John Romita Jr.

John (Salvatore) Romita was born in New York City, in 1956. He always wanted to become a comic artist like his father, legendary Spider-Man penciller, John Romita Sr. He began his career working for Marvel UK, doing sketches for reprint edition covers, and his first “real” work came in 1977, when he pencilled a 6-page story for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #11. He became a household name (followed by “Jr.”, in order to distinguish himself from his father) in 1978, through his work on IRON MAN.

In the early 80’s, John Romita Jr. returned to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and along with Roger Stern they co-created Hobgoblin. This was followed by his stint on the ever popular UNCANNY X-MEN, where he collaborated with Chris Claremont from 1983 to 1986, presenting us with some true classics of the Marvel Mutants myth. Years later, Romita Jr. returned to the title for a second successful run.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, he worked with writer Ann Nocenti on DAREDEVIL, where he further evolved his personal art style. Later on, along with Frank Miller the revisited the character’s origin in the classic limited series DAREDEVIL: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR.

He returned to IRON MAN for an all-star collaboration with the great John Byrne. The 90’s found him working on ΤΗΕ MIGHTY THOR, PUNISHER WAR ZONE, CABLE (mini-series), SPIDER-MAN, as well as the Marvel/DC crossover, PUNISHER/BATMAN.

In 2001, Along with famed TV writer and producer, J. Michael Straczynski, they began a long and controversial run on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, introducing new elements to the character and his mythos. He also had an active part on Wolverine’s 30th anniversary, collaborating with writer Mark Millar on the hero’s main title. A few years later, the two creators would work together again on the creator-owned series, KICK-ASS.

In 2004, Image Comics published John Romita Jr.’s first creator owned work, ΤΗΕ GRAY AREA. Since then he has also worked on BLACK PANTHER, THE SENTRY and ULTIMATE VISION, while in 2006 he revamped, along with famed writer Neil Gaiman, Jack Kirby’s legendary creation, The Eternals. In 2007, he worked with writer Greg Pak, to create the best-selling limited series WORLD WAR HULK, which was the core of the self-named crossover.

Until recently John Romita Jr. worked on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, while now he has taken over the pencilling chores of the classic revamped series AVENGERS. Meanwhile, KICK-ASS is being transferred to the big screen and in will hit movie theatres in April 2010. John Romita Jr. is one of the producers of the film, and he also makes his first attempt at directing a small animated flashback sequence!