John Romita, Jr.

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John Romita, Jr.
John Romita, Jr., photographed in 2006
Born	John Salvatore Romita Jr. August 17, 1956 (1956-08-17) (age 53) New York City, New York
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Penciller
Pseudonym(s)	JRJR
Notable works	Iron Man Uncanny X-Men Amazing Spider-Man
Awards	Inkpot Award, 1994 Eisner Award, 2002

John Salvatore Romita, Jr. (born August 17, 1956) is an American comic book artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2000s. He is often referred to as JRJR (the abbreviation of John Romita, Jr.)

Biography

Romita was born in New York City, the son of John Romita, Sr., co-creator of several notable Spider-Man stories in the 1960s and 1970s.

He began his career at Marvel UK, doing sketches for covers of reprints. His American debut was with a six page story entitled "Chaos at the Coffee Bean!" in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 (1977).

Romita's early popularity began with his run on Iron Man with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton which began in 1978. In the early 1980s, he had his first regular run on the Amazing Spider-Man series and also was the artist for the launch of the Dazzler series. Working with writer Roger Stern on Amazing Spider-Man, he co created the character Hobgoblin and he drew an issue in which Spider-Man would encounter the Juggernaut where the villain would end up trapped in cement foundations. From 1983 to 1986 he had a run on the popular Uncanny X-Men with Dan Green and author Chris Claremont which was well-received. He would return for a second well-received run on Uncanny X-Men in 1993.

Cover art for The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2, #43 (April 2003), by John Romita, Jr. and Scott Hanna.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Romita enjoyed an extended stint on Daredevil with writer Ann Nocenti and Eisner Award-winning inker Al Williamson, noted for its creation of long-running Daredevil nemesis Typhoid Mary. His work on Daredevil was well-received, with Romita Jr. further refining his style.

Romita later collaborated with Frank Miller on a Daredevil origin story entitled Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a revisiting of the character's origin. He worked on a host of Marvel titles during the 1990s, including The Punisher War Zone, the Hulk, the Cable mini-series, The Mighty Thor, a return to Iron Man for the second Armor War written by John Byrne, and the Punisher/Batman cross-over. Klaus Janson was a frequent inker.

In the 2000s, Romita had a well-received return to The Amazing Spider-Man with writer J. Michael Straczynski. He drew Marvel's Wolverine with author Mark Millar as part of the character's thirtieth-anniversary celebration. In 2004, Romita's creator-owned project The Gray Area was published by Image Comics. Romita's art has since appeared in Black Panther, The Sentry and Ultimate Vision, a back up story featured in the Ultimate line, written by author Mark Millar.

In 2006, Romita collaborated with writer Neil Gaiman on the reinterpretation of Jack Kirby's The Eternals in the form of a seven-issue limited series.^[1] Romita worked with Greg Pak on the five issue main comic of Marvel's 2007 crossover event, World War Hulk.

In 2008, Romita again returned to Amazing Spider-Man. He is also collaborating once more with Mark Millar, for a creator-owned series, Kick-Ass, published by Marvel's Icon imprint. The Filming of the Movie: Kick-Ass, will being September 2008. Romita, one of the producers, will get his directorial debut by directing an animated flashback sequence in the film.

Bibliography

Comic books

• The Invincible Iron Man:
  • #115-117, 119-121, 123-128, 141-153 (1978–1981)
  • #256, 258-266 (1990–1991)
• Contest of Champions #1-3 (1982). The first Marvel mini-series, featuring most of the Marvel superheroes of the time.
• The Amazing Spider-Man:
  • #208, 210-218, 223-227, 229-236, 238-250 (1980–1984)
  • #290-291 (1987)
  • #400, 432 (1995, 1998)
  • #600 (2009)
  • vol. 2 #22-27, 30-58 & vol. 1 #500-508 (2000–2004, vol. 2 reverted to vol. 1 with issue #500)
  • New Ways to Die #568-573 (2008)
  • Character Assassination #584-588 (2009)
• Dazzler #1-3 (1981)
• Uncanny X-Men:
  • #175-197, 199-200, 202-203, 206-211 (1983–1986)
  • #287 (1992), #300-302, 304, 306-311 (1993–1994)
• Star Brand #1-7 (1986-87)
• Daredevil:
  • #250-257, 259-263, 265-276, 278-282 (1988–1990)
• Cable: Blood and Metal #1-2 (1992). 2-issue mini-series.
• The Punisher War Zone #1-8 (1992)
• Daredevil: Man Without Fear #1-5 (1993-94). 5-issue mini-series with writer Frank Miller.
• Punisher/Batman (Marvel/DC, 1994)
• Spider-Man: The Lost Years #1-3 & 0 (1995). 3-issue mini-series, plus a #0 issue.
• Peter Parker: Spider-Man:
  • vol. 1 #57, 64-76, 78-84, 86-92, 94-95, 97-98
  • vol. 2 #1-3, 6-12, 14-17, 19 (1996–2000)

