John Romita, Jr.

John Romita Jr.

John Salvatore Romita, Jr. (August 17, 1956, New York City) is an 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 (abbreviation of John Romita, Jr.)

Career

John Romita is the son of John Romita, Sr., the 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 debut was with a six pages story in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11.

Romita's early popularity was based on his run on Iron Man with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton, began in 1976. In the early-1980s, he had his first regular run on the Amazing Spider-Man series and also was the architect behind the Dazzler series' and character's appearance. Working with writer Roger Stern on Spider-Man he co created the character Hobgoblin and he drew an issue in which Spider-Man would encounter the Juggernaut and the Juggernaut would end up trapped in cement foundations. From 1983 to 1986 he had a run on Uncanny X-Men with Dan Green and author Chris Claremont which brought him immense popularity, as the X-Men had become a huge industry phenomenon by that time. He would return for a second very successful run on Uncanny X-Men in 1993.

Cover for Black Panther (Marvel Knights regular series) #1, by John Romita Jr. & Klaus Janson.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Romita enjoyed an acclaimed 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. Working for Daredevil, Romita defined his style and left definitively behind every uncertainty which was still present in the X-Men pages.

Romita later collaborated with Frank Miller on a Daredevil origin story entitled Man Without Fear, considered to be a companion of sorts to Miller's Batman: Year One tale. Romita worked on a host of Marvel titles during the 1990s, including The Punisher War Zone, 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.

In the 2000s, Romita again came to prominence for his second run illustrating The Amazing Spider-Man for writer J. Michael Straczynski. He drew Marvel's Wolverine with author Mark Millar as part of the character's thirtieth-anniversary celebration. As of 2006, Romita's art is currently on display in Black Panther, The Sentry as well as Ultimate Vision, a back up story featured in the Ultimate line, written by author Mark Millar.

In June 2006, Romita Jr. will be collaborating with writer Neil Gaiman on the reinterpretation of Jack Kirby's The Eternals.

Selected works

Comic books

Marvel Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #204, 208, 210-218, 223-227, 229-236, 238-250, 290-291, 400, 432, 500-508 (Volume 1)
Amazing Spider-Man #22-28, 30-58 (Volume 2)
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75-76, 78-84, 86-92, 94-95, 97-98 (Volume 2)
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #1-3, 6-12, 14-17, 19 (Volume 3)
Spider-Man: The Lost Years #0-3 (Mini-Series)
Uncanny X-Men #175-197, 199-200, 202-203, 206-211,287, 300-302, 304, 306-311
The Invincible Iron Man #115-117, 119-121, 123-128, 141-153, 256, 258-266 (Volume 1)
Daredevil #250-257, 259-263, 265-276, 278-282 (Volume 1)
Daredevil: Man Without Fear #1-5 (Mini-Series)
Hulk #24-25, 27-28, 34-39 (Volume 2)
Thor #1-8, 10-13, 16-18, 22-25 (Volume 2)
Thor: Rough Cut Edition #1
The Punisher War Zone #1-8
Dazzler #1-3
Cable: Blood and Metal #1-2 (Mini-Series)
Star Brand #1-7
Black Panther #1-6 (Volume 3)
Wolverine #20-31 (Volume 2)
Sentry #1-8 (Volume 2)
Ultimate Vision (6-part Ultimate title backup stories)
Eternals Sketchbook, #1-6
Ultimate Vision (2006 upcoming Mini-Series)

Marvel/DC

Thorion of the New Asgods #1
Punisher/Batman (One-Shot)

Image Comics

Grey Area #1-3

Trade Paperbacks

Marvel Comics

Marvel Visionaries: John Romita Jr. (Hardcover)
Wolverine: Enemy of the State (Volume 1) (Hardcover)
Wolverine: Enemy of the State (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)
Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2: Revelations (Reprints #36-39)
Amazing Spider-Man Volume 3: Until the Stars Turn Cold (Reprints #40-45)
Amazing Spider-Man Volume 4: The Life and Death of Spiders (Reprints #46-50)
Amazing Spider-Man Volume 5: Unintended Consequences (Reprints #51-56)
Amazing Spider-Man Volume 6: Happy Birthday (Reprints #57-58,500-502)
Amazing Spider-Man Volume 7: The Book of Ezekiel (Reprints #503-508)
Sentry: Reborn

Image Comics

Grey Area: All Of This Can Be Yours