who could fix artistic problems on any panel, page, issue, title, or character. Whether it was a layout or composition problem, a pose, anatomy, or proportion problem, an angle or perspective problem, or a costume design problem, Romita was your man. I can’t imagine any art related dilemma he couldn’t solve, fix, or improve. His value at Marvel was immeasurable. And when all is said and done, he will have a permanent and revered place in comics history. Nothing will stop us from feeling sad. But if you want to feel a little bit better (and pay tribute to John at the same time), go dig through your Spidey comic box and pull out any Romita issue and read it. I will probably spend the rest of the day with my omnibus books.

My deepest condolences, along with thoughts and prayers, to his family. Rest in peace John (and thanks for all those great stories that made Spider-man my favorite character).