Thanos and Mangog storms Asgard, on the cover to Thor vol. 2 #21. Art by John Romita, Jr.

• Thor vol. 2 #1-8, 10-13, 16-18, 21-25 (1998–2000)
• Hulk vol. 2 #24-25, 27-28, 34-39 (2001–2002). With writers Paul Jenkins (#24-25, 27-28) and Bruce Jones (#34-39).
• The Gray Area #1-3 (Image Comics, 2004). Creator-owned 3-issue mini-series with writer Glen Brunswick.
• Wolverine vol. 2 #20-31 (2004–2005). With writer Mark Millar.
• Ultimate Vision (2006) 6-part story with writer Mark Millar, running as a 4-page backup flip-book feature in the three Ultimate titles of November and December.
• Black Panther vol. 3 #1-6 (2005). 6-issue story arc "Who is the Black Panther" with writer Reginald Hudlin.
• Sentry vol. 2 #1-8 (2005–2006). 8-issue limited series with writer Paul Jenkins.
• Eternals #1-7 (2006). With writer Neil Gaiman.
• World War Hulk (2007). With writer Greg Pak.
• The Last Fantastic Four Story (2007). With writer Stan Lee. (Drawn before World War Hulk).
• Kick-Ass #1-present (Icon Comics, 2008-present). With writer Mark Millar.

Trade paperbacks

Marvel Comics

• The Eternals (Softcover, Reprint's The Eternals limited series, #1-7)
• Marvel Visionaries: John Romita Jr. (Hardcover)
• Wolverine: Enemy of the State:
  • Volume 1 (Hardcover)
  • Volume 2 (Hardcover)
• Black Panther: Who is the Black Panther? (Hardcover)
• Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle (Reprints Iron Man #120-128)
• Iron Man and Doctor Doom
• Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
• Punisher vs. Daredevil
• Hulk: Return of the Monster
• Thor: The Dark Gods (Reprints Thor #9-13)
• Spider-Man: The Origin of the Hobgoblin
• Spider-Man: The Lost Years
• Amazing Spider-Man:
  • Volume 1: Coming Home (Reprints #30-35)
  • Volume 2: Revelations (Reprints #36-39)
  • Volume 3: Until the Stars Turn Cold (Reprints #40-45)
  • Volume 4: The Life and Death of Spiders (Reprints #46-50)
  • Volume 5: Unintended Consequences (Reprints #51-56)
  • Volume 6: Happy Birthday (Reprints #57-58,500-502)
  • Volume 7: The Book of Ezekiel (Reprints #503-508)
• Sentry: Reborn
• Essential Dazzler Volume 1
• The Amazing Spiderman Volume 1: New Ways to Die (Reprints #567-#573)

Image Comics

• Gray Area: All Of This Can Be Yours

Notes

References

External links

• John Romita Jr. on Marvel.com
• The incomplete John Romita Jr. checklist. A detailed checklist of the published works of JRJR.

Interviews

This section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

• John Romita Jr: Returning to and With The Hulk, Newsarama, September 14, 2006
• October 2006 short interview Outhouse with Romita Jr. about his current work and future plans.
• Vaughan, Owen (October 30, 2009). "Spider-man is part of the family: Marvel artist John Romita Jr opens his heart". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6893252.ece. Retrieved 2009-10-30.